Millenium Falcon? Nah. Enterprise? Nah. Spectral Vigilante? Maybe

His Ship

 So, I need a name for a starship.A battered old interceptor fighter turned freighter turned private ship for a private detective who's also a fugitive, so something dealing with unofficial law enforcement would be nice. I'm also going for a satire/Mark Twain style humor piece.
   These are my current ideas.

•  Vigilante
• Vigilante Shadow
• Spectral Vigilante 
• Vigilante Myth
• The Investigator

  Any new ideas or suggestions would be very helpful.

Excerpt from THE DYING WORDS OF DICK ELDEN, GALACTIC GUMSHOE

      This is my latest novel and the reason I haven't posted in a bit. It's brand new, a parody, and copyrighted to me.        
                      

                                              The Dying Words of Dick Elden, Galactic Gumshoe

An Unexpected Visit

            I was always getting into trouble. Well, that isn’t true, not really. I’m the kind of boy who just can’t resist adventure, which has gotten me in trouble.

            Oh, call me Dick. My full name’s Elden, Dick Elden. I’m a high-schooler and whenever life got me down, I’d go for a walk. When my spirits needed restoring, I could always count on the headlands of Massachusetts to restore them. Or, at least, make them seem smaller. But it was the stars that truly drew me up.

            It was well after dawn on a spring morning in 2010 and the young teenagers of Blansfield were just dragging themselves out of bed. I was already up.

            In fact, I was a on a walk above the sea, absorbing the crashing of the waves and shrieks of sea gulls. Then it happened! A bang! A flash! I reared back like a horse with its reins caught round a tree.

            As I picked my self up off the ground, I spotted an oddly dressed figure staggering towards me. I scrambled back, but my curiosity was sparked. The figure looked like a man dressed in a trench-coat with a fedora on his head.
            “Wait!” He croaked, and I paused, before stepping forward like a man in a trance.

            “What?” I asked, still taking in the man’s bloodstained coat-front and pale face. He was dying that was obvious.

            “T-take t-this.” The man spluttered, coughing out spittle and globs of red liquid. He stuck his hand forward to me and shoved something at me.

            “A-alright.” I stammered. “What is it?” He muttered something. “What was that?” In a burst of strength, the man answered with a defiant yell.

            “The successor of the position is chosen!” With that, he collapsed like a limp rag. I checked his pulse. Nothing. I looked down at the thing. It was a small thingamajig that looked like a computerized passport. There was a button that was helpfully labeled ‘Press Me to Turn KIAC On.’ I pushed it.

            “Welcome unidentified person. I am the Know-It-All-Computer or KIAC.”

     “What?” I nearly dropped the machine. Fumbling, I managed to catch it, but not before I’d pressed several buttons.

            “Please state your name, date of birth, and place of residence.” That, my friend, was strange. I complied though. Something told me this was important and the machine’s orders be followed. I learned later it was the KIAC sending telepathic messages. Not cool.

            “I am Dick Elden, born on October 3, 1994 AD.” I studied the machine. It was doing something, and the words were in some weird alphabet like Klingon.

            “Congratulations on your promotion Dick Elden, Galactic Gumshoe and Official Representative of Terra to the Galactic Private Detective Agency.”

     “What are you talking about?” I asked, secretly wanting to know and do whatever it meant. It wasn’t KIAC this time either. I’d always wanted to be a private detective.

            “Perhaps Ah shout’ exsplain.” A new voice cut in. I turned and blinked. Again, I blinked. There was a small furry creature in greasy overalls with a rag sticking out of his pocket and a wrench beside it. It had a thin and long head with eyes on the side.
            “Shain’t pulite sto stare.” The creature said.

            “Er, um, well, sorry.” I stammered.

            “Stop stammering like a Kreech after a crash.” There was that KIAC again.

            “That might be a good idea.” I replied to the creature, alien, person. “You’re name isn’t Scotty is it?” He/it spat.

            “Shcotty! Swhat a shtrange name! Mah name ish Bax Grashden.” He added. “Shnow zwe really must be leaving!”

            “Bax! Grab the kid and move! We’ve got Hegemony fighters coming in!” That was a new voice coming out of nowhere. I whirled. A battered old ship shimmered into view, seemed to cough, and fully materialized. Then I saw three more ships.

