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ellarienIt's been a while, but as I said last night the story is nibbling at my brain again. Leaving aside the fact that I suspect I've entirely forgotten how to write, there are some things I need to settle in my mind before I can even think about starting on the thing.
I'm thinking aloud here, more or less, in the hope that writing the possibilities down will help me to pick one or think of something better.
In the backstory, there was a war, and the protagonist, as a baby, lost her parents in a deep-space spaceship disaster. The captain of the ship on which most of the actual action takes place was involved in the disaster, and lost his health, his honour, and possibly someone close to him as well, though I haven't quite nailed that down yet. It's not entirely coincidence that the protagonist later ends up on the captain's ship; the love interest has been pulling strings.
The war ended in stalemate, not long after the disaster, because the scarce resource over which it was being fought (hyperdrive fuel) ran out entirely. The only interstellar links now are the slow, bulky behemoth ships, which are neutral territory by long tradition enforced by the shipwights.
What I can't work out is who was on which side in the war. Let's call the side of the planet on which the protagonist grows up, A.
Possibilities:
1.The protagonist's parents, and the ship they were fleeing on (ship 1), belonged to side A.
1a The captain's ship (ship 2) was on side A, and running escort when the disaster happened.
1a' Or, on side A, and pursuing a side B ship (ship 3) which ran into ship 1.
1b The captain's ship was on side B, and in pursuit of ship 1.
2 Protagonist's parents and ship 1 were on side B.
2a Ship 2 was on side A, in pursuit.
2b Ship 2 was on side B, escorting.
2b' And ship 3 (side A) turns up at a bad moment.
Hmmm. 1b and 2b don't really make sense in terms of the protagonist growing up on a side-A planet, so that narrows things down a bit. And I have no idea where the love interest came into all this, unless he was a baby (and/or lost parents) on ship 3. I do suspect that he grew up on a side B planet, or possibly not on a planet at all. (And that last is a brand-new idea ...)
[Wanders off to think some more.]
[Notes that internal editor made me tidy up one of the sentences above before posting.]
I'm thinking aloud here, more or less, in the hope that writing the possibilities down will help me to pick one or think of something better.
In the backstory, there was a war, and the protagonist, as a baby, lost her parents in a deep-space spaceship disaster. The captain of the ship on which most of the actual action takes place was involved in the disaster, and lost his health, his honour, and possibly someone close to him as well, though I haven't quite nailed that down yet. It's not entirely coincidence that the protagonist later ends up on the captain's ship; the love interest has been pulling strings.
The war ended in stalemate, not long after the disaster, because the scarce resource over which it was being fought (hyperdrive fuel) ran out entirely. The only interstellar links now are the slow, bulky behemoth ships, which are neutral territory by long tradition enforced by the shipwights.
What I can't work out is who was on which side in the war. Let's call the side of the planet on which the protagonist grows up, A.
Possibilities:
1.The protagonist's parents, and the ship they were fleeing on (ship 1), belonged to side A.
1a The captain's ship (ship 2) was on side A, and running escort when the disaster happened.
1a' Or, on side A, and pursuing a side B ship (ship 3) which ran into ship 1.
1b The captain's ship was on side B, and in pursuit of ship 1.
2 Protagonist's parents and ship 1 were on side B.
2a Ship 2 was on side A, in pursuit.
2b Ship 2 was on side B, escorting.
2b' And ship 3 (side A) turns up at a bad moment.
Hmmm. 1b and 2b don't really make sense in terms of the protagonist growing up on a side-A planet, so that narrows things down a bit. And I have no idea where the love interest came into all this, unless he was a baby (and/or lost parents) on ship 3. I do suspect that he grew up on a side B planet, or possibly not on a planet at all. (And that last is a brand-new idea ...)
[Wanders off to think some more.]
[Notes that internal editor made me tidy up one of the sentences above before posting.]