Chapter One Excerpt Posted
I promised May Mondays would be exciting, so here we go. Perhaps it’s more exciting for me – maybe just a bit intimidating, actually – but it’s because the first excerpt from my upcoming space opera novel has been posted. It’s been quite an adventure building my own world and developing my own characters, including the central heroine. What I’ve discovered through the process is that there are multiple stories to be told as I follow Vespa’s journey of self-discovery, and in the end I think there will be something for most everyone.
The Excerpt section will include the novel’s one sentence summary, which doesn’t tell you much but can tell you a lot of things. As the excerpts progress, I’ll announce the first novel’s title and place a summary paragraph, or what some call a blurb. Since writing a novel has little reward until the process is complete, each new excerpt will come at a milestone I’ve set for myself.
For more discussion about the novel, the writing process, or its heroine, please check out the Working Title: A___ thread in the Cantina.
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Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and the intersection of women within Star Wars fandom. She is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars and Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, a featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine with numerous articles on the Hero's Journey. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Hyperspace Theories and Fangirls Going Rogue.
Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
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Interesting… So the moon’s gotten bombed for some reason or other. Sounds like there’s too much firepower for it to be a terrorist attack, yet she doesn’t sound as if she believes there’s a war on (since she thinks of service types pranking the tourists first). Given her family background and her brother also being present, I suppose it could be a strike on the local high-upper-class vacation spot.
I liked it! Not much else for me to comment on, since this contains more description and action than things readily analyzed.
“The entire moon was ablaze, but right now that wasn’t what caused the knot of fear twisting her guts.”
I take it this is a POV thing, meaning “fire consumed everything around her” from a shell-shocked POV, since she [obviously] can’t see the entire moon? Or should this be taken to mean, in a foreshadowing way, that the attackers really HAVE set the entire moon on fire? O_O
…*whistles* Ah, I just picked up on something else. It isn’t an air raid, is it?
“Flares raced across the violet and pink sky. A flash of white erupted into a multitude of blazing descents. Successive booms shook the air from her lungs. ”
It’s a massive missile strike. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. We don’t even know if it’s from an on-world location. In fact –
“From the corner of her eye, while sweat dripped over her eyelashes, she watched Kavil’s reflection on the water. Red splayed out from the white center, like insidious evil tendrils imbued with raw energy.”
That could even imply the missiles are coming directly from Kavil. (Does the similarity of that world’s name to “cavil” – meaning ‘to raise frivolous objections’ – have any significance in the story, out of curiosity?)
Hmm, speaking of names… *Googles* I take it Vespa might be a bit waspish? ;) As for “Terraq”… The most relevant link I can find seems to be a Dutch building-materials site… -_-;;
Looking forward to seeing more! (Drat you for stopping on a cliffhanger! :P)
P.S.
“A pair of shoes, gold-flecked swooshes racing across their sides, still sitting where they had been forgotten next to the reclining sunchair. ”
This chapter brought to you by Nike… ;)
I take it this is a POV thing, meaning “fire consumed everything around her” from a shell-shocked POV, since she [obviously] can’t see the entire moon?
Exactly. That’s why I love working with limited POV. If you’re standing in the middle of a fire it probably seems like the whole world is on fire.
Or should this be taken to mean, in a foreshadowing way, that the attackers really HAVE set the entire moon on fire? O_O
Or yeah that possibly, and her POV is correct and the whole moon is on fire.
I’ll try to stop being sneaky author now.
That could even imply the missiles are coming directly from Kavil. (Does the similarity of that world’s name to “cavil” – meaning ‘to raise frivolous objections’ – have any significance in the story, out of curiosity?)
Kavil has meaning but it’s not that, and it’s not particularly uber-deep. It’s more the way it rolls off the tongue, or at least my muse’s tongue.
Hmm, speaking of names… *Googles* I take it Vespa might be a bit waspish? As for “Terraq”… The most relevant link I can find seems to be a Dutch building-materials site… -_-;;
I’m trying to not laugh at how utterly correct that assessment of Vespa could be. She might act a bit waspish (think insect), especially since she likes to fly and has a temper, but since no Anglo-saxons or Protestants exist on Prime, she’s not waspish. On Terraq, think smaller and bigger. I can’t possibly say more.
Another excerpt next month. It will have Vespa and you’ll get an idea of how correct/incorrect her POV is. No promise that it will resolve any cliffhangers.