A funny thing happened as I embarked on the journey of penning Bernard’s Dream: I became a plotter. In writer’s jargon, there are two types of writers: pantsers and plotters. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants, telling themselves the story as they go along. Plotters write an outline, filling in the details as they write each scene. In real life, I am a solid plotter. After all, I’m an engineer, and that’s kind of our thing. For writing, however, I’ve always been a pantser, and that’s because I get my ideas as I write. I’m actually a little perplexed why I wrote out Bernard’s Dream as a scene-by-scene outline, but wow — it is so much easier to write a story when you have all the scenes laid out. I think the reason I was able to switch to this approach is because I felt very comfortable with the characters and goal of the story, so the scenes were clear to me. It also helped with theme. One of book’s themes is aging and time, and plotting ensured it was woven through the assorted scenes. That doesn’t mean I had everything worked out. For example, my original notes for the ending problem simply stated “The Stars need something from Promise and it’s going to be very difficult to get.” That’s quite a simplification of the multiple problem-solving scenes and climatic resolution that ended up in the book. Other parts of the outline were beat-for-beat, however. The beginning chapter outlines had exactly the scenes with Willow at Apogee, Will at the Griffith Observatory, and Sarah with the Nightcrawler.
One of the nice perks of plotting versus pantsing is that you throw less away. When pantsing, I’ll write entire scenes, decide they don’t work and then rewrite them from scratch. Quite a few scenes end up on the cutting room floor. With plotting, the only scenes I deleted were for pacing. It was actually harder to delete: they were good scenes, right on point with the story’s themes, but I could tell the reader would skim them. In Bernard’s Dream, this was the get the crew off Earth problem and scenes that got deleted stood in the way of that goal.
The single scene that got cut was titled “Captain’s Launch Party”. Here, James meets the captains and AIs of the other starships. I do intend to write short stories featuring their adventures, so this was mainly a setup scene (which is why it got cut). With it cut, you only see the other captains’ ships and briefly hear Noah Bouchard address the fleet. From a pacing standpoint, this was replaced by James and Will’s beer on the front porch the night before launch, which thematically was more on point. Here’s the original scene:
Captain’s Launch Party (original opening to Chapter 12: Dreams)
Twilight over the Amalfi Coast is spectacular from the hotel’s open-air terrace perched three-hundred-and-fifty meters above sea level. Colorful house lights speckle the residences cascading down the shoreline with curving mountains jutting from the sea. The terrace itself is adorned with amber crystal lamps, each casting their own oasis of light from slender Roman columns. James stands there, drink in his hand, taking in the sights and enjoying the fresh air of the hot July 2094 night. Behind him, the hotel’s ballroom is filled with people in formal wear. It’s the Captain’s Party for the crew of the five starships, organized by the United Nations and hosted here. The hotel is theirs for the next week to enjoy the finest luxuries Earth has to offer. Tonight is the gala, filled with speeches and photo ops. Earlier, James caught himself smiling as he shook hands with everyone at the world leader’s table. “Mister President, Madame President, Mister Prime Minister, Madame Secretary General, Mister President,” he was saying. The crews of the five ships represent Japan, China, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, and the United States. That’s a lot of world leaders. Here he was, breaking bread with them all.
Soft footfalls sound behind him and a woman’s hand touches his elbow. When he turns, Willow is standing there wearing a striking red gown with a diamond pendant dancing down into her v-neck. Her blonde hair is down and teased into waves. “Catching a little air?” she says. “Not like you to be on your own.”
James raises his eyebrows. “Had to rest my cheeks. Getting tired from all the smiling and hand shaking.”
She points to a dimple in the side of her mouth. “Get’s you right here, doesn’t it? Takes practice.”
“Probably why my movie star career never took off.”
She glances back over her shoulder. “There’s some captains that want to meet you.”
James takes a sip of his drink. “Well, now, that’s more my speed.”
She turns and walks back into the ballroom, James in tow. Soft, ambient music plays in the background and the din of conversation washes over them as they navigate amongst the crowd and tables. At this time of night, people have mingled into clusters, chatting and enjoying the party, and the demarkations of nationalities have faded. There’s something uplifting about it, seeing each nation leave the tribe of its table and merge with the others in conversation. After all, it’s what the United Nations is all about. Equally interesting is the table that contains five screens pulsing with their own colorful ripples. Ananke’s familiar blue screen is one of those faces. Two women are chatting with the AIs, and Willow leads James to them.
The closest person is a forty-year-old Japanese woman with short black hair cropping her cheeks. Willow smiles to her and offers a bow. “Ichikawa-san, hajimemashite.”
