"Felix" and the Exploration of Mars - Part 3

A while back I developed my ideas about how Mars would be explored to firm up the back story of my story "Felix". This week I came across some material that suggests that real scientists have thought along the same lines.

In my earlier blog post: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/felix-and-the-exploration-of-mars/, I suggested that before people would visit Mars, we would send robots ahead to survey and then build a Mars base where people would live on Mars. I did a follow up to that blog post: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/felix-and-the-exploration-of-mars-part-2/

I found this article: http://www.popsci.com/we-could-be-living-on-moon-in-10-years-or-less, that reports on a conference about the possibilities of building a Moon village. The papers from the conference can be found at: http://online.liebertpub.com/toc/space/4/1

Moon and Mars Bases

Their focus is on the creation of a Moon base rather than a Mars base, although one of the participants said that he saw it as a step toward the creation of a Mars base. Although their focus is on the Moon, the approach they proposed was similar to what I had come up with for Mars. That gives me a little more confidence in my ideas.

I hadn't really thought about it as the background to my story, but it makes a lot of sense to me to test out the approach on the Moon before any attempt to do the same on Mars. That aspect wouldn't show up explicitly in "Felix".

Ideas for My Story

This report got me to think about my story again. I think I may have a solution to one of the problems with the story. In the story my Mars rover, Felix, is lost, which is why the astronauts were sent to search. However, the quality of the satellite images is so good now, that it would be very difficult for a rover to get lost.

I came up with two things I could add to the story that would explain how Felix could get lost. My first idea is that there would be a great dust storm, which happen now and then on Mars. That would prevent satellites from tracking the rover, and would also cover up its track way. The second idea is that the big discovery would in a large cave, which would be hidden from the satellite's view.

The more I think about these ideas, the more I think they could give the story some added interest and drama. That is another problem I have with the story: it doesn't seem to have much excitement. I just might get back to my rewrite one of these days.

Image sources:

• https://www.wpclipart.com/space/moon/moon_lithograph.jpg.html
• https://www.wpclipart.com/space/solar_system/Mars/Mars_NASA_photo.jpg.html

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First Draft of “Felix” Done

I finished the first draft of my story Felix. It is a science fiction story set on Mars. I based it on a Lovecraft story. I added 3,100 words this week and the first draft came in a little over 8,000 words.

It really needs a rewrite though. I’ll do at least one more draft, maybe two, before I start to look for some volunteer beta readers. I’ll leave it for a few weeks before I start on a rewrite. That will let me work on my other science fiction story, Heat Wave.

I resubmitted my short story Pete’s Plan to another science fiction magazine. This is the fourth submission now. I didn’t rewrite it again as I did after the first couple of submissions.

Someone sent me a link to a website that lists a whole bunch of places to submit science fiction stories: ralan.com. It listed 42 professional magazines, and over 100 semi-pro and amateur magazines. I hope that at least one of them will want my story.

By the way, if you would like to help me and volunteer to be a beta reader, please get in touch with me. Thanks.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Back to “Felix”

I got back to work on “Felix” this week. It is the story of two astronauts on Mars and their search for a robot rover that got lost many years earlier.

I’d left it nearly two months. I added almost 2,000 words this week. I also deleted almost 600 words. The story is now about 5,300 words long. I think the first draft will end up about 7,000 words, so I’m about 80% done. That is shorter than I wanted. Possibly, when I rewrite, I can enhance it and make it longer.

I adopted an approach that H. P. Lovecraft recommended. In the final story, I will tell much of the story in flashback. What H. P. suggested was that you write the story in chronological order, and then restructure it to the final order later.

So far, I think that approach has worked well for me. I do see some problems that will come up later. I wrote as if the final version would still be in chronological order. At the start I reveal some introductory information that needs to be at the start of the final story, but in this draft, the section that will be first, comes later in the story. It shouldn’t be too difficult to fix, but I need to remember I’ll need to deal with it.

I got another rejection for “Pete’s Plan” this week. I was a disappointed. I started with the higher paying SF magazines, so the competition would be stiffer. I may do better with some of the other ones. 

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog