In my second semester of college, I took an International Human Rights class. That was a huge mistake, as I was in way over my head. But I liked the teacher, and really learned a lot throughout the course. Something we talked about quite a bit were NGOs, Non Governmental Organizations. These are the people who go in and actually get things done when some disaster strikes a country or something. One particular set of NGOs we looked at were human rights groups that embed someone in a fascist state with a likely political target. The idea is that having a foreign observer there, preferably with a camera, will be enough to deter the authorities from disappearing the target. I’m totally blanking on the names of these organizations at the moment.
This always seemed like a concept rife with story ideas. Why hasn’t anyone ever made a movie about this? So it’s always been an idea hanging out at the back of my mind. Of course, I’m an completely unqualified to write it using any sort of real places/politics, so I put it in space. Luckily, I think science fiction is versatile enough to handle it. No aliens, though, I would want to keep this as grounded and gritty as possible.
I really like this beginning, so I hope to expand this at some point. Just over 500 words. (more…)
I missed yesterday! I fail!
It’s cool. I was exhausted last night - we had the misfortune of coming across this lost dog, and, well, long story short, the evening ended with an epic chase for a good five or six blocks, which is way more running that I’ve done at one time in decades.
If I get a chance I’ll post about The Incredible Hulk tomorrow. I still need to write a Kung Fu Panda review for the newsletter at work.
Here’s a portion of today’s offering. (more…)
Whew!
This is a little piece that may turn into a Simon Temple, aka, Tenebrous, adventure. Tenebrous seemed pretty popular with my writing group, and I do have a certain fondness for him. But until now I haven’t really put much thought into more Tenebrous stories. What sort of villains would he normally face? What are his nightly patrols like? What drove him to his crusade against crime? I’ll want to address all these questions. I really enjoy writing about him simply interacting with his civilian peers.
Saw the Hulk today. I may chat about that some tomorrow.
EDIT July 1: Evidently someone who goes by Tenebrous (an online name I assume?) stumbled across this and suddenly I’m getting a tons of hits on this particular entry. In case any of you are curious, this Tenebrous character is featured in my superhero story “Shades of Red,” available over at the journal “A Thousand Faces.” (more…)
Whew! Just under the wire! I didn’t actually think I’d get anything done today. This was Hope’s birthday, so we were pretty busy.
I had a lot of fun writing this, though it is a bit rushed. I didn’t have time to research and come up with good names, so these are just what popped into my head. Here’s an excerpt; who knows, I might clean this one up and submit. (more…)
Not much to say about this one. I might expand it sometime. I like the whole concept of cities in unusual places, be it the moon or Mars or deep under the ocean. Simply setting a story in an exotic place like that forces your mind to come up with a whole new set of aesthetics and technologies.
As such, I’ve always thought the concept of Atlantis was awesome. I’ve never actually bothered to do much research into the actual Atlantis (though I think there’s not much to research, right? just a couple of references in ancient Greek texts or something?), but the possibilities are a lot of fun. Friend Erin has a good Atlantis story.
This is right at 500 words. (more…)
Did my writing early today. Weekends are always crazy busy around here, and this weekend is no exception. We’ll be having a little Mystery Science Theater Birthday Party for Kevin tonight (I don’t believe it is his 3,000th, though).
A few posts back I mentioned a new character for my superhero universe, Astro Jack. I envisioned him as a Superman-type hero from the ’40s and ’50s. So I thought I’d give him a little chance to breathe. I may expand this into a full-fledged story. It’s only a little over 500 words at the moment. (more…)
Just under the wire on this one. Inspired by some show we saw while waiting for Battlestar Galactica to come on. ~540 words (more…)
The year before last was my first attempt at NaNo. I jumped into NaNo with no real concept of what I was doing - I’d never even tried to write a novel before, and joined on pretty short notice. It was a fantasy steampunk sort of thing. I did a little world building and dove right in. I forget how much I wrote, maybe 8-10,000 words or so? I haven’t really thought about or done anything with the concept since then, so I thought I’d revisit that world just a little tonight. I had to dig up some old notes to try and remember some of the geography and names.
I still think the setting and concept has a lot of potential. Maybe sometime I’ll work on it some more. A little under 700 words. (more…)
It’s another Chuck Chaykin, Bounty Hunter! adventure. I wasn’t feeling all that creative today. Around 600 words or so I realized I used pretty much the same premise tonight as I did a couple days ago. Hmm.
A little over 900 words. I really need a name for Chuck’s ship. (more…)
Just in time! A little alternate history for ya. I doubt I’ll ever do much with this, so here’s the whole thing. About 700 words. (more…)
