sci-fi – ChristyESWriter

Intro:
Still recovering from my burns and still off work, meaning my main focus for the next few months is whatever is going to save me the most money, as statutory sick pay is not built for prolonged absences!

However, I am getting there (I now only need one nap a day, as opposed to last month’s three).

The date of The Legend of Aramelle podcast release has been pushed back to 5th April. Partly to allow me to edit them well while still recovering. Also because I have found someone to compose original theme music for the show and wanted to give them enough time to deliver.

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
The Legend of Aramelle podcast is recorded, sound effects are in place and apart from the music, the first episode is ready for release!

Troy script was entered into the Roadmap competititon, which has altered its closing date to 12th March. Am going to submit Troy into Oxford 42 as well, but have until April to do so.

The next competititon I am entering is my time-travel script which will be entered into Scribe Lounge Elevate by the end of March.

Once I’m recovered fully, I will have to make up some work on my other scripts. However, I don’t have any plans to enter those ones into any competitions for a few months, so am focussing on one script at a time while I’m healing.

Things Learnt:
Am getting better at layering sound in Garageband and the first episode really has a good sense of atmosphere when it’s needed: such as an angry horde of villagers chasing my main character and a river progressively getting louder as they near a waterfall.

Have also learnt the benefit of leaving scripts alone for as long as possible between editing. My usual method of working is to keep going back to a script until I reach a point I’m happy to send it to competitions. However, with my time travel script I hadn’t edited it in about a year and as such have been able to identify many changes to make!

From scenes that last time I edited them seemed like vital parts of the story, that I now realise can be altered or cut completely, to adding in scenes that fit the narrative past the pilot episode has been great. Also, turns out that leaving a script for a long time means I like editing it again, rather than finding it a chore.

“Basically, the key rule is, if you want to appear sane on Earth you have to be in the right place, wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and only stepping on the right kind of grass.”

“What must we look like to aliens?” is a question that has prompted many a writer to write a story about just that. Do they think us good? Kind? Weak? Cruel? Bad? Greedy? Strong? The narrator of this book – an alien – comes to the conclusion that humans are all of the above and more and less.

“The tea seemed to be making things better. It was a hot drink made of leaves, used in times of crisis as a means of restoring normality.”

The unnamed narrator arrives on Earth with the task of deleting the knowledge of the Reimann hypothesis – this is a mathematical hypothesis that apparently once proven could lead to space travel – it is a credit to the writing of the book that I kept reading after I learnt it was ultimately about maths.

Once on Earth, however, the narrator becomes confused by the differences between what he has been told about humans and what he observes about humans.

“One life form’s gold is another life form’s tin can.”

The book starts better than it ends, and as the copy of the book I was reading belonged to my mother, I understand why she told me I could keep the copy as “I’m never going to want to read it again.” I, too, will probably never read this book again, but I did enjoy it. A book about the miracle of human existence, the miracle of how we have built our lives – and from the viewpoint of aliens – the miracle of how we consider ourselves advanced and most miraculous of all a book about maths that I enjoyed reading.

Tag: sci-fi

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