An Update: The Slipstream Premier League

Today has been one of those rare days when I've made the most progress on this particular WIP.

HOWEVER

I have made plenty of changes.

Firstly I have been having fun shuffling scenes around. Which means I've edited the first race. While it is longer, it also brings my characters to life more effectively.

Some things are happening earlier. Now there are more deaths. The death of one important older gentleman; the two original deaths of the girls that push Elliot into the Sectionals, and the deaths of the two racers, who by all accounts would surely have won the Sectionals if their ship hadn't suffered a drastic mechanical failure in the first race of the Sectionals.

All plot related deaths, all within the first few chapters. I might space out the events in the second draft.

 A new point of view has been added, ala Agent Cameron Gage. He ties things in together nicely, with his point of view helping along the investigation.

Introduction to one of my Big Bad's happens later. Elliot has seen him, but hasn't spoken to him. Nor has he made a proposition to her ... as of yet. And she's not going to put  two and two together and make five quite as easily as she did the first time around. Let's just deepen the mystery first. So back at 12k, we're well ahead but ... ! It is starting to make some kind of sense.

So without further ado, I'm starting to run out of old materials that I can safely transfer. But I am becoming clearer on who the real villain is ... though its several someones. Not just a someone. Hehe. I love writing.

And that is the update for now,

Cheers!

Bookstore Closures

Around the world, bookstores are in trouble.

It started with the bookstores in the US, from sources from the Writer Beware Blog.

But here in New Zealand, Whitcoulls and Borders have gone into administration. In New Zealand that leaves two major chains, Paperplus and Dymocks. That's not counting the second-hand bookstores, which only sell older books instead of the new materials.

Now I've had to do a few things. I have to shop online to buy the product I want -- Dymocks is just too expensive, so they'll have to get there prices right before I start shopping there again. So I'm left with my online choices.

Those choices are: http://www.bookdepository.com/ , which offers them at a cheaper retail price. The only downside to that is that they don't have the New Zealand currency. But if anyone knows the conversion rate of the AUD Australian dollar, they'll be okay. It certainly beats what Whitcoulls and Dymocks have been offering in their stores for years -- and who knows how long Dymocks will be around for?

Then there is www.ziwi.co.nz , which is an online bookstore. Just sells books and doesn't offer ebooks as well, as the book depository does. This website has New Zealand currency and ships around New Zealand quite quickly.

Another option on the ebook side of things is Smashwords, which I think is www.smashwords.com. Now these are authors breaking into the market. I've got some very good reads from these websites downloaded onto my eReader, but unfortunately Smashwords do not offer good, solid books in hand.

What else? Mightape helps, because they have a great range of books but they're more expensive than Smashwords, Ziwi, and the Book Depository combined. However, their service is really good and its something to consider if you're buying books and looking to shop for general items.

So where does that leave me? Am I not going to physically be able to walk into a bookstore anymore to browse, as I like to do sometimes? I'm probably going to have to go to the Library a lot more. Trouble is, that's an hour away by public transport. While PaperPlus is nearby, it doesn't have the selection. It serves as a Stationary/Book/Lotto counter for shoppers everywhere. And today their shelves looked empty. Alarm bells ringing, anyone?

Ferry over your comments, let me know why you think the bookstores are failing.

Cheers,
Nyxix

Rant: 1

Hey

So I decided to have a minor rant about writing.

One of the toughest things for me right now is writing new tracks. That's right -- writing tracks for Elliot and her team to compete on, sometimes with the bells and whistles a hovercraft needs to keep spacial disorientation at bay. A real threat when the racers have to fly through a magnetic field.

But what else could there be? Well, I can't use all my ideas too early. I should consider adding a new point of view. Agent Gage needs to make an entrance at some point. I might go through and read through to see where the appropriate points would be. It would take me well over 20k -- again.

Did I mention I'd hit the 20k mark on my first draft? Probably not, since I don't know enough about what's going to happen next. Its all stored neatly in my mind, with the scenes floating around in search of something to connect with. Blame the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for my new love of Science Fiction and chalk it up to fate that I'm writing a female protagonist in the style of a paranormal fantasy novel.

There's the fantasy influence right there. I have to go through and check my technology. But then if I invent something light years ahead, it might not matter. I just have to know its possible, or do I have to research? Probably, if I need to offer an in depth explanation ... but what my character doesn't know, my readers can't know, because she won't know to relay it. The joys of first person. So I need a general idea of how it works. The show and tell portion? I've already run into some hard knocks, with problems raring their heads on all sides.

Maybe I should start the rewrite already to include the second POV? It might sound a little extreme, but it'd be quick ... sort of.

I'll figure it out. Eventually.

In the meantime I'll keep writing.

