In the Beginning...
I've come up with the name STELLARIS probably twelve or so years ago, after trying to find a unique term that will not evoke so much of Star Trek or Star Wars. The more established 'traditional' science fiction series have already come up with 'starships' and 'starfleet'.
Why? Because of my major influence in writing.
Star Trek: The Next Generation was shown in the Philippines around the late eighties. As a pre-teen during that time period, I was hooked on it - not so much because of it's humanist stories, but more on the technology of its satrships and cool uniforms. Of course, I was also fascinated by the concept of a progressive human race, travelling the stars, rubbing elbows with aliens, and leading a pan-galactic peace-loving science-engrossed organization.
But it's western philosophical stand alienated me. I was born and raised a Catholic, went to a Catholic school run by Jesuits, and was set on fire during my teenage years because of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement. Eliminating God in the equation of most, if not all, major science fiction genres was too far for me to accept.
That's why Babylon 5 is notable in the sense that it retained the concept of religion and played with the eternal struggle of good and evil in its wide story arcs. This also caught my attention, but in contrast with the pristine society of Star Trek, it has more grit and grime.
This is what prompted me to conceptualize STELLARIS, in the hope of merging what I like best in both worlds / galaxies / universes of Star Trek and Babylon 5.
Remembrance Chronicles
In all my previous attempts at speculative fiction ever since hug school, this one has stuck the longest. There was an attempt to do a Robert Jordan-esque fantasy setting. I've even written down a prologue and half the first chapter. I kept on revising my story, and drew more from personal experiences to flesh out some events. I had the propensity to doodle maps. Again, like Robert Jordan (may his soul rest in peace), the map of the Remembrance Chronicles would have looked like South East Asia and East Asia. But that faded, and Remembrance Chronicles died a natural death. This is when I knew that my calling was more of science fiction.
Kalasag
Delving back to my past, my first almost-novel was actually written in Filipino, during the time of the post-Cory Aquino regime, when President FVR mandated that there should be no secret gatherings or any gatherings that would be against the government. It was set in and ancient China-like setting since at that time, I was engrossed with a computer game called Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I dreamt it to be a new Noli me Tangere, where it will inspire a generation of youth to resist the current establishment and safeguard freedom. Nationalism was ripe, as I was an Iskolar ng Bayan. It was written, or rather typed, in an old IBM(TM) PS/2 computer my mom gave me in high school, with Microsoft(TM) MS Word 5.0, not the more common WordStar(TM) in those days.
There and Back Again
So we come back to the present - and my current attempts at writing a novel. My wife is the writer in the family, but she encourages me to put down my story. Thus, she has convinced me to enter the NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - an organization that encourages would-be writers to come up with at least 50,000 words during the whole month of November. Together with her, I shall attempt to meet the goal of the required word count.
Here's their website: http://nanowrimo.org/
It's going to be the first draft, I know. But the very least I expect to gain from it is to exercise my writing skills and at least have a body of work to actually edit and work on further. I've actually finished developing a rough timeline to establish the back story last year. And I've also completed some notes on the different factions that will come into play. It's like the stage is being set, and now I must formulate the script into which the characters will play out the story.
My weakness is still character development. But now, suffice it to say that I've found two characters I'm currently enjoying. They're getting to know each other for now. I've written down around 5 paragraphs of their encounter in my Samsung(TM) Galaxy Note and I'm hoping I get to write more about them whenever I'm stuck in traffic. I'm hoping that more intriguing characters come into play by November 1.
Map making still fascinates me, and I judge a fantasy book by the map it provides. But for now, my maps will be the corridors of Stellarons and hallways of Colony Ships. From the mapping of Paths to the layout of mining colonies on asteroids, I hope you will travel with me to these distant places and find the next stage of the human struggle fascinating enough to actually enjoy the ride.
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