I finished the last book.

And by finished, I mean I finished getting down all of the thoughts swirling around in my head. The book is in no way completed. I am going to have to spend quite a while editing, improving, changing, etc. I do believe that I have passed an important milestone, I have gotten to a place that I can call “finished” even if it is not completely true, and that something I am somewhat proud of.

Taking a bit of advice from somewhere, I’m going to let that story cool for a while. I’m not abandoning it, but I am going to let it mellow out; breath. Take some time to collect my thoughts on the matter and attack it from a new angle.

In the meantime, I’m starting a new project.

I’ve stayed away from one of the genres that I enjoy the most. I didn’t want to do it injustice, writing before my writing skills were at a certain level. Am I at that level now? I really don’t know. I know that from a technical standpoint I have improved.

When I first started writing, I picked a few characters, a setting and a theme. Then I wrote. I had no plan, no story arc in mind, no outline. I just let the characters do what they wanted to do. And for the type of characters they were, letting them wander was a good idea. It also allowed me to write action, drama, romance, suspense and humor all in one go. Kinda like life. I think that’s probably why I ended up writing about 90,000 words before I got burnt out.

This new story, I have a plan.

It’s going to be a sci-fi story. I’m still in the middle of the time-travel story (which I have now figured out how to end), but this new sci-fi story is set in space. In the future. Future space.

Yep, I’m doing a Space Opera.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Star Wars, and I recently read The Forever War and Starship Troopers. The Time Ships was also a big influence. I just finished Mass Effect 3, and remember Battlestar Galactica fondly (except the over-the-top religious ending.) I want my story to have a bit of reality thrown into it. Space is huge, and space travel is difficult. Do I have a piece of “magic technology” that helps the universe achieve faster then light (FTL) travel? Yes. But besides that, the rest of the tech is going to be grounded in reality.

While my previous story simmers away on the back burner, I’ve been hard at work developing a world. Several worlds, in fact. I’m creating a “story-bible” which will keep all of the complex things in the world in perspective to one another, and will give my characters a world to live in. I’ve got entries on how the ships work, how everyone communicates, alien races, planets, colonies, governments, organizations and a timeline.

It’s interesting to see what I have pulled from. I find pieces of all forms of science fiction that I enjoy popping up in my world. I hope that it isn’t too derivative, but really, most of the good worlds have already been created. Perhaps my amalgamation will stand on it’s own. Perhaps it won’t.

I suppose what really matters is the story, and starting a new story is always exciting.

–Steven