Source: galadarling.com via Diana
I really would like to know how other writers manage a full time job, their social life and writing. Not that it isn’t possible, but I find it a bit trying. No wonder they say that writing is a lonely job.
I also grow quite annoyed with the fact that I have to spend the best part of my day (and brain) with stuff that certainly is not story related. But I also discovered that the hour between 9pm and 10pm works fine for after work writing. It only collides with my long distance relationship phonecalls. Yay.
It’s even more frustrating knowing that I’m able to yank out 1000 words in under an hour when I haven’t been working 8 hours before.
Which leads me straight to my next topic: Quality. I spent some time over the weekend revising “A day off” and noticed (again) that my character construction and my dialogue skills need work. Not to mention that rather pointless meandering of the story, but as it was just a sort of warm up, test run, nothing serious, that’s okay. Maybe I should try flash fiction before I get on with the next longer story. Not that 2000 words are long in the first place, but squeezing a compelling story in around 500 words is something different. It would also give me the opportunity to work more on the character’s.
But… I am so happy to finally work my writing muscles again. It feels good, even when it’s only 100 words. Or 10.
“Where is it, where is it?” He obviously had missed the showdown.
“You mean that horrible mantis that was just here a minute ago?” Lilla couldn’t help sounding a tad bit ironic.
“Yes, yes… have you seen it?”
“Seen it? I felt it, was almost eaten alive by it!”
“Oh dear. But where is it now?” He stared at Lilla with big childlike eyes. There was a flickering hint of madness laying beneath them.
“I hate to bring you bad news, but that’s what’s left of that creature.” said Nate, plucking down a flake of ash from Lilla’s head and showed it to the man.
“No, no, no! What have you done!! My beautiful mantis!!!” The childlike gaze in his eyes changed to full blown insanity in mere seconds and he looked like he was going to hit Nate. But instead he suddenly turned around and stormed to the exit, where he bumped into a police officer, who of course arrived after the danger had been toasted.
“And where do you think you’re going? Was this your creature that has threatened the citizens?”
“Boy, this Professor Camden sure is batty.” remarked Lilla after they had told the officer their version of the mantis battle. She stood beside Nate’s spotless car and tried in vain to get rid of the remains of mantis ash. “I guess I better take the monorail home, otherwise I will ruin your pretty white seats.” she sighed.
“Lady Ravencroft, don’t talk such nonsense. I won’t let you take the monorail, being covered with icky ash, and sporting a rip in your dress that might be a bit too revealing for your liking.” Nate pointed at the damage that the mantis’ claws had caused. The skirt was teared from it’s seam up to the hip, revealing indeed Lilla’s nice set of thighs and quite a glimpse of underwear.
“Oh dear!” She faked a faint. “I won’t be fit to be seen! Scandalous! Young lady of noble descent was seen riding the monorail in questionable attire. I can already see the headline.” She giggled. “At least that thick pettycoat prevented greater harm. I never thought my skin would be saved by such an impractical, frilly thing.” Lilla had never been a friend of the female art of dressing. Although she occasionally enjoyed stepping out in a pretty dress, like today, she much rather wear sturdy pants and a button-down shirt. Trying not to scatter the ash all over the white interior, she got into the car.
°°°°°
And so ends this little adventure. Which wasn’t a real adventure, I prefer to call it a test run. Next up there will be a real adventure, I promise. And you can chose which one!
Story A – Tantalizing Tango with a Tentacled Monster
The task is to deliver a cargo deep into the jungles of the Amazonas, when our fearless crew finds the camp deserted. Strange marks cover the grounds, tents are destroyed and everything looks like an epic battle had taken place. Will Lilla and Nate find out where the scientists had vanished to, or will they become an afternoon snack of a fiend to horrible to describe?
Story B – A Mysterious Midnight Delivery
We found our heroes in the sweltering heat of summer, at a time where jobs are scarce and one has too much time to kill. A mysterious man asks them to deliver a harmless looking parcel to a mansion in the country, precisely at midnight. But as soon as their strange guest has left them, the trouble starts. Will Lilla and Nate be able to deliver the parcel in time or will they fail, bringing doom and chaos to Emerald City?
She didn’t dare to look, because not paying attention to the swirling forelegs with thousands of sharp little hooks would be a sure ticket to death.
“I am, I am. But you are still in the way.” Nate sounded quite anxious.
The mantis was very beautiful, besides it’s utter deadlyness. It’s slender body was from a very soft green colour and shimmered. The wings, which flared up occasionally, had deep crimson red tips which faded into a bright orange. The multi-facetted eyes were jet black with a hint of metallic blue. Too bad they catched every move Lilla made in advance. Slowly it was moving her backwards into a corner. The talons clicked every time they closed and the hooks met.
“It’s going to corner you, Lilla. You must get away!” Nate felt how cold sweat started to trickle down his back. Sooner or later he had to fire the blaster, even with Lilla in the perimeter of the heat.
