The DragonHawk Saga & The Master Storyboard

A good day today (uh, yesterday) working on the DragonHawk Saga. I have been continuing my work on the Master Storyboard, basically reconstructing one big outline from all of the chapters I have written in all the books I have been working on.

The Dragon Hunters, Book 1, is outlined now by chapter, with brief descriptions of what I expect to happen in each one. Only a few chapters have been written, in what I would consider a rough draft. The Dragon Hunters is the start of the DragonHawk Saga, joining the Star Trader Galaxy in the middle of a war that threatens the peace of the Star Trader Families. The story follows the Tycho Star Traders and the Drakkon DragonHawks as they struggle to deal with the rest of the Trade and the rise of the Planetary Corporations.

Tycho Station, Book 2, has been completely written, but as I sync it to the outline, I see that it needs some work. If you have read any of my earlier blog entries, then you know that I have been revising it to improve the action and the pace. That work continues. Tycho Station is the sequel to the Dragon Hunters. Tycho Station follows Elias Hawkes, who became the StarHawke Tycho after his father steps down into retirement. The threats against the Tycho Star Traders and their Drakkon DragonHawks grow as they are accused of being responsible for the OutRider pirates raiding the OutWorlds. Speculation about his family's Drakkon heritage only increases when the birth of his son, Morgan Elias, triggers the legend of the return of the Great Dragon, who will unify all the Trade and restore the Star Empire. The StarHawke Tycho and his Hawkkur Legion race to protect the Tycho Star Traders from destruction and the hands of their enemies.

The Dragon's Revenge, Book 3, has been outlined to about 65% of the story. A few chapters are in rough draft and there are a lot of notes. This book follows in the wake of Tycho Station, Book 2, after the Tycho Star Traders are attacked and it looks like all of the Drakkon have been killed. The Tycho Star Traders fight to stay alive and exact revenge on their attackers. In the end, threats from outside the Star Trader Galaxy force the Tychos and all the Star Trader into an Alliance with their friends and foes to overcome the threat.

Dragon Summer, Book 4, has been outlined to about 50%. The original version of this book needs a lot of rewriting to bring into alignment with the rest of the saga. Dragon Summer runs parallel to The Dragon's Revenge and occurs outside of the Star Trader Galaxy for the most part. Bane Sollar, the brother of the StarHawke Tycho, fled the Tycho Trade Station to deliver the StarHawke's infant son to his grandparents wh,o in their retirement, are scouting other races and people in hopes of expanding Trade to new markets. Unfortunately, the boy falls into the hands of locals and becomes lost for many years. He finally is reunited with grandparents, but not until after a dangerous and ardous journey. Once he finds his family, he must learn about his Star Trader and Drakkon heritage and prepare for the day that he returns to the Star Trader Galaxy to reclaim his place.

I have barely started outlining Book 5, Gaanard Station. In this book, Morgan returns to the Star Trader Galaxy, to the Gaanard Trade Station, to attend Trade School. The Horath War is raging, and the massive Trade Station is filled with refugees from all over the Star Trader Galaxy. His grandparents and Bane Sollar believe these conditions will give Morgan the cover he needs to acclimate to being a Star Trader and start preparing for the day when he will formally claim his place as the StarHawke Tycho.

Gateway Station, Book 6, is the first book in the series that I started. As I have defined the DragonHawk Saga, it has found its place in the story sequence. Unfortunately, it needs a lot of revision to fit the storyline. But it is full of details and backstory that have enabled me to build most of the "early days" of the saga. Gateway Station explores the intrigue of the post Horath War era of the Alliance. Gateway Station is a massive trade station built during the war by the Star Traders as a massive spaceport and fortress. At the end of the war, it is "donated" as the headquarters of the Alliance. The Star Traders see it as a lot like Gaanard, a place where all of the members of the Alliance can meet and work out their differnece. (Yeah, we all know how well that will work!). Bane Sollar and Morgan Hawkes, who is still "undercover", get entangled with some old enemies. At the same time, word is leaked from Gaanard that young Morgan is the StarHawke Tycho, a survivor of the Tycho Massacre. He and Sollar become separated when the Sollar Hawk is attacked at Gateway Station and Morgan is forced to take the starship out on his own, to prevent it from falling into the hands of their enemies.

