Newbie Sci-Fi Author Frustrations

Going back through the two chapters already written of this story, which I've had in my head for years, I realized that scenes were missing, and that editing more before publishing as a full book would indeed be needed. But, at the same time, I have the next two books in my brain now as well, and just want it all to be extracted from my mind and placed on paper by a machine, where the boring bits, like editing, can just not be a problem or even necessary. Unfortunately, a machine like the learning one in Battlefield Earth, but opposite, doesn't in fact exist. Sometimes the journey is a pain between my cervical and thoracic spine instead. I digress, dear readers, and thank you for putting up with my complaints.

This book has already changed me in ways that are hard to explain. I used to write during my early teenage years, winning a few creative writing awards, only to stop because those around me showed no interest in my work. Well, lo and behold, I find myself back at the same place again, where I have no idea if it's actually any good, and lacking the one teacher who believed in my 8th-grade self. The thing is, validation can come in many forms, and one way to achieve it, is to read Hugo award-winning authors and have complaints about every single one I have read so far.

I LOVE a good storyline and long-haul character development weaving together into something deeply personal. I have an internal need for emotional content to feel real... to be passed onto the reader without it being too much (Star Trek: Discovery, anyone?). I've played through games without any of the side-quests, because the story was so good. Then I was sad because more than half the gameplay was, low-and-behold, the SIDEQUESTS. I'll say it, because transparency is lacking in this Late-Stage Capitalistic society run by systems a lot of us weren’t born into. I have NO CLUE what I am doing as a baby author.

But you know what? It's ok. We all have to start at the beginning with new things; we all have to be beginners. I may be struggling (like disappearing paragraphs and no access to support), but I am LOVING making up my own, personal story. It's honestly better than falling asleep to Youtube soundtracks of the atmospheric hum of a starship.

Our protagonist, dear reader, is not special. She's just a working-class, west-coast American who grew up in a very plausible future, of collapsing Capitalism, where companies are hollow, about 80% of the world's citizens are working-class, who are all unemployed because of the lack of a job market. To be employed makes you upper-middle-class, or better. Citizens have formed small communities, collectives really, away from the big cities and corporate logos on empty skyscrapers, they teach each other skills, and barter on the grey-market. Her whole existence was survival already. Pair that with being a single-parent and an alien invasion. I feel like she is the person we can all identify with in some way.