What would you do if you accidentally killed your boss’s kid?
Never mind that this Irish author’s book suffers from “White Room Syndrome” or that none of the characters were sympathetic for me. This book is a lesson in roller coaster plotting, in action and reaction, and “setting up the spike” for the next chapter. For example, in the first seven chapters:
Ch 1: A flickership commander accidentally kills boss’s kid, and his boss is president of all people. He hides the dead child and runs away.
Ch 2: Knowing he and his family are in danger, he runs home. Just as he gets them to his flickership, his boss discovers her son’s death and demands the commander’s head.
Ch.3: The commander and his family board the flickership and flee. They and the crew realize there is no safe world to run to.
Ch. 4: They travel as fast as they can for months, hoping to find a theoretical planet. They discover a “spaceship” that is millions of miles wide.
Ch. 5: They test the impervious surface and travel around it. They find a fleet of three thousand ships gathered together.
Ch. 6: The ships are abandoned. They hover over a gigantic hole in the spaceship, which the commander enters.
Ch. 7: The “ship” is a hollow world – Orbitsville – filled with empty, grassy landscape, a sun, and breathable atmosphere. The Commander realizes his find will make him too famous to kill, and sends a message home.
So, there. Very well done. A great plot is like a great ice-skating routine. There is always motion, always something happening that is interesting or exciting or nerve-wracking, and each event flows into the next.
Never mind that this Irish author’s book suffers from “White Room Syndrome” or that none of the characters were sympathetic for me. This book is a lesson in roller coaster plotting, in action and reaction, and “setting up the spike” for the next chapter. For example, in the first seven chapters:
Ch 1: A flickership commander accidentally kills boss’s kid, and his boss is president of all people. He hides the dead child and runs away.
Ch 2: Knowing he and his family are in danger, he runs home. Just as he gets them to his flickership, his boss discovers her son’s death and demands the commander’s head.
Ch.3: The commander and his family board the flickership and flee. They and the crew realize there is no safe world to run to.
Ch. 4: They travel as fast as they can for months, hoping to find a theoretical planet. They discover a “spaceship” that is millions of miles wide.
Ch. 5: They test the impervious surface and travel around it. They find a fleet of three thousand ships gathered together.
Ch. 6: The ships are abandoned. They hover over a gigantic hole in the spaceship, which the commander enters.
Ch. 7: The “ship” is a hollow world – Orbitsville – filled with empty, grassy landscape, a sun, and breathable atmosphere. The Commander realizes his find will make him too famous to kill, and sends a message home.
So, there. Very well done. A great plot is like a great ice-skating routine. There is always motion, always something happening that is interesting or exciting or nerve-wracking, and each event flows into the next.
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