The “Space Pilot” plot; Flist, please to be feedbacking me kthks
I am being serious now, and developing this into a novel. Any ideas, any comments, any scenes that you would want to see?
Tam Catt is a “theiver” a self-supported ship captain, like a privateer. Like a privateer, she has a precarious relationship with the local government, and falls in and out of favor depending on how lucrative her ventures are and how well she can play the politics.
She is smallish, salty, randy, talkative, greedy.
The space ships of this time are sentient AIs. Tam’s ship calls herself “Sugarpuss” and is very like her captain. Ships “comm” with each other, which gives them emotional satisfaction and some sense of intimate pleasure– Humans assume it’s like sex. We may never know, exactly.
Tam and Sugarpuss come limping into a waystation, after a successful venture which has damaged the ship. Tam’s off-and-on lover is there, the Fleet Commander for the local governor’s military. (Probably a woman) There’s back history about why Tam won’t go establishment.
The mechanic that does Sugarpuss’s repairs wants passage to somewhere. Likewise, another guy is willing to pay a lot of money to a rather isolated planet, with no legitimate reason that he’s saying. The mechanic takes over the ship while they are out– he’s put in a failsafe that lets him override Sugarpuss’s AI. he is in fact a wanted fugitive. In taking him offworld she becomes associated with him which starts out as a rumor but he uses her ship to destroy a friendly vessel and the government puts a warrant out for her.
She and the other passenger are marooned and have to get free from the world they get stuck on and go after the ship. The other passenger has items still on Sugarpuss that are crucial to his family’s honor or something like that. This means some time on the planet, an adventure there and a con job to get a ship. maybe a quest type of thing?
They end up together, of course, although not any sort of OTP situation. Probably, Tam and the Fleet Captain reunite at the end. Again.
Some notes I’ve put together–
-Tam has a quick fling with the mechanic, before he unleashes his evil scheme.
-AI’s keep personality recordings in a safe place. I have Tam talking about how some disaster wiped Sugarpuss’s IA, and she travelled four months in a “dead ship” to get to the repository. But it would be pretty difficult to do, I would think.
–The Fleet Captain can pull strings to keep Tam as safe as possible. She does have doubts, but I hate that “Oh, everything I know about my friend was wrong!” type of plot device… She would also have the near-authority to bring in the cavalry. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, for my plot!
I keep envisioning Tam as simian, with a prehensile tail and thumbed feet. But unless there’s a damn good reason for it– I won’t write it. I don’t do furry! *eek*
Among good reasons might be a racism issue? somehow I don’t think that would go over too good in this day and age. People will read waaay more into it than they should, and accuse me of racism, you just know it.
I can easily imagine a breeding program that turned simians into sentient beings for use in space– of genetic manipulation to give humans the extra hands and tail… If I can make a good case for it.
Tam and Sugarpuss figure out a way to “have sex” together. Of course!
Nota Bene; All replies will be screened, so that each comment/conversation will remain private, okay? Some people seem to feel more comfortable that way, and I want my friends to be able to say “that sux’ without any hesitation.
My 2cents, Canadian
I’m honoured that you asked my opinion, and worried that I’ll offend. So forgive me if I say something tactless. I take it you’ve got private commenting turned on, right?
I think you’re right to stay away from a non-human main character. It’s been done, but not in the sort of action-oriented novel you have here. You need to have an “entry character” that the reader can identify with, and most are probably not going with the simian thing. Although how handy would a prehensile tale be?
I think you have some good ideas here: Firefly meets Farscape meets a lot of original stuff. I’m not sure why all the different lovers. I think you might wish to think now about where you plan to submit it and which genre you’re writing in. Yes, sci-fi, but what kind of sci-fi? Is it a romance? Erotica? The decision now will affect length and sexual content. Make an agent’s job easier.
I’m also not sure this is yet an outline. More of a premise and collection of ideas, really. Which, for “pantsers” is already more than they use. I’m a detailed outline kind of gal. You might want to take a look at “The Hero’s Journey” since this appears to be a quest type novel, and make sure you cover all the basis. Sounds like you do have a hero, a love interest, a trickster, etc.
For my quest novel, I actually took the stages of The Hero’s Journey, entered them into an Excel spreadsheet, and put very tiny descriptions of what I wanted to accomplish in that section. Worked for me.
So I think you’re off to a grand start. It’s slightly reminiscent of a series of novels I read and re-read years ago and really liked.
Hope that helped. I’d buy it!
Re: My 2cents, Canadian
ooh, that does help, and I’m off to amazon for the book. And you’ve said nothing tactless at all. but if you want to, I swear I’ll take it like a strong woman should
I have always written erotica, I suppose I’m trying to combine my old habits with my new– just to keep myself comfortable, you know. I don’t know if I’ll get as graphic in this as I’ve done before, and I might dump it altogether, but if I were writing a male main character he’d be a reprobate, and so will any female main characters. I suppose my reason for writing her that way is simply because I can, and so few women are portrayed that way…
I’ve just had a comment from someone, that my simian humanoids could have been bred for slave labor, and although they are no longer slaves, there’s still a lot of disdain for them. So my Fleet Commander might be avoiding a public avowal of her relationship with one. So, I’m thinking about using that as one of my main themes, Tam’s rise to success in spite of her lowly beginnings.