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  Tune in sometime for more!

  Can anyone guess where I copied and tweaked parodied the first three paragraphs? They're the opening paragraph to three well known classics. Here's some hints: safe for a  steamboat, whale of a tale, and fighting brothers.

Welcome to Ainaan and a Little Challenge

 Ainaan is one part of a universe shaped rather like a ball made of tissue paper, each universe a thin layer sandwiched between many other layers, or universe in this case. The center of this universe is Evenfar, home of Lyrianur and the heaven of my universe basically.

   Ainaan is a flat world and I have provided you with a map which, unfortunately, you will have to crane your neck around to see. Sorry about that.

 As you can see, there are four continents and numerous islands in a central sea named the Sea of Leioness after the Lyonesse of Celtic mythology and Arthurian legend. It also ties into the Great Flood. You see after the greatest and final battle of Dur Greden between Lyrianur (the good guy) and Malxor (the bad guy with big plans to make the world better) which ended with Malxor being banished, the world was changed to wipe away and cleanse the world of Malxor's stain. Originally, everything inside the outer edged was land. Then the flood came and flooded the valleys.
   There are four, wait, five main races in Ainaan. There are the humans of course, spread out and varied in culture. There are the dragons, mighty and intelligent creatures meant to protect and care for Ainaan. All but one were killed in Dur Greden, and he is in suspended animation until the End. There are the Dwarendell, small and reclusive beings who have enormous natural talent for creating objects out of stone. They all disappeared 100 years after Dur Greden. Then there are the Ithani, shorter than men and somewhat wider at the shoulders. They are natural woods-folk and specialize in anything with wood. Finally, there are the Krecks. The are mindless, moral-less, and physically perfect creatures made by Malxor. Malxor wanted every creature to be like them.

Polls, Ainaan, and General Announcement

 This will be a shorter post than normal and won't have to do completely with writing. I just have a few general announcements to make.
  The first announcement is that I have a poll up about, so please vote in that. One option, and it expires on February first.

  Secondly, I'm nearly ready for the second Steam Man post, so you won't have to wait to long. I have some concept art and new setting ideas like G.R.A.S.S. gunships. More on that soon.

 Finally, is there anyone who you'd like to see interviewed in the (probably not so soon) future? I can try to get them, but I'll have to come up with the interviews first.

 Now, if you vote about my fantasy world, it's called Ainaan and has four continents arranged around the Sea of Leionesse with islands in the sea. Currently, I have no stories in active progress in Ainaan, or fantasy in general.

Character Development & Genre: How much is to much?

 Character development is a tricky subject, and there are many ways to do it. So, how deep do your characters actually need to be? Well, it's your choice.
 Do you want an incredibly real and complex character for your explosion filled Indiana Jones style adventure? If you do, go ahead but it might be wasted.  The action genre doesn't normally have terribly complex or deep characters. Why? The characters are second to the action and plot.  Take Indiana Jones for example. What do you know about him? He's a professor and a treasure hunter. He's good with his fists and a bull whip. From the movies, that's about all we know about him. That's enough to know about him. We don't need to know anything else about him to enjoy the story.
 On the other hand, a shallow character more appropriate for an adventure novel won't work for a hefty 950 page literary novel. For a novel of this length and plot, you need fully developed characters. You would need to know everything about them, from motives to dreams. A shallow adventurer just won't have the color to move the story along. It would be like a tiny car engine trying to move a dump truck. It doesn't have the oomph to push it along.
 Back to the same comparison, a fully fleshed out, completely life-like character would have to much information. Does it matter that the main character dis-likes sports because he failed to make a team once? Only if it is directly related to the story.

 But what about the other genres? Fantasy? Science fiction? Historical fiction? Well, it depends on your story. Some fantasy stories are shorter and focus more on the plot. They don't need much character development. Others are extremely long and need rounded characters. It's the same for science fiction. Some need deep characters while others need shallow characters.
  More realistic genres, however, need fully developed characters. This is mainly because in a world remarkably similar to our own, need people that we can know well and understand.

 To wrap it up, speculative genres leave the amount of character development up to the story. Real world stories need better developed characters.

