Spent some time on my outline this morning, plotting out the next three chapters. Did not get up early enough to actually have any quiet writing time. I read through the first hundred pages of the WIP last week, to get an idea of flow and pacing. So far things are humming right along. Space Operas can be very complicated stories if you have many subplots going at the same time. Complicate that with locations spread out all over the galaxy and you have the potential for some serious confusion on the reader’s part.
This novel is orders of magnitude more complicated than Starstrikers. Starstrikers only had one subplot and concerned itself largely with the affairs of one special forces team. But Starforgers is about the events that lead up to a war that will last a thousand years. There are all kinds of characters, from politicians to military leaders to grunts fighting the first battles. If you don’t constantly update your outline and keep a tight reign on the action, you will stray off course as you write.
One fear I have as I’m writing a novel is that what I’m writing is junk. When you are in the grove of creation you worry that what you are creating is terrible. Taking the time to step back and read what you have written from the beginning will often prove you wrong, and give you inspiration to continue. This was the case for me last week when I read through the first third of the WIP. Sure there are things that need adjusted, but overall, I think the story is on track and crackling good entertainment.