The Flight of the Kestrel

I read the latest Writing Magazine, and an article in there suggested sharing your writing on your blog. This is something I haven't done really, up to now. My blog header says it will be about my interests, but my fiction writing has not yet featured. So here we are.

I am writing a science fiction series called The Flight of the Kestrel. The Kestrel is a PACT ship with a crew of 11. The Planetary Alliance for Cooperation and Trade was set up between Earth and the other planets they made contact with. As part of the cooperation, these ships, all named after birds of prey because they are fast and deadly, were set up to be a kind of inter-planetary police force. They deal with incidents that need a fast response and sort out whose jurisdiction they come under afterwards.

The idea began because I used to love watching Star Trek, Blakes Seven, and Babylon 5, and used to make up stories for them. I knew there was no way I could contribute to them, so I had to make up my own ship to give the adventures to. They say there's a book in everyone, so there you are. I am learning writing technique as I go along, and although these novels will probably never see the light of day, I am getting great pleasure from the process.

I had written three stories when I looked back and realised that they are all too long for short stories and not long enough for novels (about 15,000 to 20,000 words). Then I realised that stories two and three could be combined, and story one referred to a previous incident, which could be written and combined with story one. Because of my growing writing skills, this new story is much better written than the originals, so the others all have to be re-drafted - which authors need to do anyway, no one writes a perfect book first time, they go through many drafts.

On the way, my characters are getting more defined and more complex, and this is a new challenge which I am relishing. So I will be posting updates now and then in the hope someone would be interested. The current status is as follows: The new story is Kestrel 1 part 1, and the old first story is Kestrel 1 part 2. Combined, this Kestrel 1 is called Intruders. I am in the middle of re-drafting part 2. The second novel is called Adept, and will combine the old second and third stories.

I already have some ideas for further stories, but I think I have enough to do for now. I have also started looking at competitions, as I have a few other stories which are the right length, and could be worked up to be worth sending off. I have just discovered the existence of 'flash fiction', which is very short stories, and I even have one which I wondered what I could do with, as it's so short. I might even consider poetry competitions, as I have written one or two recently, which quite surprised myself. So watch this space for this new topic, as well as the ongoing ones. Any encouragement and suggestions would be gratefully received.