NEW SERIES: Development of a Story: An Idea

 Alright, this is a new series I came up with. Instead of simply telling you about the process in which I write a novel, I'll involve you and share it with you step by step. This is for a project I'm currently calling The Steam Man. Part of why I'm doing this is to receive new input and ideas, creating a more varied and rounded story. In return, you'll get a mention on the acknowledgments and a signed copy if gets published.

   It all started with a conversation during chores. It was simply two people trying to out-do each other in a form of verbal combat. One person is tough, the other uses something to defeat it. Eventually, I came up with the idea of fire running through one's veins. Of course, then the person got doused with water. This created steam, and in a flash of inspiration, the Steam Man was forged. It took a little while to apply the finish to the idea.

   The Steam Man has, since the idea was formed, become an android assassin powered by a small nuclear reactor in a futuristic alternate Earth where cyberpunk meets steampunk. In a  country ruled by a despotic and removed government in which the citizen's only dealings with the government are through TV-like transmissions, a rebellion begins. Though guarded and subtle, the government learns of it. In response, they create a mechanical assassin. Its job is to target the rebellion leaders and eliminate them.  As it goes about its missions, unaware of its own existence, something happens. I don't know what yet, but the it becomes a he. The newly aware person has no history of his past, what his name is, or where he's from.

  That's all I have for the plot, and just a little more on the setting. Most of it will take place in a brick Victorian-esque city with levels built on top of each other and smoke hanging in the air. It will be a city under oppression. The place is also grimy, steam-punk style technology run by nuclear reactors, and dark.

Here's the part where you, my readers, come in. Please give your ideas on anything mentioned in this post and I'll give a short list of things that I need help with.

What happened to the Steam Man?
What is the rest of the world like?
Who are these brave rebels?

Seat of the Pants in Five (Almost) Easy Steps

   It may appear that many people frown on writers who write seat of the pants (SotP) style. It's a shame really. SotP writing is really fun, similar to reading a book for the first time. Or more like playing a role-playing game.
   Their disdain might stem from the fact that just sitting down and writing a novel with no idea what will happen is scary, even less so than outlining. In outlining, you don't actually have to write the novel for a while. You can spend quite a bit of time on the outline before starting the first sentence. You often can have detailed character profiles, plot, twists, character arcs. Everything but the story.
  With SotP, you start out with minimal planning and just dive in. I generally start with characters and a basic plot. I might write a list of scenes I want, but no order, so that the story flows and twists naturally. Granted, it sometimes seems to wander a bit. In Hunter Romero and the Atlantean Curse, I started with nothing. Absolutely nothing. I just started writing and it's the farthest and most developed one I have.
  Let me give you an example of my normal SotP outline along with the first step from Lester Dent's Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot. Here are the steps I've taken so far.
  STEP 1: I had an idea. That's how all my novels start out as, an idea, generally a scene or a nebulous feeling. It was a  modern Doc Savage/Indiana Jones/ Lance Juno character crossing a rickety wooden bridge. I sub-consciously asked three questions. Who was he? What was he doing? Why was he doing it?
  STEP 2: I answered the above questions with the answers Jack Wilder, fighting an Egyptian cult, and it was his job. That was good, but he needed fleshed out and helpers. I learned that he was an ex-Special Forces soldier who was honorably discharged due to an injury. He co-owns a company, Wilder and Gray, Soldiers of Fortune, along with Jonathan Gray, a retired CIA agent. There's a third person, but I haven't made him yet. I figured out their skills and their looks.
STEP 3: Define a basic plot idea. What is the conflict? Who are the perpetrators? Why is the hero there? Why is he involved?  This is also where I filled in the four starting points for the above mentioned formula. This is a simpler step, but it requires lots of thinking to make everything seem reasonable. I might use a plot generator for ideas, I found a good adventure plot generator, or even character generators.
STEP 4: Write. This is the final and longest step. This is where I just sit down and start pouring the story onto paper. It will be pretty bad, but some parts will be brilliant and other parts will need cut and fixed. The twists will surprise you, and they should surprise the readers.
STEP 5: Edit and revise the novel several times so that is perfect. This will take a while and will need several posts to cover fully. 

 So those are my five steps to writing a novel. Sometimes it's rough, it's normally hard, but it's a blast to write.