WIP Wednesday

Every Wednesday, I share the most recent paragraph I touched while writing or editing. No exceptions! Redactions for spoilers.

This week, we pull from the draft of SVF Book 3: The Man from Atayuma

The Infaya Briceida [large spaceship] lacked an observation deck, but the wide window of the mess hall offered a grand view of the rocky, lumpy planetoid of Cordia Major One, the first of a row of star-less bodies that sat on the edge of the immense gaseous Cordian Rift. Despite being more than two lightyears from the nearest star, there was more green and blue light coming in through the window than the ceiling lights of the interior could overcome.

The arm in which the Cordia Major planetoids resided was new, formed roughly ten million years prior when the star cluster containing the Apeilous last passed close to the galactic plane. [not sure where to put this fun fact]

Natan and Khamet sat hip-to-hip on a couch facing the window. The Fortuna siblings sat in armchairs on either side, and Natan could not help but feel like he had a new job: mediator. He rued the possibility of having to defer to one over the other, especially since Augustus was right, but his heartless delivery of fact had been far from helpful.

Whew! Things are tense at this point in Book 3, where everyone is calming down from an argument after the peak of Act 2.

I love mixing travel and setting with character moments. The placement of the characters “on screen” is key, with Natan and his partner Khamet front and center (they are the main characters) and siblings Augustus and Valentia sitting on either side. The book is technically about the latter; Books 3 and 4 are the coming-of-age stories of Valentia and Augustus told through the perspective of their friends.

Anyway, there’s a lot in this scene, so I’ll leave it at that.

Coming Friday: An informal review of Galactic Culinary Society!