From the Writing Cave: Flashback Friday | Revisiting the SciFi Favorites

 

Hello, readers! Today's post is a flashback to the SciFi films and series that inspired my sci-fi romance trilogy, Starships. Yes, series titles is derived from the song by Nicki Minaj. But what gave me the idea of people bouncing from galaxy to galaxy was the western-style scifi series, Firefly; and the scifi adventure, comic-to-film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Now, before anyone jumps at me about how Valerian wasn't that good of a movie... I know it wasn't that great for some viewers, but I, personally, was very intrigued and found it fascinating. The thought of a city among the stars, where aliens and humans alike can live peaceably? I think that's just brilliant.

The first time I watched it was when I was staying with relatives, back in 2017. Though I think it was already 2018 when we saw it. My cousin is very into this style of cinema. As one can imagine, we also binge-watched her entire Doctor Who collection(which I am sure has grown as the other seasons became available), half of Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica. And Firefly. You get the gist.

My cousin and I have mildly similar taste in movies/TV series. This is probably why I was the only one to stick through everything to the end.

This said I was inspired to write my first sci-fi romance, adventure, MONTGOMERY, during April 2018's CampNaNoWriMo. Of course, I was also trying to build my DesignsbyEH business and my motivation to write dwindled during that month. I just had a lot happening and was barely at the house because my cousin(s) kept wanting me to go out with them. I did, eventually, finish MONTGOMERY, but not before I realized I wanted it to be three books.

I wanted the first two books to be completely stand-alone, and have them come together in the third book to continue where the other books left off. The plan remains intact, it's just been difficult to carry on  Dax's story.

The Main Characters of the Starships Trilogy:

I just mentioned Dax, who is the MC in the second Starships book, later becomes the best friend and pilot to Captain R. T. Conrad from the first book. 

Ryan's book takes her on a journey of learning that she doesn't always have to do things herself. Dax's story is supposed to follow a similar path, but it's more personal to her because she is searching for the one she lost.

Leading female characters are very popular when done right. The first Starships book was quite popular and I know the second would be just as awesome among readers if I could just get it finished. In the third book, Ryan is helping Dax search/find her lost fiance. I don't mind spoiling it because it's been on my brain for so long and I don't really count this detail as an actual spoiler. The series will, eventually, lead to another story following a character we met in the first book. It was brief, but I introduced his name for a reason.

Over the years, I learned that if you want someone to be remembered, you give the readers the character's name. If the character is unimportant, no introduction.

I think my current problem, regarding my progress with the second book, is that I've been away from it for so long that my brain needs to readjust and remember where I was when I was first writing it.

Needless to say, I definitely bought the Firefly series and the follow-up movie just to have all my ducks in a row. I know what I'll be watching this weekend.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this post. Comment below if you've ever read the first book in my Starships Trilogy, MONTGOMERY. And if you haven't, have you ever watched Firefly?

See you in the funny papers!