Posted By orchard on May 7, 2009

I am currently writing three major stories (or that’s how I think of it–whether or not they go anywhere, are any good, or even get finished remains to be seen), one of which is a steampunk setting.  It is the story which derives its main ideas from a joke that some friends and I came up with–the Time Machine of Guam (hence the name of this site).

The basis for the story is that at some point an empire is founded and called the Empire of Guam.  The founding of this empire is done using the Time Machine, and the results are that most everyone ends up living in massive clock-work cities where the houses and shops are built on the gears and cogs of the clock-works, the people use the chains and pulleys that connect the cogs as transport, and all this is powered by massive steam-driven technology.  Of course WHY this clock-work assembly exists or what purpose it serves is something that will be revealed in the story itself.

The protagonists in the story are setting out to find out more about the Empire in which they live, and how it came about.  One is a private detective and the other is his client, a worker in a grease factory (these grease factories produce the lubricants necessary to keep a massive multi-ton cog & gear system moving) both of whom have discovered that what they think they know isn’t really all that accurate.  Which isn’t surprising considering that there is a time machine involved.  It was originally meant to be a short story, but I find that I simply cannot write the story that needs to be told in a short space.

Which is, of course, my major obstacle in finishing a draft–I keep realizing that there are details that must be added and idea and subplots that MUST be addressed in order for the story that is there to be properly told.  All this would be fine if I were a published author who had the leisure of doing nothing else but write.  As things stand, I actually have to work for a living…

Here’s to finishing the story!

Categories: News
Tags: writing