Sneak Peek: first draft of chapter 1 of Seven Planets

Here is a sneak peek of the first draft of chapter 1 of the first volume of my upcoming Brightstar Trilogy. This book is tentatively titled Seven Planets.

First drafts are, of course, the rough material from which the final product will be produced. As such, they are often sloppy, badly written, and usually too long. For example, I have found that the first scene or the first chapter are almost entirely unnecessary. It seems common for writers to start their story too early. We want to set the scene, so there’s too much description, or background. What is often discovered is that the scene should’ve actually started later, when the action begins. The description and background can be woven in later.

This is the first draft of the first scene of the first chapter, so I can guarantee it won’t look like this in the second draft, or the third draft, and so want. But here’s a little sneak peek into the writing process. I plan to post each draft of this scene so my patrons can see the evolution and process from first draft to final draft.

The curved corridor walls had a dusting of frost on them, but Elias had long ceased to notice it, along with the constant creaking of the station.

Even the mug of synthetic coffee in his hand was unnoticed Ss lukewarm, partially from the cool atmosphere but also because the galley machinery no longer heated anything optimally. He’d been waiting for repair parts for months, which were supposed to come on the last delivery droneship. Those were not even the mast important parts he needed for the station.

He arrived at the main lab and sat down at his workstation. In reality, any of the ten stations could be his workstation. Occasionally, he used another, just to break the solitary monotony. Some days he waited for coffee until after his first work session.

The viewport set in the outside walk of the lab was cracked. That seemed line a cause for alarm, except that the powers-that-be at the Solar Concord Military Science Division had assured him it was not a danger—followed by a technical explanation of triple-paned sapphire glass with armor shields between each inside the walls that would deploy in less than a quarter of a second. He’d been here three years with no change in the crack and on alarms. Don’t worry about things you can’t control.

At least the view of icy, windy, blue Neptune was aesthetic.