Was that novel series, by any chance, the “Skeen” series by Jo Clayton? Because I can’t help but feel as if this idea of mine is set in a universe very close to hers…
Re: My 2cents, Canadian
If you have hybrids, you can get away with prejudice without anyone calling you a racist. So that addresses one of your other concerns.
I think she should be a hybrid that can “pass”. That way you’ll have more to work with: people saying racist things in front of her, feeling betrayed when she turns out to be one of “them” and they hadn’t noticed. Also allows her to be a better entry character. Maybe they can draw their tails up inside their bodies or something. Nothing a good depilatory can’t take care of.
Yes, the Skeen series. Yours isn’t that close, but you can’t go wrong by having the same “feel”. Skeen had a thing for rough sex, but Clayton wrote it as an aftermath kind of thing–nothing graphic, IIRC.
I get the female reprobate thing. I wonder how regular sci-fi readers will take it. By and large sci-fi is squeaky clean. As I’ve wondered before, what do the geeks that live in their parents’ basements jerk off to?
No need to slog through the entire Hero’s Journey book; just google it and read the summaries. Also, if you can possibly get to MediaWest this year, make sure you attend Cindy Walker’s panel on writing. She gets into the Hero’s Journey a fair amount. Apparently The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars have exactly the same plot.
Re: My 2cents, Canadian
haha, basement geeks jerk off to plastic women in the pages of Playboy, as far as I can tell. The geeks that don’t live in their parent’s basements– can be astonishing in bed…
I always had the feeling that Clayton wrote those sex scenes out– then deleted them.
I’ll probably go non-graphic as well. My YA advisor (my 19-yo daughter) tells me that you can get away with an amazingly explicit sexual content nowadays… And really, the sex itself isn’t as important in this story, as that fact that she can be pulled around by lust– as well as all the rest of the seven sins.
Apparently The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars have exactly the same plot.
So that’s why Luke Skywalker had those little red shoes, I could never figure that out!
Until I got to the end part about Tam and Sugarpuss, I was gonna say “Tam and Sugarpuss need to have a way to have sex!”
But what about the wanted fugitive? How does she let him mess with her ship, without knowing him? Maybe the AI is still there, instead of a “dead ship”, but Sugarpuss is unable to control her own systems?
I really like this idea, Stella, I think it rocks! Novel, baby.
Yes, Tam shows a complete failure of judgement there. Maybe he is the guy who sets up the interface for her and Sugarpuss– Tam would ignore some forebodings for the sake of that– I would!
I don’t think the guy ‘kills’ Sugarpuss, and she doesn’t even know that he can override her control of the ship until he does it. And Tam would be in a white-hot rage at being gulled, and even more at knowing her baby was in his hands. She’d be so angry she would be paralysed for a while, I think. That would give the second boy a chance to start showing what he’s made of.
Also, I can’t imagine Sugarpuss being much of a damsel in distreess, she would have some hidden resources…
OMIGAWD, thank you! Every person who has responded to my call has asked different questions, and given me more insights. And I love it that you immediately thought Tam and Sugarpuss have to be able to have sex. XD
I’m confused. There are so many interesting ideas here, but I just don’t think I’m capable of evaluating a plot just as a plot, without all the things that would make it a novel.
So I’m just posting to say that so you don’t think I’ve gone silent because I hated it or something. I honestly don’t know what to think, though it does certainly make me curious to see where you go with it later.
Of course, I’d like to see the prehensile tail get used…
*mwuah!*
The tail WILL be used. From my “interview” exercise, I’m getting that these Simian-humanoids were developed especially for space travel. I was thinking that they’d be rather universally despised, but– probably not, there are probably some religious factions that wants them gone, and some pragmatists that see them as a valuable enlargement of the human race.
I haven’t figured out what the name of this species is, maybe some variant of Hanuman?
Wow – this is a very cool idea! It sounds like the very best kind of space opera – exciting and engaging and fun, with lots of adventure and romance and *sex*!
I love the sentient ship and the Tam/Fleet Captain plotline.
Personally, it would squick me a bit to make her a simian and have her involved with human characters, but that’s just my 2 cents.
I’ll have to make clear that she is NOT a monkey, but a human with some simian characteristics, then…
I’ve been going around and around on using racism as a theme here. My primary advisor (my 19 year-old daughter) point out that everybody worships space pilots, and they might admire these simian-humans instead of discriminating against them. But of course there would be groups that resent and hate them…
OK, since you asked, here’s what I ‘free associated’ from your description.
Skimmed through your tags and didn’t find any of these things already mentioned.
