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The Glory Star Project

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OLD SKELETON

I moved the original rough skeleton I made into the archive here

I hope this new, improved skeleton will be a more useful example for you to follow...

NEW SKELETON

The purpose of a story skeleton is to put down the events in the order you want them to happen, but not to flesh them out yet because as the smaller events change, those details might easily change these initial building blocks. It's much easier to remove and replace a building block than it is a mountain of details. This is why these 'bones' should represent those parts of the story you don't want changed, these are the structural markers that each of the chapters is meant to be working toward.

Skeletons have to be built somewhat on the fly, but there is a certain 'set of bones' that ought to be included in there to make your overall structure work.

This is the rough list right here, though obviously it is highly subjective and changeable...

Where does the story start?
Inciting Event
How they plan to seize the new opportunity
Does everything go according to that plan or does something go wrong?
Highlights of the honeymoon phase
What event tells us the honeymoon is over?
What is the main conflict that must be overcome?
How does the conflict get resolved?
After the conflict is resolved, how does everything work out for the characters?

Here they are again, but with Glory Star examples to give you an idea how these work

Where does the story start?
Example, Glory doesn't want to stay on Regulus Prime forever, and her friends find her a perfect opportunity to take the job she actually wants. At the same time, we learn that Xavier Richards has lost his assistant when he married someone on Regulus, and he now must hire someone else, which ends up being Glory.

Inciting Event
Example, clearly this is the first fully formed 'bone' of the skeleton, the actual event of Glory getting hired. Everything up to this point was placed only to reach this 'pinnacle'.

How they plan to seize the new opportunity:
Example, now that she's hired Glory has to figure out her exit strategy, telling her parents, gathering her belongings, returning to the moon, flying out to the Nautilus to await the other Captains, etc. In her case, she seizes the opportunity by meeting all those challenges head-on, and doesn't take no for an answer at any point.

Does everything go according to that plan or does something go wrong?
Example, this one is sort of an aside rather than a bone...it leaves room for conflict in the area if any happens, but I did not create it here because I'd rather do so somewhere else once she is on the other side of the wormhole. I think it's important to note that for this story, there's sort of a secondary 'status quo' achieved when they wake from cryo. Glory sees this as her 'new life' and she's excited to start living it at this point. But here's the thing, this is all part of the honeymoon, and a new event is looming once they reach Gamlin Space Station and she sees what GalactiCorp is really all about...

Highlights of the honeymoon phase
Example, as you may have observed in the first pinnacle, you get a buildup, then the peak, and then things moved back downward before they built up another time. In this case, they had moved downward to dealing with her parents, and the build is the shuttle ride, arrival at the Nautilus, the virtual dinner, and peaks with Xav putting Glory into a cryotank and telling her he's looking forward to sharing all of her firsts with her. It'll move back down again when they reach the Gamlin Space Station and Glory will learn the sad truth about GalactiCorp...they're not nearly as friendly and caring as they seem in their commercials.

What event tells us the honeymoon is over?
Example, when she boards Gamlin Space Station Glory feels a little let down to learn that GalactiCorp is all about red tape, expenses, and an ever-increasing profit margin. If they don't see something as lucrative they simply won't give their approval, and their decisions are final. Anyway, Xav had planned all along to go straight to Gamlin Prime to visit his mother after dropping off the load of supplies brought by the four Nautilus vessels, but first the Commander complained about certain portions of the load he refused to pay for, and then he followed this up with, "We've received reports that FARMWORLD's situation is degrading, and we must determine if it would be better to upgrade, or if it might be better to remove the colonists and transplant them on a more viable world. We're gonna need you to head there right away and find out." So they'll probably be irritated by the change of plan but have to follow orders.

