Oolite Bulletins

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Looking forward to Part 8!

Now I know what the word count limit for a single posting is - thanks for that - I shall keep it in mind for Lazarus!

You do some odd grammatical things, but the story is excellent

Note though you don't seem to be able to decide on the spelling of the hero's surname!

You know what I KNEW there was a danger of spelling error with that name, because it came to me phonetically, I was SURE everytime I had used it I had copied and pasted it from an earlier iteration to keep the spelling standard. Apparantly I failed to do so at some point

Believe it or not this is NOT a dead project... Just so damned busy with other stuff . This story still keeps nagging to be revised and finished. As ever Im taking on too much stuff at once . Its hard not to be reminded that the story wants finishing when I sleep above the cockpit around which its based...

I started writing this during "work" time, but works been hectic for a few months - not so much due to volume of business as lack of staff, Ive been helping out at the sharp end of things on the factory floor instead of sat at my desk, so just havent had the time to get down to things again. Unfortunately things outside of work have been just as hectic.

Never enough time in the day... Ive "nearly" completed that spaceship interior, only bits remaining being finishing the joystick towers and the fake side displays / storeage covers - stalled by running into problems with the original idea of how to do them . The joystick towers will feature similiar displays hence them being incomplete.

I also took on a project to build an electric guitar - now completed, and to my own surprise a nice little instrument.

At times Ive lost weeks and days to mmorpgs, but ran out of time for that distraction as well of late

Somehow between now and Christmas Ive got to secretly build a stacking pair of 8'x2' railway scenery tables for my youngest sons christmas present. Ive also got to discreetly make a wardrobe and chest of drawers and fish tank dissappear from the boys bedroom over night christmas eve in order to make room for it.

My wifes PC has also died more stuff to fix.

Now after Christmas! I have a nice break till jan 4th allegedly! Maybe just maybe I will find some time then, providing I can overcome my urges to go and build another guitar - a surprisingly enjoyable \ satisfying task...

Damned "RL" Ive not even flown a ship in a couple of months.

A couple of very old pictures of the room as it was being built to give "some" idea of setting \ inspiration for the story.

First things first - a bed room needs a bed



Under the bed - mk1 front screen and seat base - currently on mk3 for both but this gives an idea of "shape" of the main control area.


Hatch to the bed area above the "cockpit" the hatch door is in two parts these days.



This gives an idea of the shape of the back of the room, the raised entrance area and the two doors angled into the room - one is the door to the rest of the house and identical on on the other side is the wardrobe




This would be a shot accross to the open wardrobe.


The slick black look we want all the screens to use as a base.



The Hinges were using for the fake screens :-



The shape of the raised area meeting the ladder and the cockpit area.



Trying again to capture the shape of the room one side of the room:-



Will try to grab some "uptodate" pictures at some point so you can see what this messy construction looks like at the moment.... And to get some more idea of Nathan and Heras environment

Glad the project isn't dead!

Good luck with the cockpit! I'm very impressed!

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Glad the project isn't dead!

Good luck with the cockpit! I'm very impressed!

Here's tonights pictures, it will never look quite as I want it, never quite "film set like" but it gives an idea of the storys main setting now.

Heres the main seating area, yes the back of the chairs will be painted to match the surround, and the white sealant will be painted the same to make it look more one part...



The wardrobe door, yes actually it CAN shut properly ah well, you can also see the panel over the cupboard above the wardrobe.



A view of the side of the room showing the "yet to be decorated" screens on their hinges, the finshed edging of the bed hatch hole can be seen as well. That big hole in the side will be covered up mostlikely by another hinged black screen but we are keeping the options open there for later additions of more screens.



The raised floor are betweent he door and wardrobe with lighting and pole...



You can see the "real" screens withing the fake one giant screen here, it doesnt look "too" bad in real life..



The bed hatch in full:- This is NOT crew sleeping areas in the fiction, I have yet to come up with a definitive use for this hatch - mostly tend to think escape pod entrance... You can also just about make out the eyeball led lights above the seats, 1 watt each and plenty of light for night time gaming



another general seating area shot:-



Its about 95% done and the rest will be cleared up once Ive got the final solution for those fake screens...

I've just shown the pictures to my wife.

She raised but a single eyebrow and uttered a single word: "No."

DaddyHoggy wrote:

I've just shown the pictures to my wife.

She raised but a single eyebrow and uttered a single word: "No."

It was my wifes idea in the first place, I was happy with a far simpler set up. I would NEVER have thought about imposing such a radical room overhaul on my wife

I can now say for sure that as cool as this is, it oddly doesnt seem to add to immersion in a game, I think a good pair of over ear headphones and a good joystick make the biggest difference.

Of course adding these pictures has taken the ship interior away from the readers imagination and under the dominion of the author himself. my own woodwork is most likelly a poor alternative to the richness of a readers imagination.

