Episode Notes
Writing Science Fiction Live
In this episode I take the piece of writing from the previous week and rework it into an opening scene of a science fiction piece. As before, this piece was streamed live (although this time on Facebook rather than Youtube) and written ‘cold’, i.e. with no preparation. This makes for a more authentic approach, but it makes the episode rather longer than usual and very slow-paced. In future, while I’d still like to stream some live writing pieces, I think that these will be in addition to more regular episodes.
I wrote this using typora, a free text editor for Windows, OSX (beta) and Linux: Typora
Here’s the finished text:
Siobhan ran. She dashed headlong down the uneven track, leaping from one rocky outcrop to the next, her breath tight in her chest, each desperate gasp catching in her throat. Cresting a ridge, her boot caught on a jagged spur of rock and she staggered forward, almost stumbling, her arms flailing as she fought to regain her balance; whatever else happened, she could not afford to fall. Not now.
Ahead, a few people were still strolling through the gathering gloom as they headed for the square, parcels of food tucked under their arms, bottles of ale rattling in plastic crates. Neighbors called out to each other, swapping jokes, laughing, slapping each other on the back, and lamps glowed brightly in every window. Every window except one.
Siobhan slowed her pace, altering her route to give Mac’s house a wide berth. She glanced past the tangled knot of creepers to the grime-streaked windows of Mac’s tumbledown house, and just for a moment, she caught a glimpse of a pale face, dark eyes red-rimmed above the unkempt mass of his straggly beard.
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