What is the main conflict that must be overcome?
Example, when they examine the desolate world's equipment Glory wants Xav to fight for the funding to upgrade the planter and harvester equipment, but Xav insists they'll never agree to update all the old farming equipment for an entire world. He knows that without an angle that would convince them of a prosperous outcome, they'd rather just let the colony end and move its people to thriving worlds instead. Unless they can think up a lucrative reason to re-outfit the twenty farms on a mostly barren world, this could be the end for their community, and after coming to know some of the farmers this notion leaves Glory heartbroken. (This is why she was upset and ran out into the field by the harvester as shown in the cover art on the Part One book.) Again, this is part of the build, which crests when the conflict gets resolved. Note that their shuttle crashing, and their sexy first time etc, would also fall into this 'building' section...if I wanted a chronology right here it's: sent to assess, Glory tells Xav all the equipment is crap, he insists she'll have to choose only some things not all, she'll get upset and run out into the field and that's where the whole kissy scene shown on the cover happens, then they'll be en route to another farm when the shuttle goes down, then sexy time, then as they are walking Glory will realize there's a large lake and a blocked up river, then they'll arrive at the farm trying to figure out a solution, then she'll realize they could unstop that water to irrigate more land, which could mean more profits so the people don't need to be moved after all...

How does the conflict get resolved?
Example, during the walk back because the shuttle needs a part sent to them before it can be repaired and they'll have to stay at a nearby farm, they pass a large lake of water out in the middle of nowhere. Xav is upset as he's filling out the requisition forms because he is convinced they won't grant the supplies for barren farms. Glory suddenly realizes there's plenty of water if they were to build a bunch of irrigation ditches and then release the water from the lake. "You could increase the productivity of these farms at least tenfold, especially if that lake is being fed by an underground stream." Sonic detection confirms that she's correct about the resource, and Xav gets on the communicator to tell other nearby farmers to come join them to start digging. Xav then modifies his report to include the solution, and mentions that Glory is the one who figured it out, earning her an invitation to actually become a GalactiCorp employee which she declines, stating that she much prefers her freelancer status.

After the conflict is resolved, how does everything work out for the characters?
example, Xav and Glory return to Gamlin Prime to see his mother, he pops the question and Glory happily agrees, than admits to him that she just paid a visit to the medibay and found out she's pregnant. She insists there's no way she'll be remaining behind while Xav is out in space, and he starts explaining to her that while pg she can't go into cryo, and their daughter won't be able to cryo until she is five, so the usual way is to let the medibots care for her until she's old enough whenever they are both in cryo during a mission. Glory agrees, and then they start planning out the huge wedding they want to have before they head off on their next adventure.

Afterthought

I'd like to point out right here that having done that the way I just did left the story wide open for more stories set while she's pregnant even though I'd been thinking there wouldn't be any others. From this perspective I now realize they could continue to go to the Space Station, followed by visiting another world, as many times as I'd like them to. The feasibility issue with that is, of course, that each of these worlds must be facing a different sort of issue because if it was the same issue on each of them the reader would get bored. But that's why I thought he ought to get sent to become a colony governor or something, with the shift of a future story being how to build and survive on a hostile world. Again, it's just speculation at this point.

Now that the skeleton is completed, the next thing we want to do is go back in and start to build all the world. Back at the start of this project I had quickly made a 'details' file just to flesh out Regulus Prime, knowing full well that there would come a point when creating worldbuilds for the ships and worlds would be necessary. That time is fast approaching. I went ahead and archived the previous prep work in this regard, but these new worldbuilds are going to have to be a bit more useful to you as the reader than the first. I want to make sure you can see the reusable process you can employ for a world or a building or a vehicle, etc, every single time. For the old details file, please go here.

The new details file won't be just one file, but will point to detail sheets for each of the things I want to flesh out. It will take me some time to build that, but here is the link to the page that will contain the upcoming menu...


In the mood for a little space travel? Try one of these stories...

Piece on Earth Star Folly Dark Nebula Captains Caress


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Robin Joy Wirth
robin@redshadow67.com
948 S. Ainsworth Ave, #C
Tacoma, WA, 98405

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