I’ve got 60k problems and my intro ain’t one

Future Grim is a universe devoid of culture and commanded solely by warring corporations. These corps battle for the wealth of human resources, in bouts of so called bloody business.

Kennerman are the no. two of the top five. It is up to Francis Kennerman and his his loyal COs to take back the top spot from the mysterious Alberton. The no. three, Volan, headed by Nigel will undermine the rules and regulations to seize the top spot for himself.

Disloyalty, dishonesty and desertion will not be tolerated. The Future is Grim.

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I’ve had problems, editing problems.

60k> words isn’t easy to edit. I’ve been churning through the early chapters, but then I find myself slipping backwards to the first chapter. I polish it and repeat. The first two parts of the six are better than ever, however the rest hasn’t been touched in over a year. I’ve had to implement a colour coded ‘do not touch’ system to attempt some form of progression.

The good news is I’ve started listening to some audiobooks while doing my brain absent job. I got around to experiencing Dune, which turns out has similar concepts. It’s been great inspiration for me and I’ve called this period of writing the ‘post Dune’ era. What I enjoyed the most was the way exposition was handled. In my own initial drafts I now know that I left out too much information to the point the reader wouldn’t understand.

I’ve also listened to Snow Crash, which was equally amazing. I’m always up for some sci-fi recommendations.

My goal now is to polish each part to a certain level and then move on. I’ve given myself to the end of this week to create a first part that I’m happy with.

In other news, my mate has been creating mechanical keyboard reviews. I recently created an intro for him, so it makes sense to give him a shout out. It’s interesting and worth a look if you like things technical (also he has a deep and soothing voice :P).

Till next time…

Kyle

 

Long time no post – Part three: “Shit son, seven months…”

The book is dragging on by knuckle skin and tendon splinters.  63,000 words or something; it’s not about the words anymore (it was never about the words). I have three important topics to cover. The editing, the contest and the future. Let us start with the start.

The Editing

I’ve never edited anything for this long (and I trained as a video editor). The book has lost all meaning and I have been bored of several chapters several times over. I’ve taken the obligatory ‘month off’ to recoup and re-evaluate. It did help but only felt like a temporary fix.

My outlook has changed now Another friend has offered to help and they happen to be someone who is critical. It feels a good time to seek advice and my writing is benefiting from this approach. My first ten chapters have never been better. Some chapters have been moved and the whole text flows a lot more than it has ever done. It’s starting to make sense and it doesn’t need me constantly chiming in with exposition–because it’s all in the blood text! To create a science fiction world isn’t just about ideas, you need to really sell it as a genuine situation.

And then bam, I realised that I’m enjoying working on my book again.

So that ends this post, I’ll post about the contest tomorrow (If I remember).

Laters,

Kyle Carter

 

Spaceships, what do they look like?

I’ve always wanted to design my own space ships. The style of the ‘Corporate Punk’ world allows me to design something unusual, but could still exist.

I made this image in photoshop a while back and finished it off today. It’s a combination of many skyscrapers. The idea is a spaceship evolving into a horizontal Spacescraper of the void.

 

The image itself is created to reflect the style of propaganda posters. I’d love to get an engineer in there with his thumb up on the right hand side, but my drawing skills just aren’t up to it at the moment.

It’s only a work in progress, so the design is likely to change, but this is at least the base.

Writing wise I’ve nearly finished the synopsis and I’m starting the bulk of my research. Research is an odd one for me. I really enjoy doing it but I find I get distracted easily by related topics. I’m meeting up with a friend to hack down my synopsis in a week or so, he is going to be acting as my ‘publisher’, in that I want him to be critical of my story.

In other news I’ve been helping a friend work on an alternative history fantasy pirate story. It’s coming along nicely and I should be able to share some of that on here soon.

Keep on trucking,

Kyle Carter

Logo Exploration

A story taking place in a universe embroiled in corporate style must have a set of stunning logos to match. I may be writing a book, however I feel I need to explore these visual avenues first to get a grip on the identity of this fictional place.

To start, I’ve created a pair of logos for two rival corporations, Kennerman and Volan.

First up is Kennerman seen above (Click on it for detail). Orange is the working colour of this corporation, so it’s used heavily. The shape is a fist, representing the strength of the Kennerman people.

The second one, this time for Volan, whose colour is red (Again, a more detailed version just a click away). I wanted to capture the feel of them being in the same world, but not being too alike. I feel I’ve captured that to some degree. Volan’s logo uses circles, this is to reflect the patterns in the eye. One thing’s for sure, a Volan is always watching.

The overall vibe I tried to capture is a world in admiration to the 21st century, the 80s in particular. In the same way the victorian’s looked back on the classical period for inspiration in architecture, my universe has looked back upon 70s, 80s, 90s as a prosperous time of human civilisation. However, just as the inspired greek architecture was mistakenly depicted without colour, the future’s narrow view of the past means they have only picked the bits they admire and have ignored all the rest.

Writing wise it’s been slow lately, been trying to get a job to pay the bills. It’s quite hard when you are young and lacking experience (also my location is bit seasonal). The sooner I can get a bit of a schedule in my life the more time I feel I can dedicate to working on what I love.

Keep calm and stay armed,

Kyle Carter

Weekly Star – 07/08/3228

A section dedicated to the basic knowledge and information of those who run the corporations we serve every day. Nights may be dark, so let the Weekly Star light up your life.

“Rated  #2 on the charts, Kennerman is the most profitable corporation by a sector boundary. They are regarded as being brash and bold, something I can attest to from personal experience. Fierce during times of business and calm and calculating when drawing up plans for conquering sectors, and boy do they like conquering sectors. The CEO for the time being is the presumed missing, Francis Kennerman. A man who is rarely seen or heard from, but you have to give the man a break, he is being hailed as the ‘downfall of Kennerman’ due to recent events.  Four years into Francis’ tenure, Kennerman Corp quickly  fell from the #1 spot. This failing was pinned entirely onto Francis

Some of the Kennerman staff felt disappointed with the early retirement of the former CEO, Jacob Kennerman, Francis’ Father.  A dedicated group within the company, who named themselves the loyalists, called for Francis to retire. With no son or daughter at the present time, Francis has no one to pass down the corporate torch. Second in command, Zanshal Hobbs, is possibly next in line. Not a particularly desired outcome as the corporations like to keep it in the family.”

“After digging into Francis’ past, rumours surfaced of the idea of an illegitimate son, born a few years before he took the reins of the company. Francis has refused to comment on multiple occasions as to whether this was true or not.

Further delving into his company has revealed Francis to have a rather unusual bodyguard. The person appears to be a tall muscular woman. Any attempt to make contact with her has left our reporters with a stark reply and threats of violence.”