Captains Log: Set Course For Lunar Awards

Lunar Awards Episode 1

I have it on high authority that the

Lunar Awards

are going to kick off tomorrow. This gave me an idea to publicly write about my journey, from zero-to-award winning story (hopefully). I want to share things like—how I plan and prepare a story, how I budget my time and effort, what I think makes an award winning story, and then the effort of actually writing the thing. I hope some of you write a submission with me, and we can all see how we do together, so it’s not just me journeying in public.

Go check out the Lunar Awards page FAQ to get the low-down on what requirements we have to meet—optimistically thinking that you are going to join me in writing, too.

Let’s Make A Plan!

When the kick-off post goes live tomorrow, we have 21 days. What is the best way to allocate time? What is the best way to allocate effort?

To my mind, there’s three phases to a project like this: Planning, Writing, and Editing. For something like Sandbox Earth, I have spent YEARS planning—I don’t have that luxury. Writing I like to think I can do pretty well, unless I get stuck like in the Fictionista’s prompt story, Meowfia. I have never intentionally edited my stories aside from grammar.

According to the FAQ, they are looking for a complete story—no cheap cliffhangers—with a set up, conflict, and payoff. And fairly condensed too at 2,500 words. So I would say I need to spend a fair amount of time planning the story so I know what I am about to write. I should also allow myself plenty of time for editing to ensure I demonstrate “complete editorial control” of the story. The writing itself is just producing the raw materials. Planning is the act of buying the mine, writing is doing the mining, and editing is where we polish and smelt and turn the shiny rocks into gold jewelry.

So I think giving myself 5 days to plan (which is a lot), 5 days to write (which is a little), and 10 days to edit (which is intimidating) is a good way to start.

I will write check-in posts here every 5 days, so that means there will be 4 episodes of this to accompany the planning and preparation that I am doing elsewhere. I will tell you what I am doing and share notes and tidbits, but I will not share what I am writing so as to keep it a surprise for when I post the actual story.

• 3/29 - Wednesday - Kick off, 21 days to go

• 4/3 - Monday - First check in, planning phase complete

• 4/8 - Saturday - Second check in, writing phase complete

• 4/13 - Thursday - Third check in, halfway through editing

• 4/18 - Tuesday - Fourth and final check in, editing phase complete

From Good To Great

How do I take a good story and make it great? What are the great stories that I can think of?

• Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Rescue Party” is one of my favorite all time short stories

• Ray Bradbury’s short story “Kaleidoscope” is another one of my all time favorites

• Frank Herbert’s “Dune” is one of my favorite books

• Asimov’s “I, Robot” is an excellent collection of short stories all thematically connected

• Neville Schute’s short book “On the Beach” is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.

What do these books and stories have in common?

“Rescue Party,” and “Kaleidoscope” both set up a mystery or conflict and spend the remainder of the story resolving it. Both establish the scenario nearly immediately, and spend most of the time exploring the consequences, before providing a poignant payoff at the end. Clarke’s “That joke didn’t seem funny” is one of the greatest lines in history, and tells a lot of story without telling any story at all. Both stories provide resolution.

“I, Robot” is great because it takes a simple concept and explores different iterations and facets of that concept under the guise of presenting the history of robotics. It’s best read as a book to give context but each story stands on its own and also has a poignant payoff.

Tip No. 1 - Because I have 2,500 words, I think I should look to establish the conflict immediately—this can be done with in media res narration, or simply by teeing up a scenario or description of something vivid and evocative.

Tip No. 2 - The premise of this story should be simple, and most of the planning should focus on how the premise affects the story in surprising or creative ways. A great story will be creative and interesting while simultaneously being engaging.

“Dune” and “On the Beach” are excellent because of depth, but different kinds. “Dune” has lore depth—it is part of a universe that is much larger than the one world we spend most of our time on, but we don’t need to leave that world to get a sense of depth. The world building is apparent but not shoved down your throat. It treats it as a given, almost. “On the Beach” has emotional depth—the characters are real, relatable, and vivid. Their struggles are personal, and we become connected to their stories.

Tip No. 3 - The story should take place in a larger world, but because we have only 2,500 words we shouldn’t explore the world too much—treat it as given. Let the reader imagine the rest of the world, and desire to explore it.

Tip No. 4 - Characters should have emotional depth, and be vivid and relatable.

Because we want there to be emotional connection to the characters, there should be few of them.

So, What’s It Gonna Be?

I have a couple ideas. When I sat down to write this post, I had it in my head to expand on the world of Byron the Blackpage, but given the tips and notes that I have explored above, I’m doubting whether that is the right choice.

What are my options?

1. Byron the Blackpage

   1. Advantages

      1. Has an established world already

      2. Has established characters already

   2. Disadvantages

      1. Does not have a clear story

      2. might not get to explore to my satisfaction in 2,500 words

2. Time Traveling Salesman

   1. Advantages

      1. Not necessarily a new world—its our own world just at different times

      2. Has a semi-established story

   2. Disadvantages

      1. Could be complex and confusing to follow

      2. Could be hard to write

3. Time Travel Dream

   1. Advantages

      1. Undeveloped idea that I haven’t explored deeply

      2. Has a neat and simple premise

   2. Disadvantages

      1. Undeveloped idea that I haven’t explored deeply

4. Something Completely New

   1. Advantages

      1. Could borrow worlds I have already developed and do different stories within them

      2. Could leverage ideas from the writing gym and expand on them further

   2. Disadvantages

      1. Scary—not bringing anything to the table, cooking from scratch

      2. If I am not enthusiastic about the idea, it will be impossibly hard to write something.

If I am being completely honest, time travel has the most potential for fun and interesting premise and poignant ending. I could stir up my two time travel ideas and see what comes out. Backup is going to be a new story elsewhere in Inner Space (the universe of Sandbox Earth).

Next Steps

Tomorrow the Lunar Awards will kick-off so I am going to start my 5 days of planning! I usually plan in a notebook so I will start jotting down ideas. I need to establish the central conflict, some key plot elements, characters, things like that. My planning will be complete when I look at everything and think “OK I know what to write”.

I may try writing lil’ snippets just to see how the story tastes and if I can’t season it right I’ll throw it out and take something from the freezer and whip that up.

This is exciting! I hope you’ll all join me for this project!

Godspeed, all Lunar Awards competitors!

Ad Jesum Per Mariam