The Quest Begins

I had intended to post an overview of my plot before the month actually started. I just never got around to it. So, today is 1 November and today I started writing my WriMo. I think the writing went well. Maya was at work today so I had the whole place to myself. I wrote, ate lunch, did some research and wrote, but not much else. So considering that, maybe I didn’t do so well after all. To make the 50,000 in 30 days you have to write (type) 1,667 words a day. I did 2,318 today. So as of day one, I am ahead of schedule. Of course, again, that doesn’t count for as much as it might because the first day is the freshest day. There are no weedy plot paths to struggle through, just a blank page and your ideas.

I mentioned that I didn’t want to get bogged down in looking something up every paragraph, but I did! My main character… one of my main characters is originally from the Yucatan peninsula so I wanted her to have an authentic surname. Typing “modern Yucatan surname” and similar into Google just didn’t turn up results like I wanted very fast. Right now she is Meghin Estrella. Apparently, Mayan for “star” is ek which was translated by the Spanish to Estrella. It isn’t a very common surname, but the fact that it’s both vaguely sci-fi and is, apparently, authentically Yucatanese(?) appeals to me. For now. I have to remember this is just draft one. The subtle associations for various characters’ names can always be revised later.

Another thing that occupied me far too long is the name of the planet the story starts on. I should have just stuck with something simple like Alpha III – how generic is that?! It took me one half of one second to come up with that just now! But no, I had to be all thoughtful and decide first on a star that is the “right” distance away from Earth and then think about what people might name a planet around that star. Sitting here, now, I can see those details are unnecessary for the story. Yet, while writing, I felt unable to go until I had a good name. The name I settled on, for reasons that I may explain in the novel (or not), is Zajdel.

Having said all that, I really feel I must relate some of the plot. The franchise this is set in is a Twentieth Century Fox / Dark Horse property: Aliens. I’m a long-time fan of the movies. I appreciate all of them in their own way. I’ve also read quite a few of the Dark Horse comics. Oh, and the novels. Great stuff. I could gush on an on about Aliens and the Aliens story world, but I’ll control the urge, for now.

For those of you who are also fans of the series let me say that this novel fits into the over-all time line after all four films, after Earth Hive (also know as Outbreak), Nightmare Asylum and The Female War but before the main events of Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species and Genocide. Exactly how it fits in is hedgy at best as there is no “official” time line of all the different stories. I’ve spent a while over the last week sorting out the sequence of events I want to follow.

As for my story, it happens (mostly) in a near-Earth system in the first years after Earth is over-run by aliens. In the aftermath of the Earth’s infestation, the all-encompassing Wayland-Yutani Corporation fractures and several new companies are established and proceed to compete amongst themselves. Military enforcement essentially disappears. With this as the back ground the novel opens when aliens attack and steal an ancient artifact from a museum. Meghin Estrella is the security chief assigned to investigate this highly unusual behavior. She contacts a top alien behavioral scientist on Mars named Pyotr Nabokov. Together they investigate and track the alien to an asteroid with a human community of squatters. The asteroid, given the designation Deep Space Object DRK 801, was hauled in from deep space for mining purposes in the days before Earth fell. It was never mined because it turned out to have been converted to a space station by some ancient unknown race. A proper investigation was never conducted because of the partial collapse of W-Y and of authority in general. The squatters came later.

When Meghin and Pyotr arrive they meet Riley Moore, a former Colonial Marine who has retired to build democracy up from the ground on the station they call Deep Dark. They are aware of the aliens in the lowest levels of the ancient station, but claim that there is a truce and the two sides leave each other alone. Riley is not interesting in these company people messing around on his turf. Soon he has more problems to worry about as two other groups arrive on Deep Dark. The first is a mercenary seeking to wipe out all alien hives and all those who would hide them. Short on her heels is a Company ship that (as always) wants samples of the alien for study. Into the tension of this four-way standoff comes yet another force: the aliens themselves. Amazing things are then revealed about their true nature and true motivations! Exactly how it all works out is still unclear, but hey I have all month to figure it out.

I think that is quite enough for one day. Au Revoir.

By now I should have 1,667 words.
My current count is 2,318 words.