Fractal Peace: Part One Complete

The good news is that I've now completed the first draft of part one of Fractal Peace, titled Reconciliation. The bad news is that I've no idea what comes next. Hey ho.

Let's concentrate on part one first. This was probably the most satisfying stretch of writing I've achieved so far, with everything coming together better than I'd hoped – which is partly the cause of my dilemma for part two. It could have been lacklustre in comparison. More of that later.

To recap: Everson Polk is chairing a session of the Reconciliation Commission, whose job it is to learn lessons at the end of a century-long interstellar war to stop it from restarting. One of its four members is murdered, causing Detective Valerity Novak to join them to investigate.

Part one comprises each character narrating their tales from the war (in first person) interspersed with short bridging chapters from Polk's perspective (third person). The first-person stories were particularly satisfying to write. At the end of the first draft, this is how things stand:

• Peace, For Now (6,203 words)

• Gori Ghul Flay's Tale (8,042 words)

• Ancient History (1,938 words)

• Jaklorinki's Tale (5,202 words)

• Summary Justice (2,238 words)

• Amina Ya's Tale (8,351 words)

• Divided Loyalties (2,259 words)

• Cabeliac Onga's Tale (9,005 words)

• Exchanging Secrets (2,812 words)

• Valerity Novak's Tale (6,436 words)

• Shared Confessions (2,912 words)

• Everson Polk's Tale (5,585 words)

• Combining Forces (2,125 words)

All in all that gives me a grand total of 63,111 words for part one. Phew.

As planned, that all revealed the truth behind the end of the war and the reality of the ensuing peace. Part two, now called Cooperation, deals with the fallout.

As I said, my original plans now feel a little lacklustre, but luckily, I have some much better ideas. The position is both starker and more nuanced, with the motivations of the parties involved hard to square with right and wrong in many cases. Much fun should ensue.

Another aspect of the original plan is that part two was going to be written from Polk's third-person perspective again. However, I don't think that does the other characters justice, and it would restrict how the story would unfold – particularly as Polk won't always be there for some key events,

So although Polk will remain the primary focus, I'll also be using the third-person perspective of three other characters, maybe four. I'm not telling you who, as that would be a spoiler. The fourth (if it happens) isn't even one of those who told their tales in part one.

Part two needs significant replanning. I must admit to being excited about it now, but there are a few choices to make in which order events will unfold. There are a lot of loose ends left dangling a the end of part one that need either tying together or burning to the ground.

First, I'm going to take the radical step of creating a second draft of part one. That's partly to fix a couple of character arc issues that need to be rock solid ahead of part two and partly to ensure I don't miss any threads I've accidentally left swinging in the breeze. Nothing major, so it shouldn't take too long.

Once that's done, I'll be back to report on my plans for part two. Oh, and there are a few repairs around the house that need doing., I got a bit too engrossed in writing part one. Onwards.