Pioneers of the Space, "out West"
June 5, 2011--- To read about the status of this story please check out the Journal. I should be writing about my progress as this happens.
May 31, 2011
I got this idea for a story recently. If I work on it much, I want to write to it, "as the mood strikes," rather than on a regular basis. I want to finish the "Osbert Pickle" story. Then I want to work on my first Lums Chapel story. If nothing else, I want to take notes for this story.
These are three or four documents stuck together. Some of this text repeats, or I re-tell it another way.
This is my initial thinking for the story. If anyone has any input let me know. I don’t have any names for the moon, people or the colony town yet. (This present document has British and American spellings at times. The writing programme I use in Windows Word prefers I spell things the British way. Windows Word, by itself, likes things in American English. This was written in both programs. I am cutting and pasting it together.)
I had an idea for a story. I know I need to finish the one story I am working on now, before I begin another story. But I am always thinking of good story ideas. I write down the idea so I can use them later on if I get around to it.
[I know that, "Christian Fiction" is a bad term, but that's what it gets called. Maybe, "Christian story telling" would be a better term for, "Christian," novels, short stories, etc. I do use the terms, “Christian Fiction,” and “Christian speculative fiction,” in this document at times. “Speculative fiction,” is fiction in the categories of, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc.]
I was reading about Twitter. I was thinking this story might be a good thing to write up on Twitter. Do you know if this story would be something good to stick on Twitter? Do you think it would hold someone’s interest? There are a few people (not many) who have written or are writing novels on Twitter. I found a Christian writer who is writing a Christian sci-fi story on there. He is working with a smaller Christian publisher, that specializes in, Christian “speculative, fiction”. If you know anything about Twitter, do you think this would be a good story to stick on there? Do you, “do,” Twitter and can you teach me anything about Twitter? I have found things online about Twitter.
I might write to this, "as the mood strikes me," rather than at a regular time. I also want to finish my, "Osbert Pickle" (man with the dog) story, so that would remain my main, "work". I bought a large notebook with a, “moon,” theme to it. I will use it to take notes for this story. If nothing else if I think of things while I am writing my, “Osbert Pickle” story, I can write them down in that notebook.
[I just don't want to loose the, "voice," and rhythm of my, "Osbert Pickle" story. (Or for that matter loose the, "voice," and rhythm of this story.) If I wrote both at the same time I would have to be very careful. They are different stories with very different, "sounding," narrators. I don't want to start out writing the, "Osbert Pickle" in one, "voice," and end up finishing it in another one. The rhythms (speech patterns), language, grammar and other things will change if I do that. It will start off, "sounding," (reading) as if it were one man, and end up, reading as if it were another.]
I was originally writing the beginning of this story something like I would do if they were Twitter posts. (I know, Twitter posts have to be less than 140 characters. And my paragraphs aren't that short.) Yet, I really don't know how to do Twitter. I think it almost has it's own language. (Is it text speech or whatever that is called? I mean, the language they use in text messages.) I want to do this story in standard English. I don't know if I want to do it with perfect grammar. This will be the young man's posts that he sticks onto his "universal" Internet type thing. Being a rural sheepherder he might not be the best at grammar. Grammarians tend not to have, "day jobs," as shepherds.
I was thinking that if anyone happened to read this story on Twitter it could be a witnessing tool. It could also be a way to promote my writing. I have been reading how a lot of the work that a novelist should do is self-promotion. Publishers do not do much promotion anymore, unless the author is a big, big, name and the company is big.
Another thing I have been reading...
As regards, "Christian story telling,"... One of the things I have been reading about in the, "how to" books, is that writers are to avoid having, "preachy" elements to the story. For example, the books I have read, say that having a character stop and say the, "sinner's prayer," will interrupt the story. It is like having an advert in the middle of a movie. It stops the story so they can tell you something else for a moment. I think that in this present story the, "preaching," if there is any, will be woven into the story. I want my, "traveling stranger" to teach by example and as part of conversation. I am not sure yet, but he may not do any actual, "preaching". I don't want this, "stranger" to be an, allegory for the "messiah" either. In other words, I don't want him to be a fictional representation of Jesus. He would be an, "ambassador for Christ".
As far as fiction goes, the rules are that there can’t be, “preaching” or the story can’t be, “too preachy”. I want the travelling stranger to teach by his actions mostly. He will teach The Word some. It would have to be integral to the story though. I couldn’t stick any teaching or preaching in there just to have it in there. It would have to be part of the story some how.
Even though this story takes place in, “outer space,” I don’t want to have any, “space aliens,” in it. I don’t want to write about zombies, vampires or other such, “critters,” either. I am thinking this would be essentially a, “Western,” set in outer-space, minus the horses, buggies and Indians. I don’t want to write sex scenes, especially anything graphic. I don’t want graphic violence. I really don’t want to write violence, but with this sort of story I can’t rule out some violence. People will loose their tempers in a situation like this.
I don’t want to glorify divorce. The “hero” or “heroes” in this story, are truly heroic, they believe in Godly marriage, would not think of marrying unless they knew it was for life, would go to great lengths to prevent marriage from falling apart, will work on "things" as they come up. They sort things before they get too far. No matter how difficult the situation may be, if the hero / heroine is married, they are married to someone of the opposite sex, and against all the difficulties they stay married. [That is, they willingly stay married. None of this remaining miserable in a, “loveless,” marriage sort of thing. That doesn't mean the characters can't become widowed at some point.]
I NEVER want to write a story where the following happens... (I do not believe this is, “heroic,”.)
