Character profiles: Jackson Brown

Name: Jackson Brown
Age: 35-40

Position: Inventory & logistics and assistant engineer, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Can seem to be quite inapproachable at times as he prefers to keep his own counsel. He is always certain of his own mind and isn't slow to tell other people if he thinks they or a situation is wrong, bad, or being handled wrong.

Misc: A mixture of hired muscle and a steady mind, Jackson is in charge of dealing with port authorities, sourcing cargo, and dealing with any problems that arise. One of Dak's most trusted friends, he is also the one the captain turns to when something needs to be done.

“Jackson seems to be alright, and judging from the language he used when I told him he was restricted to the medical bay this morning I would say he’s well on his way to recovery,” Dr Rivers said, smiling slightly.

Inspiration & character creation: Jackson began as little more than an additional crew member but has become more and more part of the plot as the story has progressed. He has a sense of mystery around him in the story - partly because sometimes when I write him I'm not even sure myself what's going on. It was fun to give him a more key role in discovering the saboteur on board the Crazy Horse - especially as I'd noticed his main role up to that point seemed to be to get injured!

I didn't base his character on anyone in particular, and although I'd had his name in the back of my mind for use in a story for a while, he hadn't really got any personality to go with the name before Alive!.

Finishing a story

I'm reaching a few deadlines during the next couple of months. First, I really need to finish editing my NaNoWriMo story from 2008, The Dark Lady.

Lavender crept out into the passage, trying to ignore the feeling that the pictures were watching her. At the end of the passage she found a large round room, lined from floor to ceiling with shelves containing jars, scrolls, bottles, small wooden boxes and dusty old books.

Fascinated, she went closer to see what was in the jars. She reached out a hand towards one when a voice stopped her.

'I wouldn't do that.'

She turned to see Columbine standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest and black and green wings held out wide, blocking the exit.

'Columbine!' she cried in relief. 'I know you said you want to be here, but this place isn't good for you!'

Columbine shook her head slowly. 'I wouldn't expect you to understand,' she replied. 'You have never been afraid of your own magic, scared that it will run away with you, and worried that you might do something terrible.'

'No, you're right,' Lavender replied. 'But there still have to be better places to learn how to control your magic than here, with that dark faerie.'

'She is my friend,' Columbine returned, coldly.

'I thought I was your friend too,' Lavender replied quietly, looking Columbine straight in the eyes.

Columbine paused, and for a moment Lavender thought she had got through to her. But before she could be sure, another voice cut in, and Lavender wheeled round to find the dark faerie had somehow appeared behind her.

'I'm impressed you got out, but you've caused enough trouble now,' the dark faerie hissed at Lavender, throwing a bolt of black magic at her.

This story has been lying around not doing very much for the past year. I did get it proofread, but never really got around to editing it. Now I'm finally getting the chance to edit, and I'm on the second read through now. On the first go through I fixed a section that didn't make sense and took out a large chunk that was really just waffle. Now I'm onto more nitpicky things. I'd like to get it finished by the start of June - I'll keep you posted...

The other story that's coming to an end is Alive. I've been doing weekly updates since January on this story and it's due to come to a close in July. There's no fixed date yet, but I'm already starting to tie up loose ends.

I reckon I've got about 6-8 more installments to find out the truth behind Delta the cyborg and figure out why she was sabotaging the Crazy Horse, figure out whether or not to leave Colonel Leonard and the missing child unsolved, and help Dak get out of trouble for taking a drug mule on board.

100 pages in 30 days

I know I've been quiet for a while, and I'm very sorry about that. I've been taking part in Script Frenzy during April, trying to draft out a comic book script based on Alive! And finally, today, I managed to hit that magic 100 pages... then I validated the page count and found it was 135 - how did that happen?!

Of course, the story's not finished yet and so the comic script isn't either, but I'll try to get it finished once the story ends, and then maybe try to find an artist who'd be willing to draw it for me.

Not enough hours in the day

Why is it that when you think you've got everything sorted out and you know exactly what time you're going to have to spend writing (or whatever else you choose to do) something comes along to change all your plans?

In my case it's been a change of workplace that's added to my commuting time, giving me less time to spend doing other things, including writing.

I have still been able to keep up with Alive! though, and that story is due to end in July. I think the Crazy Horse might just have reached Mars by then...!

Character profiles: Elliott Macintyre

Name: Elliott Macintyre
Age: Early 30s

Position: Second in command and helmsman, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Fairly laid back and experienced in startship operations, Elliott is the one Dak relies on to make sure paperwork is in order, timetables are kept and the ship is all working properly.

“Hey, Brown, open your eyes, look at me, Jackson.”

The voice sounded far away and Jackson wished it would go away. His head hurt like the worst hangover he’d ever had, although he couldn’t remember drinking anything.

“Brown,” the voice wouldn’t shut up, and now whoever it was talking was shaking him as well.

“Go ‘way,” he groaned, keeping his eyes shut.

“Hey, you scared me for a minute, Brown,” Macintyre said, sitting back on his heels as he opened the first aid kit he’d grabbed from the bridge. “Hey, stay put,” he added as Jackson tried to get up. “You’ve got a gash on your head and you’re leaking red stuff all over the place. Keep your butt on the deck ‘til I’ve cleaned you up a bit.”

Jackson made a noise which could have been taken as a grumbling assent or as a swear word. Elliott ignored it as he poured a liberal amount of coagulant powder onto the three inch cut on the hairline of the other man’s head, then wrapped a bandage around it.

“There was a hull breach,” Macintyre continued. “Looks like you were in your bunk when it happened, and you got thrown out and hit your head on that cabinet there,” he pointed to a low cupboard with a brown-red stain on the corner. “Don’t you remember anything?”

Jackson shook his head then winced in pain.

“You sit there a while longer before you try moving,” Macintyre told him. “You’re not bleeding any more, but you’d better let the doc see you to patch up that cut. If you can stay put for a minute I just need to check on Anna. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Firestarter

In mooching around the internet this week I found this article on top tips for writers. As well as some useful tips and tricks, it also started off with some questions which could be used as the basis for a story. One of them was: What if a young girl could start fires with her mind?
I think I might use that as a prompt...

Character profiles: Dr Connor Rivers

Name: Connor Rivers
Age: 45-55

Position: Senior doctor, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Serious, intelligent and with a weakness for a good whisky.

Dr Rivers sat upright studying a hand held computer pad. He looked worried, but he often did when he had patients, thinking through every possible complication and treatment.

Inspiration & character creation: Dr Rivers was one of those characters that was necessary to create for reality's sake but didn't have a fleshed out character when I started writing. I knew it would be likely that people would need a doctor on a several-month-long interplanetary trip, but I wasn't sure how much he'd get involved with the rest of the story.

Of course, after Pilar Perez got ill, he became more central to the story, providing background information and eventually turning into something of a sounding board for Dak. He also seemed to be quite fatherly towards Anna, which was a nice development.