What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? For my novel White Ops, I started writing it in 1998. I finished writing it and six others in the series in 1999.
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? I do my writing in an office in my house. It’s a room about 6×6. The current paint job is a high-gloss fire engine red. Over my monitors is a print of “The Oath of the Horatii. Behind me are two bookcases. One book case has nothing but the works of GK Chesterton. The other is filled with miscellaneous reference books and electronics.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? Writing this one required mainlining coffee and tea in very large cups. I listened to a lot of music—John Williams soundtracks on one end, and Tchaikovsky on the other. I wrote it directly into my PC at the time, and I would work until I fell asleep at two in the morning.
John Williams
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.
From page 29
June 21, 2338 Onboard the United Earth Ship Pandora (Motto: “We will open up a box of chaos on you.”) Of all of the elements of the universe—hydrogen, oxygen, light—the most common of these is not found in asteroids, or stars, or even quantifiable by science. It is, sadly enough, stupidity. For example: the late, unlamented Fleet Captain Horace Palmer of the 3rd United Earth Carrier Group. On paper, he was a solid example for officers everywhere; but paper was the only place he had truly served. While not quite living up to the full potential of the proverbial Admiral of the Queen’s Navy—gaining rank for making certain that the brass was sufficiently polished, and the paperwork was filed properly and in a timely manner—his was the very modern equivalent. Palmer had taken to hobnobbing with the right politicians, even when they had been classmates at the academy. He knew enough to act as the toady for his fellow rich plebes, who would go into politics one day. He knew to keep his nose clean, collect underlings who knew better than he did, and take all the credit he could in a peacetime Navy. Declan Finn 30 While this seemed like a bit of genius, it was there that his intellect ended. This is primarily evidenced by his actions during first contact with the Pharmakoi Expansionary fleet at 0900 hours on June 19th. First, Palmer collected all of the Captains in his Carrier Group, and their Executive Officers. This was not terribly unusual for Palmer, but against all sane procedure in the entire fleet. It wasn’t a written rule, since no-one needed to write down “never put all your eggs in one basket.” It had been well-known that Palmer liked to preen, but as many of the officers muttered to each other on the way over to his ship, the Pandora, this was insane. During the meeting, there were ships inbound. The dozen ships were in an attack formation, a flying wedge. Gunports were open. It was a clear attack. The carrier group had been sent out to find out what had happened to two smaller expeditions. Even Palmer came to a quick conclusion about what had happened to the last two expeditions. The open channel from the meeting heard him quipping that this was “Third Contact.” Of course, from this position, the attack pattern looked insane. The attack pattern was clear and obvious, even though there were no missile ports, only laser batteries. Everyone knew that energy weapons worked only so far, and thus he knew that the Pandora was well out of range of the enemy’s lasers. Palmer’s second major mistake was to assume that “everyone’s” knowledge of the limitations of lasers included the approaching enemy. White ops 31 The third example of Palmer’s brilliance in the realm of abject incompetence was his next idea. With all of his Captains around him, Palmer decided to not move his ship back into formation with everyone else. He didn’t send any of the Captains or their Executive Officers back to their vessels. It was his time to show decisiveness in a crisis situation. He ordered all of the missile batteries of the Pandora to open fire. Ninety seconds later, Fleet Captain Palmer, the Pandora, and every Captain in the Carrier Group, was dead
Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? The only real emotion for me here was amusement. I’ve too often seen the rise of bureaucrats in every conceivable profession, and I always enjoy belittling bureaucracy.
Most of the INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links can be found at the very end of the below feature:
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/03/stephenson-holts-arranged-marriage-is.html