“Hajimemashite,” the woman says, returning the bow. “Please, call me Hana, Miss Parker.” Hana extends her hand towards James. “Mister Hayden, it’s an honor.”
James shakes her hand. “Honor’s mine. I’ve read about your career. Very impressive. The Peregrine couldn’t have a better captain.”
“Thank you,” Hana says. She motions with her left hand to the woman beside her, a fair-skinned person with striking blue eyes and medium blond hair. “Have you met Captain Erikkson?”
James extends his hand. “James.”
Captain Erikkson accepts it. “Maja. Good to meet you, James.”
“You’ll be commanding the Aletheia?”
“Yes, returning back to Astris to study the Mimic. I was just talking with Ananke about your experiences there. Any tips?”
“Come in peace, but be prepared to fight. I think that’s the thing that took the most adapting to once we got out there.”
She nods. “We’ve reapplied your ship’s upgrades. I think it’s wise to be prepared.” Maja points to an undulating blue screen near her. “Lewis and Ananke are chatting up a storm. It’s helpful to build upon what you’ve already discovered.”
“Hello, Mister Hayden,” Lewis says, a ripple of purple curling through his display. “It’s very exciting to meet you. I’m learning great things from Ananke.”
“Hello, Lewis,” James say. “I, too, am always learning great things from Ananke.”
Ananke’s screen introduces a swirl of purple and she says, “James, allow me to introduce you to Taki, who will be on the Peregrine, Anning, who will be on the Xuanzang, and Strava, who will be on the Dayspring.”
The three AIs respond one after the other. “Hello, James.” He nods and smiles.
Two more people stroll over from his left, coalescing on the captain’s gathering forming in front of the AI table. The older of the two men has spiked black hair with silver tips. He shakes James’s hand and says directly, “Chen Wu, Xuanzang.” The second man is in his thirties with wavy medium-brown hair and a hint of a stubbly beard. His smile is warm. “Noah Bouchard, captain of the Dayspring. It’s a pleasure, captains.”
Willow takes a sip of her wine. “Well, look at us. This is quite a remarkable gathering. The leaders and crews of the ships that will open the doorway to the stars. It’s a bit surreal, isn’t it?”
“Well,” Noah says, “we’re here because you and James made it happen. That was a hell of a speech at the U.N. I remember watching your first Mars flight back in ’81.” He leans in. “You know, I was still in college back then. I would never have thought I’d be flying off to the stars now on my own Riggs ship.”
There it is again, James thinks, the time jump. He still can’t get used to the nine-year fast forward, and he’s not sure what twenty-eight years will feel like. James waves a hand. “I just floated the idea. You all took the conn.” In the corner of his eye, he catches a glimpse of their respective crews mingling in the background. Each ship has a similar setup to his, with engineers, pilots, astrophysicists, astrobiologists and other sciences making up the roster. So many people — forty-four between the five ships and the AIs.
He spies Hitoshi and Lin talking with the Xuanzang’s pilot and engineer, and he recognizes the two Chinese members, Jia Xu and Ping Lao. They were the two freighter pilots that took on pirates over Uranus around the same time he did the Mars flight. Jia could fly, he remembers, outmaneuvering combat craft in a hauler. He’s always wanted to meet her and ask her about her experiences. If he didn’t already have a pilot and engineer, he probably would’ve recruited them. The Xuanzang will be in good hands.
He snaps his attention back to the group, conjuring a smile and raising his glass. “Taking the lead is what it’s all about. You’re the Armstrongs, taking the first step into unknown soil, carving your bootprints into a path so that those who follow know the way.” He quirks his head. “Like Willow said, each of us is reaching for a door handle, and when we open it, Earth will no longer be a lone blue point in the darkness, but instead, a collection of worlds with new lights joining in with each new step you take.”
“Hear, hear,” Noah says, lifting his glass. “To our fine crews and all of the captains. May our journeys be swift and safe, and may the stars shepherd us to new wonders.”
The captains all clink their glasses and take a sip. As James swallows his champagne he glances at Ananke. He’s known her long enough that he can pick out specific shades of blue in her calm face. Her currents have tinges of Bernard’s Blue, the sad color she conjures whenever she is thinking of Bernard Riggs, but they glide in parallel with gleaming aquamarine. Pride. Contentment. She’s sad that Bernard is not here to see his dream realized to its fullest potential, but she’s proud that it is being realized and they are launching Earth’s first star fleet.
James lifts his glass in her direction and gives a soft smile and nod, and Ananke’s screen pulses twice as she watches, her face the picture of serenity among the five swirling screens of the AIs.
I hope you enjoyed the glimpse of what didn’t make it into the book. Thanks, as always, for reading!