The StarHawke Tycho is the title of Book 7. At one time it was a complete story, but I don't think that most of it will fit the saga. So there is a lot of work to be done. The story includes a mission to rescue his grandparents and the rest of the monitoring team, as they may have been found out by the locals, as well as the triumphant return to the Tycho Trade Station by the StarHawke Tycho and, hopefully, his grandparents.

Conbor Station will be Book 8. Nothing is developed for this story, other than a rough synopsis. In this story, the StarHawke Tycho on a goodwill tour of Gaanard, Gateway Station, and Conborine. A lot of politics as he makes the rounds, attending formal receptions to celebrate his survival and his title. At the same time, he is still searching for Bane Sollar, who has disappeared from view on the trail of the people responsible for the Tycho Massacre.

The title of Book 9 is The DragonHawk War. This will be open warfare between the Star Trader Families as they align themselves behind the Tycho Star Traders and the Drakkon, or the Reska Star Traders and their Rahhol DragonHawks.

Book 10 is titled the Great Dragon and will feature the finale of the DragonHawk War, the emergence of the Great Dragon, and finally, the restoration of peace to the Star Trader Galaxy. I hope.

Well that's the plan, as I see at 0129 hours on Monday, December 20, 2010. Now all I have to is find the words to tell the stories...

Thanks for reading! And if I don't have an opportunity to make another entry this week, let me wish you a Merry Christmas!

Dave

Gateway Station

Do you want to learn about Gateway Station? Read about Trann Mor on the Gateway Station page!

I was better when I didn't know so much?

Tonignt, while working on the Master Timeline, I was reviewing and reading Gateway Station, the first story I started working on, back in 1985. (I sent out 14 queries in 1990, before I departed on a six month WestPac cruise on the USS Aspro, SSN-648). I think my writing was better then, before I (supposedly) learned all these rules about writing. Back in 1985, when I first started writing about Morgan and Bane and their adventures, the words just seemed to pour out, faster than I could write them down or type them up.

But there was only one story them. And I did not worry too much about how a character got to my story. (Now I know that is called "backstory"). And it did not really matter, because I wasn't trying to connect all these stories into a coherent, linked series.

But now it does matter. I've got Gateway Station, the DragonHawks, parts of the Dragon Hunters, most of Dragon Summer, parts of Dragon's Revenge, Heritage, the DragonHawk War, and so on...

So, I guess I'll keep working on the details and look back on the early part of my writing for inspiration. Maybe that is the key to solving the puzzle that is the DragonHawk Saga.

Thanks for reading!

It's Alive!

The Master Storyboard, that is.

It has taken life as a big Excel spreadsheet. Right now, I am going back through all the books, writing summaries of each chapter (or a description of what I want to happen) for The Dragon Hunters, The DragonHawks, and Dragon Summer. Still have Dragon's Revenge, and the Dragon's Return to add. I like the way it is working out, I think it is going to be a handy tool to sort out this big long storyline.

I think the pro's (That's the people that have been spamming me to buy their "expert" software that will solve all my writing problems for me!) call it "backstory".

Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. Or as a friend of mine is fond of saying: "pole vaulting over mouse droppings". (He says it a bit different, but you get my drift...)

Anyway, I'll sort the details out to my satisfaction and then press on with the writing. At least now, I have a tool to keep track of things!

The moral of the story: It's my plot, my characters, my story. I'm not going to let somebody else reshape it with their tools.

Cheers!

Dave

The Master Storyboard

If you have been reading my blog, you know how many problems I have been having with my writing. Last night I started on a new tool that I hope will help me fix the stories. I call it the Master Storyboard. I intend for it to be the official master list of all the DragonHawk stories by book and chapter.

Its in an Excel format so it is flexible and expandable. Hopefully it will help me get my thoughts back on track.

Bottom line, things are pretty hectic around here these days. To add to my "angst", my main pc for writing has major problems. One of the software updates (from AVG anti-virus software) broke Windows 7 and the computer was stuck in a constant restart and shutdown loop.

So my "IT Department", my two sons David and Will, are going to rebuild it for me, adding a 1 Terra Byte hard drive! Looking forward to filling that bad boy up!

The moral of the story? Back your stuff up, on an external drive, a separate drive on your network, or one of the online storage programs. Just do something. I have my stuff pretty well organized, but it still took me 3 hours to move it all to this laptop until the other computer is up.

In the meantime, its back to the storyboard!

Cheers!