A Taste of World-building...
When we humans first came to the Skopi system after being cast off from Irth for our sins, the first to arrive discovered teaming wilderness. Grandmother had taken pity upon the lost tribe, and she sent the Makers to weave what was barren into life.
The metal Maker spirits dug deep into the soil to bring forth clean air. They built the great generators for the magnetic shields that protect worlds from Skopi’s merciless wrath. They planted the forests and filled the land, sea, and air with creatures of all kinds. When their work was at last complete, the Makers buried themselves into caves to rest until their many hands might be needed again.
Humbled by their long journey, the first humans were thankful that Grandmother had blessed them with a chance for new life. They followed the will of the Father to found cities, and they tamed the wilderness through the spirit of the Son. The emperor decreed that we all should work as stewards to care for our worlds so that we may let the Makers sleep instead of calling them forth with our selfishness and sloth.
A certain cult among the Teks holds a legend the Makers were actually sent ahead by human hands, not through the work of Grandmother. This is heresy, of course, and has been routinely under inquisition by the Confessors.
(this comes into play much later in the series)
I MADE A VIDEO! Starring me and my dog explaining CHAMPIONS OF THE THIRD PLANET in a little more detail than you’ve heard before, especially as it relates to my childhood obsession with STAR WARS. The video is up now on my page, I hope you’ll check it out.
Making the video took me away from the book and Inkshares for a couple of days, but now I’m back. I’m currently writing chapter 12 of the book -- Milo and the other kids are already dealing with some freaked-out aliens on a far-off planet where I am. Meanwhile, I don’t want to get stuck revising when I still have BLANK PAGES ahead of me but I wanted to jump back and clean up chapters 2 & 3 before I post. Also because I had a really cool idea for something that I’m guessing will happen around chapter 20 and need to set it up in the beginning of the book.
Fun fact I’ve discovered: I’m bad with alien names. It takes a long time for me to come up with ones I like and then I have to brew on them for a while to see if they stick. I guess you can’t learn that about yourself until you start writing a book with a LOT of alien names.
I also have some pitches to catch up on -- sorry if you’re waiting for a response from me, I promise I haven’t forgotten!
If you haven’t pre-ordered a copy of CHAMPIONS OF THE THIRD PLANET, please order one. It’s technically a middle grade novel, so it’s aimed first at kids 8-12, so if you know one of those, you should get it for him or her if you want to be considered a "cool" grownup.
But REALLY I’m really writing this book for me. I’d read this book and I’m a grown man! I mean, I’m going to bow to STAR WARS again here -- George Lucas thought of STAR WARS as a kids’ movie (!) but grown-ups loved it just as much. In fact, most of my favorite movies appeal to everybody at any age: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, GHOSTBUSTERS, BACK TO THE FUTURE. So that’s what I’m aiming for.
Thanks, hope you enjoy the video!
--Chris