Lilla too started to get a little bit nervous – and tired. Already she only escaped by an inch, the sharp claw on the foreleg just ripped her skirt apart. Then it dawned on her, that besides the talons and head, a mantis’ body wasn’t very flexible. She could just dive through it’s legs. With a deep breath she ducked down and skid under the body of the hissing monster. Just as she was directly underneath it, Nate fired the blaster in desparation. Lilla had been right, he was marvellous marksman. The white ball of accumulated heat hit the mantis right at the upper body. With a terrifying scream the creature burned to ashes.
Nate came running from behind the counter to see if Lilla was alright. The smell of burned chitin hang in the air. Lilla layed face down on the floor, motionless – and covered with ash. In panic he kneeled beside her, shaking her at the shoulder.
“Lilla? Lilla, are you alright?” His voice was shaking to. For a moment there was only silence. Then she stirred and lifted her face from the ground. And smiled.
“Just my luck that you couldn’t wait any longer, eh?”
With relief he helped her up. “I’m so so sorry. Guess I’m not as cool as I used to be.”
“Aw, don’t be so hard on yourself. Oh look, I bet that’s the scientist who’s little pet we just burned to a cinder.” She pointed towards a white haired men in a dirty labcoat who was entering the Diner together with the curious crowds. He looked desperate.
I thought it might be nice for my tiny readership to take a peek behind the scenes. At least I always find it fascinating to see the “making of” of films and sets or read an author’s webpage. And only through sharing we learn, don’t we?
So, what’s on my mind at the moment? Besides that giant praying mantis that may or may not eat Lilla alive? I have never ever writen anything remotely close to Science Fiction, but since I came in contact with those wonderful worlds of Steampunk and Dieselpunk, I find it highly fascinating. So I spent that part of my evenings where I wasn’t hunched over the keyboard to write the next bit of story, with browsing the web for material about retro futurism. Because that’s bascially what I’m doing at the moment: mixing Dieselpunk with Rockabilly (Some may call it Atompunk, but I don’t like the word Atom at the moment… I’m waiting for Solarpunk.) and create a future with a heavy retro feeling.
I found some amazing pictures, like this one, which really set my imagination on fire. And that feels really really good.
I also found Luc Schuiten’s concept art about how our cities could look like in “our” future, and I fell in love. These are very radical concepts of course, but I love how he re-invents the organic structures of the Art Deco movement. Have a look yourself: Vegetal City.
Now that that big event at the dayjob has come and gone I hopefully be less exhausted in the evenings. But life will come in the way of writing sooner or later again, so I decided to switch to scheduled posting. New episodes of Lilla’s adventures will go live every Tuesday and Thursday and will be supplemented with Author’s Notes every Sunday.
So, see you Tuesday in Emerald City!
Sorry for posting so late, but grueling long work hours rendered me pretty tired and uninspired. But here it is, at last, the 4th part of our little adventure in Emerald City. Things are going to get nasty… very nasty.
Before Lilla could say anything about that, a piercing scream cut all conversations. A giant praying mantis had entered the Diner. As guests where trying to get first through the door to safety, a girl fell victim to it’s talons. For a tenth of a second Nate and Lilla were rendered speechless. Then they dove simultaniously behind the counter. Maude had already fled to the kitchen. As soon as they where out of sight, Lilla reached for her purse and pulled out her blaster.
“You carry your blaster in your purse?” Nate muttered under his breath while peering over the countertop. The girl was still screaming and trying to wriggle out of the deadly grip. The mantis was as tall as a grown man and had undoubtely escaped from some mad scientists lab.
“Like all pretty looking but unpractical fashion, this dress has no pockets. And you know how I like to be prepared. I didn’t want to go the garter belt way, that’s just too sleazy, not to mention uncomfortable.” She handed him the gun.
“Hey, don’t you want to kill that beast yourself?”
“Actually, I want to rescue the girl. And you are going to roast that beast as soon as I have her and me out of the line of fire.”
“You are not going nowhere near that thing! You’re going to get hurt!”
“And so does this girl if we don’t do something. You’re a way better marksman than I, so get going. That’s an order.”
Her voice told him that she wasn’t going to discuss this any further. Instead she crouched to the other side of the counter, to get in the back of the creature. Then she let out her battle cry, a blood curling sound of utter fearlessness, and launched herself feet-forward into the beast, in best kung fu manner. It was even more impressive because she was wearing her sunday best, with petticoats and nice shoes. The mantis was considerable astonished and let go of the girl, which ran out of the door as soon as she was on her feet again. Lilla found herself now as the target of the beast, but she was a terrific street fighter and dodged all the attacks from the talons.
“Nate, you still there?” she yelled.
“Lady Ravencroft and Mister Havisham! How good to see you two!” Maude, the always enthusiastic serving robot greeted them as they entered. She placed them at their favourite table, in a small nook that provided some privacy, and soon there was a wonderful breakfast standing in front of them. And donuts. The diner had a black and white checkered tile floor, beautiful red seats and aluminium tables. Maude darted back and forth between the kitchen, the coffee maker and the few tables that were occupied. It was a rather quiet morning at Harry’s. For a while Lilla and Nate enjoyed the delicious breakfast in silence. They were working together for almost 6 years now, and as they were seeing each other daily they didn’t need a lot of words to communicate by now.