The “hero,” or “heroine,” believes in Godly marriage for the most part, yet has escape plan in case marriage does not work out; when he or she, "wakes up and realizes there is more to life than what they have," rather than stay and work to solve these issues, they will use escape plan and claim they are the hero because they did what they had to do, seeming not to care whom they hurt in the process; "For once, I did something for me!"
(Initial Notes To:) PIONEERS OF THE SPACE OUT WEST
by Writerwithbottles (May 19, 2011)
It's a beautiful morning here at the Ninth Colony of _____ moon. The _____ moon is located in the far western reaches of the human colonization of space. Our family are sheep herders living 12 miles east of the colony town [find name for town]. We currently have a good sized flock of sheep. My mother prefers cow's milk to sheep's which is why we at least keep one cow on hand. I happen to think that the grass is greener on our side of the moon. Since I have lived here all my life I could be prejudiced. About two to four times a year we scrape together the money and hook up to the computer satellite orbiting us. It costs us about half a day's wages to connect into the, "Universal Computer Web". I like to post these entries to my, "Universal Web" journal. I also like to see what sort of responses they generate if any. I have had some interesting conversations with people from all over this part of the universe. But lately the conversations have been mostly with Laura and her brother who live on a colony a few light years from here.
Our Ninth Colony seems to have more sheep than people. Their family owns a shop in a large city. The colony they live in is a very busy port. People from all over the universe come and go through there. The wool from our flocks gets made into goods on the other side of ______ moon. Then those goods get shipped to their colony far away. It gets sold in Laura's family shop. From there it goes to the far reaches of the universe. It was very nice to finally learn where our wool ends up....
...Whew! Been spending this week shearing sheep. Will most likely spend next week doing same. Ma thinks we need to take at least one day of rest each week. Today is that rest day for us this week. This day of rest, was a tradition her mother taught us. We think it came from some old book Grandma’s grandmother used to read from. Of course that book has long since turned to dust and disappeared from the face of this moon...
Synopsis
May 24, 2011—May 28, 2011
Pioneers of the Space, “out West”...
On a moon far away a shepherd and his family live a peaceful life.
A traveller from a far away galaxy comes to challenge their way of thinking and living. Is this traveller a bearer of "good news"? Will the traveller’s message be a positive thing for the farmer and his family?
A young man in his mid to late 20’s or early 30’s lives at the Ninth Colony of a far away moon. This moon is located, “in the far western reaches of the human colonization of space”. He is a shepherd living with his parents and some extended family 12 miles from the colony town.
Two to four times a year this young man connects to a satellite orbiting his home moon. He posts journal entries to a site on the, “Universal Computer Web”. Most of his contacts are with people a few light years away.
Then one day, one of those posts catches the eye of a travelling stranger. I am reminded of stories my grandfather told of my great grandparents taking in travelling salesmen and such to their farm in Texas. I also remember reading in one of Maria Trapp’s books how in Austria, they rented parts of their large house to students. She wrote about how they learned interesting things from the students. We had a, “boarder” (renter) in Dearborn for a while. I know that taking in, “renters,” or strangers can be difficult or dangerous these days. Yet on the other hand, one can learn a lot or have an opportunity to witness. I remember an early babysitter I had, (before I was in school) who had Chinese exchange (University) students living with her for a while. At least that is how I remember it. It may have been different in reality. I have always thought it would be neat to have people coming and going. I have lived, in households with as many as 35 people before and I guess I miss times when there is always something going on.
So this travelling stranger stays with the young man and his family. This puts this family in conflict with some of the colony folk. The stranger says he is there to build a church. There is already a church building in the colony town. It’s not like this building gets used that often. It is used as an auditorium at times. Then it works as a meeting place for colony wide gatherings. Why would anyone come there to build another church? The stranger doesn’t look much like a builder anyway. He seems too old and maybe wearied from a long journey. I pictured this stranger as a thinner or rather non-muscular person. In my mind he would be someone who doesn’t look like he could do physical labor. Yet looks can be deceiving. He could be very strong in reality. I don’t want this guy to be wimpy either.
Eventually it is learned that the stranger is a missionary. The presence of a missionary is a great controversy in this colony. The people of the Ninth Colony tend to align themselves into three camps on this issue. The first camp are people who believe to a point anyway, but believe further when taught what The Bible says. Camp two are skeptics. “Who is this stranger? How do we know he is telling the truth?” The third camp are out and out unbelievers. “Not this junk. I thought we were beyond superstition here.”
For there to be a story, there has to be conflict. I guess you can see where the conflict would be in this story.
This story is set in outer space. It is about a young man and his family. They live in a remote part of space. Every now and then he posts entries from his "on line" journal to a "site" on a computer network strung between various colonies and places in space.
At some point this, "mysterious man," [traveling stranger] contacts, "our hero," and asks if he can come for a visit-- or he just shows up at this Ninth Colony (I'm not sure yet). The, "traveling stranger” learns of this colony by reading, "our hero's," posts. As it turns out this, "mystery man," is something of a missionary. He teaches the people of this Ninth Colony, God's Word. He hitches rides through the universe doing his missionary work. It takes a while for people to warm to this, "mystery man". Eventually some of the people at this colony like what he does and says. Other people remain distrustful. And still others reject his message outright and make it publicly known.
Are you able to help me with my story?
May 28, 2011
Any help with this story will be appreciated.
Do you think this is a good idea?
Do you think it would work on Twitter?
Does this idea need improvement?
Do you have any ideas that would improve this story?
Did you think of anything you would like to see in this story?
Do you have any suggestions of what you would like to see a character do?
Are there any suggestions you want to ad, that I haven’t seemed to have thought of yet?