Love, Nyxix

The Slipstream Premier League, Mark Two

The Slipstream Premier League is a three book trilogy with quite a few exciting changes from the first time I outlined the series. With a new set of descriptions and characters, its quite possible that with each new word added a little bit of the story will change no matter how hard I try to summarise it. So let's start at the beginning, and Book One: Distant Sun.

When Elliot Moss limps into the Sectionals with her hovercraft's technology on the fritz, its the beginning of a trilogy filled with romance, intrigue and mystery.  With the possible deaths of two team members in the Regionals, Elliot knows there might be an element of match-fixing in the mix. What she doesn't know is that match-fixing is not all it is. Bookies are literally killing to make a quick buck, with racers disappearing faster than last night's dinner. Then there's an added challenge: can Elliot stay alive as each track becomes exceedingly more dangerous than the last? If Water-Worlds and giant sea slugs aren't enough, then there's a comet's tail, anti-gravity and much, much more to combat. Poor Elliot doesn't have a chance in hell, unless her saviour is in the hands of an intergalactic Federal Agent, determined to bring down the killers alive and arrest the person(s) responsible. 

:: That's pretty much the summary of the first book, with the summaries of the second and third soon to follow when I make up my mind what happens in them. ::

Fun Scene (to be edited later)

((Another little snippet. Part of the usefulness of having one of these blog things handy. My MC is having a few issues after a hard night partying and making a general fool of herself. :D ))

Mornings are not fun. When one woke from an alcoholic coma it did not do the head the slightest bit of good. Of course every time I swore I'd never drink again, I went back on my word. So I kept the thought to myself and cursed the ground that bookie walked on. It made a helluva lot more sense than the memory flashes from last night.

"You silly girl," Detective Cameron Gage. Halleluiah. Should I be pleased that he had graced me with his presence? With my head over the toilet bowl, it probably wasn't the most attractive prospect. I couldn't even muster enough strength to kick him. "Did you really think that confronting him would solve your problems? We were making progress and then you go and make yourself a suspect."

"She's not a suspect," Bex said promptly. There's my loyal Saint Bernard, always there to back up my alcoholic rages, whenever and wherever they took place. Just because the memorial service hadn't gone off quite as I'd expected it didn't mean that there would be anything to gain by it...

"There's evidence," Gage said tiredly. "The racers, Beckett and Heat were equipped with faulty part. We lifted serial numbers for the parts. They were traced back to your inventory, supposedly to be installed on the Beast. Someone swapped out their good one for your bad one."

My head whirled. I knew it. I knew it. Something wasn't right with this whole situation. While I didn't know the parts had been swapped out, it did make my guilt over the affair feel justified. But it also brought up another problem. At the memorial service it had become clear that I shouldn't have a debt to pay to the dead. They weren't relatives. I hadn't owed them anything in life. They hadn't given me anything, done anything for me or made sure I'd survived. But the fact that the bad part on the Beast had been installed on their craft? That meant I had to pay service to the dead. I gulped. Not good.

"That can't be right," I mumbled. "No one would be that stupid. They swap out my bad parts, knowing it is going to have some kind of impact on the vessels recovery. I wouldn't have done anything like it, Gage. I'm not stupid. Do you know how long it takes to pay off a life-debt?"

"Life-debt?" Detective Gage's brow furrowed.

"Tell me you know what a life-debt is. Or rather an afterlife debt," Bex moaned. "Because you've got to be sure what you're telling us. If that part was responsible for bringing down that craft ..."

Bile rose in my throat. Thank god the toilet wasn't far away. The words out of Gage's mouth would've been a godsend had I believed in such things.

"There is no concrete proof yet," Gage said. "We know the problem began with a faulty part. A part that was supposed to be installed on the Beast, but they were swapped by the pit-crew. They say they didn't know where the new part came from. It had been long overdue and..."

"But we bought the Beast brand new," I told him. Oh goddess, there goes the last of my breakfast. Probably some of last night's dinner, too. "The parts shouldn't have needed replacing. We'd only flown it once before in a practice run. Previously we'd flown the Saint. Now I could understand one of the parts from the Saint bringing down their craft, but not the brand new one."

I managed to say this between deep breaths and a dash to the sink to rinse. Last night's dinner does not taste great on its way back up. Nor does it taste any better on the way back down. At least most of it was out, though. Soon I would surely have nothing left to bring out.

"I'll get you something for that ...." Gage indicated the toilet. I nodded gratefully. Maybe it would make the morning pass quicker. If what Gage said was right about their hovercraft, a life saved for a life paid wasn't a deal I could get out of in this life-time. The only reliable way out of it was to figure out who had killed them and why. At least then I could start repaying what they'd given us. One look at Bex told him we were thinking the same thing: someone had set us up. Big time.