Tag: Writing

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Crafting Generation Mars 3

I use Scrivener. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best fit I’ve found for my process. The ability to drag scenes and chapters around and to visualize the emerging manuscript in different ways is invaluable during development.

Much of its functionality could be handled with plain old files and folders, but that gets increasingly difficult for longer projects. Scrivener just gets more helpful as the project grows. 

Of particular note is the ability to compile into different formats. I use this for manuscript printing and for digital (Kindle) preparation. For book printing, I use Scribus for layout, but that’s a topic for another day. 

Within Scrivener, I keep a folder called Research with subfolders for topics that come up in the books. For the current project, I have folders for Communications, Starvation, Orbital Dynamics, Food, and Space Weapons. In those folders are links and documents and quotes. 

I also keep a folder called Notes and a folder called UnusedFragments. More on those later.

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Crafting Generation Mars 2

I publish through my own publishing house: Noisy Flowers LLC. I came up with the name one particularly clamorous afternoon as my two daughters competed to see who could sing the loudest.

The winner drew the logo.

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Crafting Generation Mars (1)

I’ve been buried in the development process for the next book and haven’t had much time for social media. Now that I’m over the creative hump and in the refinement phase, I thought I might post a little about my creative process and production pipeline.

Posts in this series will be sporadic and likely span months. Maybe years, I dunno. Time is erratic. I’ll use the hashtag #CraftingGenMars followed by the number in the series to keep track.

I don’t interact with other authors as much as I’d like to. I have no idea whether my process is typical or weird. If you’re an author and find something interesting, please chime in with your thoughts along the way.

Image: “Woman with wax tablets and stylus (so-called “Sappho”)”, between 55 and 79 AD, Naples National Archaeological Museum 

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Starliner adventure

This is a riveting interview with the Starliner astronauts about their experiences with that capsule in its maiden crewed flight.

Orbital dynamics, proximity operations, thruster failures: all play a big role in the coming Generation Mars book. It’s interesting to read about similar events IRL. I had to stretch physics a little for narrative purposes, but it turns out I’m not far off.


Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought

Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought

Hey, this is a very precarious situation we’re in.”

Ars Technica Ars Technica
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Progress report

Current word count for Food: Generation Mars, Book Four.

Parts one and two are tight. I stalled for a bit in part three, but the momentum is back.

Never written an opus before, but this kinda feels like one.

 

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One year

Scrolling back through my writing journal, I see that today is exactly one year since I started work on Food: Generation Mars, Book Four.

My entry from that day outlines some elements of the plot that have made it into the manuscript. But, oh my!, the Doug writing that entry had no idea of the many wonderful and terrible things that would find their way into the story over the next year. The manuscript I am working on now bears only passing resemblance to what I had in mind then.

And that’s awesome!

I still have a long way to go. What new surprises are lurking out there (or in my subconscious), waiting to find their way in? I don’t know!

And that’s even more awesome!

image: generated by ImageFX

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Food update

Status update for Food, Generation Mars, Book Four

At some point during the past week, the manuscript passed 50K words.

Manuscript is a loose term that covers everything from get-it-down-and-fix-it-later sketch to fully edited and ready for formatting.

At this point, Food is closer to the sketch. A 50K sketch. I won’t say much more, but I will say this: It keeps surprising me, and I think it will surprise you too.

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Luna and Mars

It looks so close! This is an actual image taken from Earth of Mars emerging from lunar occultation. Taken by Andrew McCarthy using a 14″ telescope.

The next Generation Mars book, Food, takes place on both Luna and Mars. And points between…

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Progress

This image shows the progress on the next Generation Mars book as of May 30. Since then, I’ve been on a wild and wonderful vacation with the family and haven’t written a word. I expect this number is about to start growing. A lot.

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Author intervew

Here’s an interview I did with Elena Jagar at Willow Wren Books recently.

From the interview:

What do you hope young readers will take away from your books?

Optimism is a superpower. Kindness is strength. Society is something you create with those around you; what do you want it to be? In the confines of Martian habitation, tolerance is a key virtue. Care for others, as well. No one can exist without the help of others and nowhere is this more evident than in a colony on a distant planet.

Exploring Mars and MG Fiction with Douglas Meredith — Willow Wren Books
Exploring Mars and MG Fiction with Douglas Meredith — Willow Wren Books

Douglas Meredith, author of the Generation Mars series, shares insights into his journey of writing middle grade fiction. Inspired by the need for engaging and age-appropriate content for advanced young readers, Meredith crafted a series following Cas, the first kid born on Mars, and her sister, Ori
Willow Wren Books Willow Wren Books