Honestly, I had no idea I was going to be releasing a novelette a month and a half ago.
I was simply doing what I had always done and perused my collection of unfinished projects and ideas, once again searching for a way to make something of the thoughts rolling around in my head. That's where Galilee Walker comes in.
Several years ago, a close friend of mine came to me with an idea of creating a podcast which was more of a radio play. It was a science fiction tale that would be set in deep space and feature a wide cast of characters we would cast from our individual (and sometimes shared) social circles. It was an exciting idea that was right up my alley given my 15+ years of podcasting and my lifelong love of science fiction. Having felt like I'd already exhausted the story in my star pilot universe, I couldn't wait to dive into this new world we had elected to call: Silentium.
My friend (who shall remain nameless unless she reads this and demands to be given fame and fortune) and I quickly started scheduling creative sessions and opening myriad Google Docs to start character developing and world building. She was cooking up plot lines and I was going heavy on world building and character backgrounds. I could see the whole thing in my head and I was 100% positive we were going to knock this out of the park and win scores of sci-fi fans in the process. Even with our scattered voice actor cast, we had great people in line to play every role, and I was technically prepared to host anyone local in my basement for recording sessions or organize remote V.O. sessions. I had it all planned out. We just had to get it written.
I cooked up a website full of customized page builds and code which would allow us to release episodes, complete with a sci-fi futuristic interface that tossed visitors right into our world with a frantic message warning of impending events. I started putting together corporations, planetary systems, logos, employee ID badges, you name it. I even hired an illustrator to design a logo/embroidery patch we intended to send out to Patreon supporters.
My co-creator came up with Galilee Walker and we put our heads together to create a really fun teaser for the show (Content warning: NSFW language):
Now it was real. Or so we thought.
What followed was a series of events that would leave the project stalled. For one, my daughter was born and my hands were full with work and family. My co-creator would have her own set of challenges (which are not mine to tell) and wound up moving across the country.
Long story short, with both of us juggling full plates of life coupled with intermittent communication between us, we were forced to come to the realization that the project could not continue as planned.
Eventually, we agreed that I would take the lead on whatever was to become of the project and we would stay in touch about any progression that happened. After that, I decided on a format shift and decided to write the story as a script for a live action web series. Mind you, I had NO IDEA how the hell i was going to make that happen, but I figured it can't happen if I don't write it, so I got started. I got some two episodes+ and some 60-pages in before I lost steam and couldn't see a way to make my vision a reality. Especially given the fact that I had zero money to be filming anything...haha.
Being that I was living in the comic book mecca of Portland, OR, I figured I should shift gears and aim for something more attainable. That meant turning my script into a comic book/graphic novel layout. I knew plenty of people adjacent or working in the comic industry and, having funded two successful Kickstarters previously, I knew I could put enough together to pay an illustrator to do a cover treatment and maybe a page or two to entice the audience. So, again, I got to work writing the first two issues! Then I got in my own way...again.
This time, I decided to send out the first issue for test reads and two things happened after that:
- Some folks that I really wanted feedback from on the viability of the story and concept never responded once I reached out or sent copies to read.
and
- The responses I did get felt lukewarm, at best, and I immediately allowed that to take the wind out of my creative sails.
As a result, I stopped writing the story altogether and let it sit for an extended period of time once again.
Fast forward to January of 2024, where I find myself in the midst of an extended period of unemployment after being laid off within a week of earning my master's degree in Music Technology. I, again, find myself rolling through unfinished projects and again staring at the Silentium materials. It's still bugging me and I just can't walk away from this project. So, again, I start sorting through all the world building that I've been doing and the multiple versions of "scripts" I had cooked up to that point.
There I sat searching and searching for what to do...then, out of the blue it hits me.
I've done a ton of backstory on characters and their origins that weren't actually part of the main story I was trying to write. Why am I putting together all this material on paper that ISN'T being used in any way? It explains it all to me, but isn't in the story at all — other than passing mentions or filler. That's what I'll do. I'll start small. I'll start with something I can put together that I already have worked out in my head (and partially on paper) and I think it will be a great way to a) lead into the larger story I've been stalled on and b) utilize all of this background data I've been cooking up in a way that is useful for the audience AND the story.
Circle back to Galilee Walker. I've written a sizable part of her backstory leading into the main narrative and I can now clearly see a way to flesh her out and make her journey real. Once this revelation took hold, my ADHD hyper-focus said, "My turn!" And I spent the next two weeks customizing my Scrivener layout, organizing my story bits, and churning out 15K words about a young woman set on exposing the hypocrisy of her religious overlords.
And that is how Broken Hourglass was born.
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