Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
One Writer's Random Thoughts
9/7/2021 6:39:21 AM
Sep. 7, 2020
Sometimes people need a fresh look at something, or to lighten up a little bit, or a way to express some of those “pet peeves”, or a good tip for everyday life, or a quote that makes them think, or . . . So those are the pigeon holes this blog will attempt to fill.
At other times, I’ll use passages from some of my books to demonstrate for readers and authors how writers us various techniques to “show” a good story rather than simply “telling” it.
Happy reading.
World Building, Part 3:
In The Chronicles of Henry Roach-Dairier: New South Dairy Colony 50, I needed to “explain” the ant life cycle and the very different ways that my two main characters emerged from the pupa state into adulthood. Antony is unintentionally left alone:
Antony Dairier awoke from his long pupate sleep and found himself in total darkness. He reached up instinctively and pulled a feeding tube from his mouth, discovered he had legs, and rolled over onto them. He kicked something that went clattering about.
He stretched and said, “That’s better,” and was surprised by the sound of his own voice. He turned his head from side to side, let his antennae find a way out of the chamber, moved toward the portal, fumbled with the latch and finally pushed it open.
Before him was a large, softly lit chamber. It seemed familiar though he could remember nothing certain. He sensed that there should be other creatures around, but the chamber was empty.
“I’m here,” he shouted. No answer. His confusion increased. He froze, shaking, unable to think of what he was supposed to do. He had no idea how long he stood there. It seemed like an eternity. His anxiety increased with every moment.
With a click and a scraping noise, a portal on the opposite side of the chamber opened and someone entered. She was carrying a wiggling white thing. A blast of light blinded Antony.
He raised his pods to his face and cried out, “Aggh!”
He heard a voice. “Antony! You’ve emerged. And I wasn’t here. How awful.” She put the white thing in an oval basket. Caring pods surrounded him, stroked him, held him. The voice, which now seemed familiar, continued. “I’m so sorry. I’m your mother. We hadn’t expected you to emerge for another half a time frame. I would never have left the mound if I thought you were ready. It must have been dreadful to find no one here to greet you.”
For my second main character, I used a different technique, dialogue and back flash. Henrietta, during a conference with the director of her training facility, remembers her emergence with fondness:
Master Adriana, the assistant director of the science and technology training facility in South Harvester Colony 45, greeted Henrietta Harvester. “It’s good to see you again, Henrietta. I hope you don’t mind a short wait. Your problem solving trainer would like to join us. Would you like a mug of warm honey dew?”
“Yes, please. I don’t mind waiting,” replied Henrietta.
Henrietta sipped the honey dew and thought about some of the events of her first season cycle of adulthood. She remembered her father’s fond greeting when she opened the portal of her pupate chamber. He told her she was the oldest of four. Her next younger sister, Hilda, was three season cycles younger and pupating. Annie and Andrew were still larvae, five season cycles and one season cycle old.
A time frame later, it had been discovered that she could only bear five times her own weight, compared to the normal fifty to seventy-five times one’s weight for a normal ant. Her parents were quite concerned, but the doctors found her healthy and intelligent and recommended only that she not participate in tasks requiring strength. What she lacked in strength, she more than made up for in intelligence, whizzing through manuscript decoding, and finishing all her basics in one season cycle. Now, here she was on the first day of the ninth time frame, waiting to see if she would be accepted into job exploration training when the new term began.
The contrast between these two characters continues throughout the novel.
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