RimWorld and NaNoWriMo

[discogeek]

Every November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where "competitors" strive to write 50,000 words of a novel before the month ends.  (That comes to 1,677 words a day on average, or about 4-5 pages.)

This year, I decided I was going to run a game of RimWorld on one monitor, while writing a book about a space survivalist on another.

Right now, I'm a little behind on my word count.  Barely above 15k words / 40 pages.  But I wanted to post a little intro teaser here for everyone.

It's a first draft, and the goal in NaNoWriMo is to sprint toward the end.  December is the time of proofreading, spell checking and editing.  So apologies in advance for anything like the above.  I'll fix it next month.

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Day Three. 

This has been one of the most boring adventures anyone could ever imagine.  Nothing like the movies or books, where aliens try to commandeer the ship.  Or viral spores take over someone's thoughts.  Or even anyone on the ship going crazy with a hack-and-slash terror spree.

Nope, pure dull. 

When I signed up for this trip, I didn't really expect much though.  It's just a month-long excursion from Planet A to Planet B.  Get me off the home world to look for a new job and new beginnings out on the other side of the quadrant.  Away from everyone. 

I'm not going to miss anyone back home, I figure.  Mom died two years ago.  Dad has been away on a "secret mission" for nearly as long.  Friends are hard to come by, with everyone in the capital being "too busy" with careers and finding a mate and settling down to be looking for new friends, especially someone they haven't grown up with.  Come to think of it, no one at home will miss me either.

At least I got this audio implant before I left.  Other than passage on the spaceship, that was my last real expense back home.  No idea how it really works either.  I barely have to even think what I want to write and it's on the tablet screen.  Makes up for all those hand-held recorders and even notebooks I've lost over the years.  I hope someone found one of them and at least had a good laugh at reading my old journals.
Oh, indestructable and a decade-long battery too.  Not a bad price, although the shopping mall I had it implanted wasn't really looking sterilized.  Hey, it works and I didn't catch anything that I can tell, I should count my blessings I guess.

Not sure why I blew off the first two days writing this journal either.  I promised myself before I left I'd keep a rigid schedule.  The instantly dropped that plan the second the hatch closed and we took off.  Normal motivation for me, I guess.  Hopefully at least I can keep this up for at least 30 days.  At least now, the only person I'll disappoint if I give up is myself.

Oh and Rex.  My labrador retriever.  I'm glad the captain waived regulations when he saw Rex, since pets are against "interplanetary regulations."  Whatever, bureaucrats.  There's no reason Rex can't travel with me.  Especially if I'm not coming back.  He's my family.

So anyway, this isn't supposed to be any kind of sob story.  It's the start of my new adventure.  I finally got out of my rut over the past few years and embarking on a new journey to some new colony. 

At least that's what the paperwork I signed said.  Didn't really say where it was, even what it's called.  Just the brochure... "Want the adventure of a lifetime? Join the Colonial Settlers and be a founder of a new society!" 

I was definitely hesitant at first.  I mean, what would stop this organization from just harvesting my organs once we got out of system range?  I'd have said "sell me off into sexual slavery" instead of harvesting organs, but let's be real.  I'm not a kid.  I mean, 36 isn't quite "old" but I'm not a teenager.  So chopping up my body for parts will have to do for excitement.

Again, like I said earlier, this is the most boring adventure of my life.  Not even someone hinting at harvesting organs.

The other colonists seem ok.  I should make an effort to get to know them.  I mean, the nine of us are it for the next year.  I guess they're my new family.  All these strangers.  But they seemed nice.  Maybe one of them will go crazy and start stealing organs...

Only one so far I really talked to at all is that one guy, Denis.  He said he was a bartender, but needed something more fulfilling to do.  I can understand that.  But bartenders usually mean booze is close by, so I think we'll get along.  Or at least pretend to get along and I'll let him make drinks.

I heard one of the others claimed to be an assassin.  Probably that skinny girl that probably is barely even 20 years old.  Another one I probably should get to know better, since we don't know what the hell is on the other end of this journey.  It could be a planet filled with cotton candy and rivers of whiskey.  Or big, flesh-eating zombie monsters.  I bet the monsters would just eat the organs, no reason to harvest them.

Anyway, I really didn't bother to get to know anyone else on the trip.  I don't think anyone else knew each other before we started either, but a few seemed to be friendly.  Just three days and the normal cliques and social circles are starting to form.  And me being the eternal outsider.  I'll have to use that to my advantage though.  I'm not expecting all out war between groups or anything, but I've always been more comfortable being even-keeled and middle-of-the-road instead of solidly in one camp or another.  Not that they've formed in this small group, I'm just saying.

I should see what's over at the mess hall for lunch.  Yesterday wasn't too bad, orange chicken.  I'm sure it really was tofu, chicken would be too tough to transport this far.  Plus we're not likely to be going back home ever, so any complaints about the trip are just between us.  And the pilot crew, although I don't think I've seen any of them since we took off.  They have their own part of the ship.  Something about "no reason to make ties with anyone" over the journey.  They'll go home regardless.  I wonder what they have to eat.  Probably something better than tofu.

