Here we go, Amnia Cycle Chapter 3 has begun. Tara has landed. She'll get to stretch her legs after being in that cockpit for a chapter and a half. And I've got some fun ideas about this planet that I'm looking forward to revealing.
I've been thinking about how long AC will end up being and I'm thinking it will be ether 8 or 10 chapters. So that's roughly 176-220 pages. I'm aiming for the 8 rather than 10 chapters.
Come back next week for the next installment.
Blogged and Blogged
Finally get to see what this planet is like. There's some nice intrigue with that shadowy figure. That's not the alien race I think it might be, is it? (I hope- although I'm sure it'll be good whatever you choose.) And krazy, killer, koala! That's a very Dustin touch. Here's to the human empire!
ReplyDeleteI was self conscious about this scene because I see the ol' crash on a farm as a trope. You got the obvious one, Superman. You got The Iron Giant (basically), the droids in Star Wars, heck even Marty McFly crashed into a farm.
DeleteThere is a kind of reason for it, there is a formula to it. It allows you to take certain story beets. I actually thought a lot about it before I did it.
You mentioned at the start of Chapter 2 that it felt like the story was settling in or something like that. I actually think that's what is happening now. To me, I feel the story is doing the thing where it eases off the gas a little and we get set up for the the big sprint to the finally. We also get to learn some things about the universe they're in. Like the fact that they are called the Human Empire. That small revelation marks the beginning of a shift in this story as I see it.
The other option would have been to keep my foot on the gas, have her crash into the city and launch right into action. And that would have been cool, but I think I would miss the chance to take a breath and get invested in the characters… We'll see if it all pans out… Crashing right into the city would have been fun.
I'm excited for when Tara actually heads into the city, I think I actually have an original idea for this city. We'll see if it is any good.
HA! I just realized that I totally started this story with the person crashing in the middle of nowhere with one person witnessing it trope. And I'm realizing that I'm going to do it again and again and again… you'll see.
DeleteI find that a good way to avoid cliches is to ask "how would this situation play out in real life?" Even though you're in space on another planet the concept of a stranger in a strange land is a real thing that's happened countless times. That being said, this sequence didn't strike me as cliche ridden. Well... there WAS one cliche here that I caught: person lands on strange planet and is attacked by alien monster. Although you did balance that cliche by making it a fun monster. However, the thing that struck me the most was where you avoided cliche. In every instance like this I've seen the person witnessing it is usually shitting their britches going "what the fuck is that?" Here you've got a guy calmly smoking a cigarette. It's a mysterious moment that tells us a little something about this character and promises interesting things to come. So... job well done!
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