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Historic Inspiration For My Sci-Fi Novella

I’m currently writing a novella set just after Starstrikers. It’s called K’nat Trap and its about the efforts of the Starstrikers to capture a new Votainion starfighter that has NexGen technology. That won’t make any sense to you unless you’ve read Starstrikers. Neither will knowing that the novella stars Kiloe and Tamia from the Starstrikers novel.

The scenes I’m currently writing for this novella take place on an Alliance starship that has been fighting on the front lines of the war with the Votainions for some time. I’m trying to capture the cramped conditions reflected by WW2 naval carriers. This involves reading books about WW2 and looking at images of ship interiors from that time period on Google Images.

Airmen are prepared men---In a photograph notable for its sharpness and depth of perspective, Navy fighter pilots are snapped in the ready room of their aircraft carrier before a strike somewhere in the Pacific in a recent battle operation   Feb. 27, 1945

The above picture is the look and feel I’m aiming for in my story. It’s a great image with tons of detail.

Airmen's Restful Air -- Indicative of their lack of tension, Navy fliers Lieutenant (jg) John H. Cantrell (left) and Lieutenant John L. Carter catch 40 winks in the ready room of their carrier while awaiting the word to man their planes during a recent battle action in the Pacific.  Lt(jg) Cantrell is from Portales, N.H. and Lt. Carter from Jacksonville, Florida.  Released November 28, 1944.

I love this one of some pilots waiting to launch on a carrier during WW2.

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This is a modern carrier equivalent, sorry for the small size.

Take away’s for my story include the comfy chairs they sit in, cramped quarters and how their gear is both worn and hanging nearby. I like the moody atmosphere of the older ships and will describe my starship as being old, stuffy and dimly lit. I’ve been in a few Navy ships in museums and they have a certain smell just with all the gray paint and machinery, but you have to imagine how they’d smell if they were filled with nervous pilots.

Of course my starship will have holographic projectors and other high tech stuff but I’m using real life history as my inspiration in an attempt to make my fiction more realistic and to paint images and moods in my reader’s head.