For example, Nate just knew how much Lilla enjoyed that bite of blueberry donut right now, because she had an almost invisible smile on her lips while she was munching away, looking dreamily out of the window. Those blueberry dontus were what you dream of when you float 30 miles above ground with the prospect of meeting nutty scientists in a godforsaken wilderness without hot showers. Or good coffee. Coffee – that’s the thing that keeps Nate going and Lilla happily observed over her donut how he celebrated his ritual. It consisted of one medium sized coffee mug, filled precisely to the half with steaming hot coffee. Then he filled it up with milk and put in two spoonful of sugar. Always two.
“So, what’s in store for us next week?” Nate interrupted her thoughts about odd little quirks.
“Uhm, let’s see.” She fetched her Communicator out of her purse and pressed some places on it’s glossy screen. “Nothing wild, and no oversea trips so far. It looks like we will be able to sleep in our own beds every night.”
“Sounds good to me. I could use a bit of a slower stretch right about now. Those two weeks in Mexico were draining, and that trip before to Greenland wasn’t a piece of cake either.”
(Part 4 will be up tomorrow.)
An hour later Nate’s fancy ride stood in front of the hangar: The Edinburgh 2000, a dream of a hover car. All shiny chrome and gleaming red on the outside, with an all white interior and a convertible roof. Lilla loved it, although she would never say so.
“Aye Captain Ravencroft, you look stunning in this black and white polka dot dress.” Nate greeted her with a wide smile.
“Thank you, Officer Havisham. I tried to match it with you car.”
“I will never understand why you live in that shag, and out here too.” he said, as they swooshed towards the glistening skyline of Emerald City.
“And I can’t believe that you are happy in that behemoth of an arcology. Living with 100 000 people, the horror! And besides, I still have my parent’s manor in the countryside, I can take refuge in luxury whenever I want to.”
“This behemoth you are talking about is 100% self sustainable and very convenient for somebody who is absent most of the time.”
“But how you can live in a tin-sized apartment after spending most of your time on a cargo ship? The Sui Generis is rather spacey, in comparison to other crafts, but still too narrow to comfortably stretch your legs.”
“You live in a run down supply building next to a hangar. Besides Harold you don’t have much comfort either.”
“Touché.” She laughed. “Isn’t it funny? We spend weeks literally crammed on top of each other, only to meet up for brunch on our free day. We must be insane.”
Or in love, he thought.
They reached the busy air lanes of Emerald City, with hover cars and domestic rockets darting in every direction between skyhigh mega-structures (the aforementioned “behemoths”) and not much smaller condominiums. The transparent tubes of the monorail criss-crossed at medium hight. Besides the name Emerald City didn’t bear much green on first sight.
While Nate manoeuvred swiftly through the traffic, Lilla enjoyed to be not the one in command. It was her day off, she was bound not to pilot anything anywhere. She admired the organic architecture, looking like a cross-bred of a thousand year old tree with the aesthetics of the Art Deco movement. They were made of shiny materials that shimmered in the sunlight. On top of the huge structures there were woods and urban farms. In smaller nooks there were vertical gardens, where flowers in every thinkable colour cascaded down the walls like living waterfalls. Lilla loved the air lanes of Emerald City, there was so much to be seen. Way too soon Nate parked the car in front of Harry’s Diner.
Part 3 the will be up tomorrow. 
In which we meet our main cast, have a day off and explore the home base of the Sui Generis: Emerald City.
For someone who grew up and spent most of her life in a fancy manor with all possible luxuries, Wentworth Road No 3 should have been a downright humiliation. It was a not much more than a huge hangar made from corrugated sheet iron and a little attached two-storey building which clearly had seen better days. Being situated right next to the large airbase of Emerald City wasn’t an improvement either, or so one might think. For Lady Adelie Ravencroft however, it was heaven. Her selfmade heaven. She loved every rusty and dirty bit of it. Besides, she took care that the interiors were comfortable enough, which included a really nice bathroom with a tub.
Because a bathtub is the best thing in the world when you come home from a long distance delivery. Which was the case right now. Or to be precise, yesterday she and her First Officer did come back from a journey which took them to the wonders of Mexico, as they had hauled over a quite expensive piece of machinery to an excavation camp. Today was their day off.
The birds of the airbase had woken her up quite early. She spent a minute laying in her podshaped bed, enjoying the space and the comfort. Home sweet home. After some extended stretching and yawning she got up for some coffee. Harold, her little housekeeping robot greeted her with a happy tune and a steaming cup of joe.
After half an hour or so of blissful staring into nothingness and running around the house only dressed in underwear (another bonus for living together with a robot), her Communicator signaled that somebody had sent her a message. It was from Nate and read: “Hey princess, how about a tasty brunch in our favourite diner?”
She wrote back: “That would be great. I missed Harry’s Donuts the whole week.”
The answer didn’t took a minute: “Swell. I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
(Come back for part 2 tomorrow.)
The picture above is from the amazing artist Bradley W. Schenck, and called “The Clouds will soon roll by”. Check out his DeviantArt or his wonderful website.