‘Tam Catt’
Joss Whedon’s Captain Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds from ‘Firefly’ series, ‘Serenity’ movie
<a href=" http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=mal+firefly&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
“>search = mal firefly
‘Sugarpuss’
Concept of the “daemon” from Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series: The Golden Compass, The Amber Spyglass,
‘Simian’
Lemurs.
Lemurs are prosimians with prehensile…everything.
They’re also endangered. You could champion the species.
Beware Zaboomafoo.
web site: primatology
http://primatology.net/
“Tam and Sugarpuss figure out a way to “have sex” together”
Ursula LeGuin, ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’
(this also came to mind with your mpreg diatribe a while ago)
wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness
somehow thinking full body ‘mist meets the mountains’ sort of experience;
envelopment without touch
What if
Sugarpuss had a forcefield…?
that could only be breached/allowed entry by…?
but could also be deadly…?
Why am I seeing Puss’n'Boots?
Your story idea sounds ambitious, and fun!
I’ll look forward to reading what you come up with.
I am prostrate with gratitude! Lemurs! I love lemurs!
I’ve seen so little of Firefly, believe it or not. I’ve got no working TV! And now I think I’de better stay away till this project is finished, huh?
But I can’t see Sugarpuss in quite the role of a daemon. I think her AI might have been built in, so to speak, Catt’s, so that they are in harmony in that way, but she grows on her own after that. Or seeded from Catt’s neurosystem, I dunno just yet. How does that sound?
You might be seeing Puss in Boots because I RP’d him a couple of times.. (pre Shrek, I might add) as a whiney French rascal…
somehow thinking full body ‘mist meets the mountains’ sort of experience;
envelopment without touch
yeah… that sounds about right… I’m thinking some kind of neurosensory hookup as well.
Thanks!
Yeah, human with some simian characteristics feels totally different to me, for some reason. .
I think you have a good idea going. Since the relationships are important here, and you’ve made Tam ‘randy and greedy’, you’ll need to come up with another quality about her that makes people (like the Fleet Captain) want to go out on a limb for her. Maybe her greed comes from an early life of real deprivation? Maybe, despite her greed, she’s also got a soft spot for a hard luck story? She’s never managed to get enough tough shell (her crusty exterior not withstanding, as it’s just a defense) to save herself from sympathy for others — that is, despite her own tough life, she’s had enough ‘good people’ come out of the woodwork to save her ass that she feels some kind of (acknowledged or not) obligation to help out others in tough situations. She’ll make ‘em pay if she can, and she will bitch about it, but she can’t sleep well if she feels she’s stiffed or cheated someone who can’t handle it (she has a grading system, perhaps, that she uses to grade who can handle it/who can afford it. This might make for an interesting situation between her honorable passenger and her scummy mechanic — her grading system isn’t foolproof and occasionally she makes bad assumptions)
) I’m not saying don’t DO it or don’t include the sex, but you’ll have to make some choices about where your emphasis lies and what you want to spend more words on.
As for ‘not doing furries’, playing with an alien life form isn’t QUITE the same (see C.J. Cherryh’s Chanur series). Then again, writing a space monkey might be too much to take seriously unless you really work it right.
The ship AI thing makes me think of McCaffrey’s ‘Ship’ stories, although those weren’t really AI. You’ll want to distinguish your stories.
As for the AI Backup, that’s interesting and would depend on how you chose to interpret the AI. If it really is a full personality, a self directing mind, then it might be very risky to try to ‘reload’ it from backup — the ‘mind’ part is something greater than it’s programming, based on the experiences of the mind, so a backup would only be as developed as it was when it was created (so if it was created when the AI was young and inexperienced, it might be a very different AI when reloaded…ideas to play with there.)
If you haven’t read a lot of books in the space ship opera/adventure subgenre, I’d recommend grabbing a few. Like any genre, there are ‘standards’ you have to accept, but you also don’t want to look like you are ripping off anyone else (and you won’t know if you don’t read). Also, a little research into the organizational structures of various navies if you don’t have that to hand would help in creating the political structure (since that’s a part of your story). This is the sort of story that needs research to make it work (in my opinion). It might even help to find movies that have elements you want to include so you have visual references for descriptions. Science Channel space stuff could be helpful, too.
I think handling this will depend on world building (as tends to be the big part of any SF) and the tech building. The erotica angle, honestly, will be secondary to the plot you’ve outlined, even if you use the sex to outline important relationships. In fact, you’ll have to be careful with the sex if you want all those plot elements to have enough importance (and you don’t want to create a Sex in Space Star Trek episode
It comes down to what story you are writing — an SF/Space adventure with some sex in it, or a sex/erotica story that takes place on a space ship. Your plot outline says the first is your goal. I’ll be interested in seeing what you develop.
Nice insights, thank you!
I’ve read some space opera type stuff. My primary inspiration is Jo Clayton’s “Skeen” series, my all-time favorite female spce captain anti-hero-hero.
And Anne McCaffrey ain’t too shabby! I think I’ve read one of that series.
more later… you’ve given me some good ideas.