Creative Teams Are Great - My First Steps into Sci-Fi

It's times like these, I think I should have been spending my time doing something else... anything else. I distinctly feel I am missing skills.

Don't get me wrong. I can do a lot of things, they just don't necessarily help me the way I need help. For example, it would be awesome if I could make a really sweet looking website. I can follow directions easy enough, but when it comes to technical jargon where special characters are required, I'm lost.

I'm a creative person, and I have interesting ideas when it comes to articulating something visually. When it comes to graphics however, I feel naked because I don't have a tablet and a stylus to use. Without a writing implement or a brush, my creativity is stymied.

I could give you other more trying examples at the moment, but I think you get the picture (even if I didn't draw it). I feel handicapped. When it comes to self-publishing, you are your army. Whatever you can do is your limit. It's a blessing and a curse. You are a single person and responsible for everything when it comes to your project. It is one of the reasons why I'm so excited about working on The Apex. I don't have to rely on my single set of talents. I get to work with a pool of talented creative people.

I've not written science fiction before, let alone anything involving space. Though I have read quite a few novels based in the final frontier, I have often felt like writers got caught up in the vastness of the thing, rather than focusing on the goals of the story - people, places, AND events.

Legion, book 1, is going to be a bit of a departure for me. It is an action adventure piece - the first in a series of 7 parts. The universe of The Apex is vast and complicated. I actually had to sit down with the creator of the project and pick his brain to make sure I understood where certain characters were coming from as well as what he expected would happen as the story progressed. The script for this is completed, but a script is a far cry from a novel, and more than a few details need to be filled in. Needless to say, it is a different way of writing than I have done before, which for some people might be scary.

Actually, I love it. It's like a giant rewriting project - which I thoroughly enjoy. Plus, I get to bounce ideas off of other people who are working on the same 7 part series. It's an ideal situation for a creative writer (well, for one who likes rewriting anyway). Plus I get to check out a genre quite different than my YA fantasy/romance, which is always good.

So, SCIENCE FICTION HERE I COME! BOOYAH!