Have you seen the website by the guy who turned his one bedroom flat in Birmingham into a replica of the Starship Voyager?

http://www.24thcid.com/

He eventually sold the flat on eBay in 2007 for a whopping £425,000 which was five times its market value!

DaddyHoggy wrote:

I've just shown the pictures to my wife.

She raised but a single eyebrow and uttered a single word: "No."

Spits out coffee and replaces laptop....

I'm not even brave enough to show mine!

Cheers,

Drew.

Just got around to reading it. quite nice. Similarities to Firefly.

sounds like a third rate budget sci fi movie" Laughing

I like sounds like a third rate budget sci fi movies

Chrisfs wrote:

Just got around to reading it. quite nice. Similarities to Firefly.

sounds like a third rate budget sci fi movie" Laughing

I like sounds like a third rate budget sci fi movies

I only recently heard of firefly (dont have a TV), a family member lent me the series on dvd at the weekend (I watch dvd's on either a monitor or projector). Watched the whole thing through in a few days. There was one episode in particular where it had the same story telling idea of a few seconds current time and then flipping back to events leading to that situation. . They also had an episode flashing back to meeting all the crew etc as well. I was quite gutted.

Not only that but they also had the same idea as I had for ladders leading to sleeping compartments .

I did find the lack of "ship" weapons interesting in the series.

It was an interesting series, although the acting could get a little shakey at times, the premise and the characters were really quite good.

Firefly is good stuff, very raw, very border. As opposed to Startrek, etc etc. I think the shakey acting actually added to its flavour.

Anyway, good read! Just meant to read the first part, but got sucked into it.

I like Hera, and the 'origin' sections of the story. If you ever get the time, please continue it.

Im here trying to tidy up the messy existing text, before I rewrite chapter 7 and start to add more to the story. I've finally got my wife proof reading the existing material, trying to tidy up whats there etc. At the very least I should have a more tidy text to work from.

Whilst rereading whats already there of the story, a single sentance jumped out of the page at me with a mind bomb...

Im not sure but I think maybe at least 5 or 6 similiar length episodes to this one (when finished) that hit me all at once from that single sentance, Im not sure at all of the current storys exact place in "the bigger picture". But fortunately this IS the first one to read in the "series". It is the introduction...

Bizzarely somehow though whilst rereading whats already there, the wider story has been hinted at all along without me even realising it existed .

Im also completely unsure I have the time or will to do more than finish this one. But the decision to continue the series or not can be made once I finished this one. This story in no way "requires" the other material to make sense. If I choose not to continue I will at least put up an outline of the rest of the story.

Oh and a note for myself:-
Quinto Sue-ein-mann (phonetically - No idea on final spelling yet).
Everything had a purpose.

Right, The first pass at Gramar and punctuation has been made, it was a mammoth task for my poor wife .

Ive also made some alterations to story line some more major than others - particularly Nathans battle with the Elite pirate.

Part 6 has been temporarily truncated, it needs some more attention to tone down Nathan and Heras "Elitism" and bring them back down to the level of the intro to the story. They're good but just not quite as smooth and slick as part 6 and 7 turned. Part 6 Will be largelly reinstated once toned down with some important but small changes made to storyline itself. Part 7 will be all new I believe, at least so goes the plan .

edit - OK re-expanded Part 6.

Part 7 will be redone later, have to visit the inlaws now.

The good efforts of you and your wife are recognized. I enjoyed the improvements.

Davidtq wrote:

Right, The first pass at Gramar and punctuation has been made, it was a mammoth task for my poor wife .

Ive also made some alterations to story line some more major than others - particularly Nathans battle with the Elite pirate.

Part 6 has been temporarily truncated, it needs some more attention to tone down Nathan and Heras "Elitism" and bring them back down to the level of the intro to the story. They're good but just not quite as smooth and slick as part 6 and 7 turned. Part 6 Will be largelly reinstated once toned down with some important but small changes made to storyline itself. Part 7 will be all new I believe, at least so goes the plan .

edit - OK re-expanded Part 6.

Part 7 will be redone later, have to visit the inlaws now.

I will re-read over the weekend, congrats for sticking with it!

2 Months later , Finally found time to rewrite Part 7.

Hopefully it's a little less cliched than the original. Although I finding it hard to avoid it sounding a bit mafia \ shady as that is exactly the sort of company Nathans keeping here. The background story is becoming more formed in my mind, and whats happening here has changed from my original conception of where the story was going.

Halfway through Part 8, but Ive got to get over a hurdle now, Nathan and Hera need something to go wrong :- a motivation to check the contents of their cargo, presumably the same event that causes them to realise all is not as it seems... They wouldnt go back on the terms of their agreement for no good reason. I know what they're cargo is, and the reasons for it, But Ive got to get that information worked into the story for both the reader and Nathan and Hera.