The First Words

The first words. The first 1,800 words. The third book in my scifi trilogy has begun. I wonder how it will turn out.

That should be easy. Sit down and start typing. Easy to say. Easy to type. Don’t lose track of those first thoughts. Get words on media! But…

This is my third scifi novel and my eleventh book. I have habits and patterns and processes that make it easier to keep track of my work, the revisions, and the notes along the way. As my computer splashed on the screen, “This could take a few minutes.”

• Find old computer folders, and remember how I named and organized them.
• Find old files, and remember how I named and organized them.
• Remember naming nomenclatures, so these file names will make sense when compared to the older filenames.
• Update bookmarks, so I don’t have to scroll through Explorers to find a file, and no, Search is not efficient enough. (And just realized I forgot to do that last night.
• Find that line from the previous book as a tie-in, because sequels must work together.
• Find the file that has the previous book, so I can compare notes, refresh my memories of my writing and my characters, and remind myself that backups aren’t just backups. Backups can also be resources to access without opening that precious last final submittal.

Now, get to typing. What was that thought that prompted me to write again? It’s 2026. I gave myself the rest of 2025 as a break, but now the new year is already aging. Start typing! Five days in is more than 1% of a year. This book will probably take two years-ish, but procrastination builds on itself. Stop that! Write!

So I wrote. 

It probably took about an hour to step through re-establishing my writing routine, and that included properly propping up the computer, arranging the lighting, situating where I’ll sit, and untangling any computer cables. Oops. Just realized I should update the operating system before I get too far in. Computers do crash. Fortunately, I’ve already created a remote backup that I’ll refresh with almost every session.

And I already have a formatting issue. This is a sequel to a sequel. Do I integrate the summary into exposition, maybe choice phrases italicized as highlights, assume every reader has read the other books? I decided to paraphrase the last few lines from the second book, Fire Race, set it as a separate page, and write on.

The first book, Firewatcher, was easier because there was nothing to coordinate with. The first book was harder because I didn’t know all of the characters, their backgrounds, and how they were going to interrelate. It’s science fiction. There was fictional science to invent, and to decide how much is implicit and how much is explicit.

The third book is easier because almost all of the characters have been established. There’s history to build from. The science is almost all settled. But, I have to Not contradict something mentioned earlier. Scifi readers can be meticulous and prone to notice missteps. If something doesn’t fit, I have to fix that.

Each subsequent book is also an opportunity to fix logical errors. My books are about a bunch of thoughtful colonists. In retrospect, I realize they probably would’ve found better solutions than they did. So, write that revelation in and fix it. See Larry Niven’s Ringworld Engineers for a fine example of a sequel written to fix flaws. Also, realize that Larry Niven isn’t the only author to deal with such issues. Welcome to the club.

After all of that work and those thoughts were arranged, I finally started typing. It was comfortable falling back into the comfort zone of writing. It has taken me about ten books to give myself credit for being a writer. Such insights arrive slowly for some of us. Note, I didn’t say that I claim to be a good writer, but I do appreciate the compliments I’ve received. I also give myself credit for further recognizing my ability to create a story, type it up, and be willing to edit, edit, edit, as needed.

I didn’t time it, but usually, I write at about 1,000 words an hour. I think I wrote those first 1,800 words in about an hour and a half. First drafts are usually ~50,000 words. Final drafts are usually closer to ~80,000. There are usually about ten drafts, though the final few are formatting, not text editing. So, I type relatively quickly, probably from work requirements as an engineer at Boeing and a staff writer at Curbed. But there are lots of words to arrange, a few to invent (hey, it’s scifi), and for once, no deadline.

I wonder what story I’ll tell. Stay tuned as I write it.