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April 28th, 2007

First Draft Complete!

Right now, I'm having a beer after a marathon writing session over the past two days
where about 12,000 words hit the book, and the first draft is complete.

This is the first novel I've finished in more than three years (fatherhood will do that to
you), back when I finished Eternity Unleashed. I'd forgotten how tiring it is, but I also had
a wonderful experience early this morning where I wrote a scene that involved Koenig
remembering his very first kiss with Helena Russell. My brain just filled with lots of
happy brain chemicals -- it was a very pleasant feeling, not for the subject matter, but
just for doing something that was kind of "nice" in what is in many ways a frenetic and
somewhat dark book.

Spoke with Mateo on the phone after I finished the book and we discussed the whole
concept of "retconning" (how do you spell that, anyway?), where you go back and change
events that have happened in a series' past. I told him I haven't retconned a thing -- I'm
just making the reader aware of more information that will likely change your perspective
of what happened. As far as I can tell, I haven't changed a single event from any
episode, but when you find out what was really going on, that's where the surprises will
come in.

So, how does it read? Don't know yet -- I haven't read it. I know there are still months of
work to do, but the hard part is always the first draft, and subsequent drafts involve
writing new scenes that are frequently some of the best scenes in the book (think the
Balor flashbacks in Resurrection). I also have to go back and flesh out some details
and make sure all the characters are where they're supposed to be -- there are so many
teams of Alphans running around that the character names get jumbled (especially
when you're writing as quickly as I've been writing).

But, I'll address the question again -- how does it read? Imagine if Tolkien wrote
Space:1999. That doesn't mean it has elves and hobbits and the great eye of Sauron
looming over it (well, maybe a little bit of Sauron), but the scope is there. There are parts
that will match Frodo and Sam fighting Shelob, the big spider. But the poor Alphans --
some of the issues raised in "Collision Course" are facing them again. Why should
anybody believe anything without proof?

Mateo has described this effort as Herculean. And you know what's funny? We know
we're not going to please everybody with this book -- at the end of the book, some of you
are really, really gonna hate us (remember, you heard that here first!). But some of you
will see that we saw this series as something noble that never really got a fair shake to
be treated as something more than a Star Trek knockoff. Omega would NEVER work as
a Star Trek book, but we think we've captured much of the essence of what makes
Space:1999 special and unique in this story.

Back in 2000 or so, I first heard Mateo mention the MUF. And I said: The what? Seven
years later, I've just finished a beer and I'm typing this for the people who read it. And I'll
go to sleep tonight knowing that this effort that's taken years is finally approaching its
end, and I'm wondering what will fill the void (other than the Prisoner novel I'm supposed
to write some day where I try to piss those folks off, too).

It feels really good to have finished a novel again after all these years. Well, finished a
first draft, anyway. But after the first draft, it's all downhill anyway.

Man, you folks aren't gonna know what hit you...

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