Working on a revision and other news

 

Theft.

So, remember that thing I was working on a few months ago? The android story I blogged for the A-Z challenge during April?

Well, big news, I have officially started the revision process. My initial hope was to shuffle things around a bit, finish out story lines that weren’t quite complete, and maybe get this thing knocked out by the end of July.

Having now read through the whole thing for the first time in more than 2 months, I’m pretty certain that it’s going to need more work than that.

It’s barely a working draft at this point, so my initial goal is to get it shaped up so it at least tells a complete story, hopefully by the end of this month. Then I’ll go back and work an in-depth revision process to make it into a good story that makes sense. Since this will be my first full revision of anything longer than a couple thousand words, I have no idea at all how long it will take me to complete.

My current plan is to try to post updates about once a week specifically on where I am in the revision process. Just in case there are those of you who are interested in such things.

If you haven’t read the story posts, or want to refresh your memory, here’s the first scene. You can navigate to later scenes from there.

What I’ve Done So Far

I have re-read my entire manuscript without making any notes. Then I organized the whole thing into the 4 major story arcs.

  1. The science fair (4 scenes)
  2. David and Meltec (11 scenes)
  3. The political problem (9 scenes)
  4. Before the dying (2 scenes)

The biggest arc right now belongs to the David and Meltec arc which consists of all the flashbacks to their life leading up to the science fair. That’s a bit of a problem since I really see the science fair itself as the framework story line. I will either need to flesh it out some, or change the overall structure of the story since I currently only have 4 scenes related to the science fair itself. The science fair was the shiny thing that made me want to chase down this story in the first place, so I really hope I can figure out a way to make it really work as the main story line. One way or another, though, the David and Meltec/Science Fair storyline still needs a proper ending.

The political arc has flashback scenes from roughly 20 years prior to “now” and moves forward into scenes that are probably a few weeks after the science fair. The “before the dying” scenes are essentially flashbacks from the political arc.

So first things first, I will be working to figure out the basic structure I need and what scenes I might be missing. I don’t know if I’ll write those scenes completely, or just do basic outlines that I can carry into my full revision so I only have to write what I really know I’m going to need.

Lots to think about here. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going.

The Other News

perpetualbloghopLater this month, July 27th to be exact (though that’s UCE, so I’ll actually be live around 6:00PM on the 26th), I’ll again be participating in the StoryTime Blog Hop. This is a quarterly event in which a bunch of speculative fiction authors each post a flash fiction story on their blogs, along with links to all the other stories. It’s usually a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it. Of course, that means I will need to write at least 1 flash fiction story this month in addition to working on the revision, but I think I can handle it.

I’ll be sure to post a reminder when we get closer to the date of the hop!

W is for Window – AtoZ Blogging Challenge 2016

a-to-z HEADER [2016] - aprilperpetualbloghopToday is a busy day here on the blog. Not only do I have my “W” post – the 23rd post in the AtoZ challenge as well as the 23rd episode in what may end up being a pretty interesting novella, but today is also the Story Time Blog Hop. For those who are unfamiliar, our blog hop hosts stories from various speculative fiction genres. All are in the PG rating range, and do not contain any extreme or graphic violence or adult material. Links to other stories in the hop are at the bottom of the post.

For those who are here for the hop but haven’t been following the AtoZ challenge: I have been blogging a flash fiction story every Monday through Saturday for the month of April, each post corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. To make things interesting, this time around I wrote each story in the same world with the same characters. There is a good possibility that this will end up being the basis for a novella that will hopefully be published later this year. If you want to catch up on the story so far, click here to read A is for Artificial Intelligence, the post that started things off.

Window

W“There is only the briefest opportunity to collect the data we need.”

David tipped his head sideways at Meltec, the doubt clear on his face. “I can do this anytime. There are weeks still before the fair. If we have other things that need to happen—“

Meltec interrupted, more brusk than he usually allowed himself to be. “Yes,” he said. “We can do this anytime.” He plugged his sensory input into the network interface. “Our observers are requesting data, however.” The download of the required file was already complete. “If I do not meet the expectations they have outlined, not only will I be disqualified from the science fair, but they will come to collect you.”

“No!” David shouted in alarm. “I don’t want to be recycled.”

“I do not think they would recycle you,” Meltec turned back towards the boy he’d been raising for nearly 10 years. “However, they would revoke my license to have you, and may redefine your status. I would not want you to be given to another android.” He placed a hand on David’s shoulder, hoping to comfort the boy. “And I do not want to see you designated as a laborer, or worse, a pet.”

David smiled grimly. “I wouldn’t want to eat the food for pet humans. It doesn’t look right.”

“It is biologically and nutritionally sound.” Meltec flashed amusement across his lights. “Perhaps you have been spoiled by too many cookies.”

“There’s no such thing.” He punctuated his point by opening the storage cupboard and selecting a small package of chocolate cookies. “In fact, I think I need more.”

“After you have eaten your nutritional supplement,” said Meltec, “I will need to supervise you while you progress through a series of questions on your network device. There will be a large number of questions, and I have not been given access to them. I do know, however, that many are designed to be too difficult for you to answer. This is a comprehensive test parameter drawn from multiple levels of training and multiple fields of study.” David nodded and took another bite of his cookie. “The purpose is not only to measure what you already know, but to determine your capacity for logic, reasoned leaps of understanding, and ability to cope with concepts with which you are unfamiliar.”

“That sounds hard,” said David.

“It is a standard test normally administered after an android has progressed through three cycles of progressive programing.”

“Three years? I’ve been through five. I should be OK, right?”

keyboard-453795_1920“David,” the android looked at him squarely, “you have had five years of human education. We have not even covered what an android would receive in it’s first cycle of progressive programming. But do not be concerned. I still believe that you have demonstrated a kind of intelligence that androids do not possess. Answer everything, even if you know you don’t know the answer. The examination will likely take several hours to complete.”

David dusted the last of the crumbs from his fingers. “I guess I better get started then.” He sat at the network device and began answering questions.

Elsewhere, an android looked through a network window, fascinated by this human able to get a surprising number of answers correct.

Copyright Notice: Please note that I fully assert my right to be associated as the author of this story, and while it is complete, it may not be finished. This story may be subject to alteration at the author’s discretion. Please do not copy, quote, or post this story or excerpts anywhere in any format. You are, however, free to share the link with anyone who might be interested.

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Don’t miss the stories from the other authors in this hop:

Elizabeth McCleary: YOU ARE HERE!
Karen Lynn: Williams
Katharina Gerlach: Wet Kisses
Marie Lee: Grandpa
Barbara Lund: Changing Space
Juneta Key: Instinct

If you have missed prior blog hops, you can find links to the submitted stories by going to my previous offerings.

In January 2016, I posted Essence, a fantasy story that starts with a kidnapped girl,

and

In August 2015, I posted The Door, a bit of magical realism that might be the best thing I’ve ever written.

The blog hop cometh…

It’s almost here!perpetualbloghop

I will be participating in another blog hop that will go live this coming Wednesday, January 27th.

Sort of.

Since we have authors from around the world participating, we’ll all be going live on or around midnight, UTC. For me, that’s 6PM on Tuesday, local time.

So if you’re interested in speculative fiction, flash fiction, and emerging authors (and if you’re on my site you probably are) check back here next Tuesday evening to check out the free stories!

In the mean time, feel free to peruse the sites of the other participating authors.

Katharina Gerlach
Juneta Key
Karen Lynn
Angela Woodridge
Barbara Lund
Kris Bowser
Justine Ohlrich
Rabia Gale
Mel Corbett