# # #

Day Five.

Shit shit shit.  Shit shit shit shit shit.  Just ran to the escape pod.  Ship collided with a meteor mid-jump. Hull breach.  Shit.  Grabbed whatever I could in the .  Hope there's supplies in the pod somewhere.  Let's see... I grabbed a box of non-perishable food and a first aid kit just in case.  Pilot was screaming the ship was going to destruct any second.  Fuck my life.

At least I'm not dead.  Yet.  The day is still young.  And my adrenaline is pumping.  Got into my escape pod and jettisoned with seconds to spare.  The explosion knocked me off course, no idea where everyone else was heading.  Or if they survived really.  It's not likely the pilot did, he was screaming at everyone to evacuate up until I got into my pod.  For all I know, he was a robot though, none of us ever saw him or any other crew. 
Not even sure where we are.  I mean, somewhere on the outer rim of course, but I wasn't paying attention to where exactly.  I'm sure there's some kind of civilization around here, just not sure how civilized.  I just hope we can all regroup and gather up, at least until -- IF -- someone comes looking for us.

Scanners do say that it can detect the other pods in the area, but can't pinpoint them.  I don't know how many of the others made it out.  Shit, this would definitely be worse.  I just got out of a shitty existence back home, this was supposed to be my new life.  Now I'm on a fucking escape pod flying through some strange part of the galaxy with who knows what supplies are here and I'm either going to die out here, or better yet, crash land and die or starve.

REX!  Holy fucking shit.  I nearly forgot.  Rex Rex Rex.  My only friend, the little buddy.  Oh god, last I knew he was hanging out in the pod deck.  He liked how it was warmer around the pods.  Smelled like bacon too for some reason.  Everything happened in such a rush, I didn't even call for him.  Well, now I hope I crash and die, without even Rex here.

Might as well see what I grabbed.  Non-perishable meals.  Gross, but enough to last a while.  Whatever is in these two first aid kits I snagged.  There's a survival kit in here too, looks like a sleeping bag and more food, plus some gear that I can't even tell what it's for. 

Oh.  My.  God.  And REX!  Sound asleep under the sleeping bag.  Good boy!  Whew, I was about to totally lose it.  I mean, sure, my whole life just exploded behind me, I'm stranded in the middle of space nearly alone with just a few supplies.  But at least I'll have Rex by my side.  Silly boy, sleeping in the escape pods.  What are the odds that he chose mine anyway? 

I'm going to have to repay the karma gods for this one.

So navigation computer isn't really that great.  (Stop licking me Rex, I'm happy to see you too!)  Computer is detecting some planet within range, but can't tell me much about it.  Life signs, that's good usually.  But no big cities.  So hopefully it's not a planet of monsters or dinosaurs or monster dinosaurs. It also looks like my only option.

And scanners still aren't picking up much.  Like it's not detecting anyone else from the ship.  Not even Denis.  I hope if he got off, at least he grabbed some good whiskey for himself.  Bon voyage, Denis.  Maybe we'll meet again in another life. 

No escape pods and no life signs in the area.  Just on the planet surface.  Lots of debris though, and the ship crashing and blowing up is just going to add to that mess.

I better suck it up and give this a go.  There's not a ton of oxygen in the escape pod, maybe six hours worth.  Plenty of time to get down there, but not enough to go anywhere else.  I mean, it's an escape pod, not a spaceship.  I would have gladly done the whole trip solo even in cramped quarters like this if it was an option. 
But that's the old life and the old Derek.  New Derek the pioneer, dropped randomly on some fucking planet with just my dog and some food.  Actually, that doesn't sound bad.  At least it's better than what I'm leaving behind.  I guess I'm a colonist after all.

Time to punch the crash landing button and hopefully have at least enough control to steer this bucket to the cotton candy and whiskey river reserve.  I'm sure I'll land in a swamp.

# # #

[StoneWolf]

Well written! I'm looking forward to the next part already!

I hope you're going to add some pictures as well for some variation in the future?

[discogeek]

Thanks... it's really a challenge of spewing out enough words to keep on track, most other aspects of novel writing are thrown to the curb during NaNoWriMo.  But I'll gladly share more throughout the month for anyone to enjoy!  (Honestly, kind of waiting for Randy to throw me a curve ball still to make the plot even more interesting!  Attacks by enraged chickens was the highlight so far...)

[StoneWolf]

Thanks... it's really a challenge of spewing out enough words to keep on track, most other aspects of novel writing are thrown to the curb during NaNoWriMo.  But I'll gladly share more throughout the month for anyone to enjoy!  (Honestly, kind of waiting for Randy to throw me a curve ball still to make the plot even more interesting!  Attacks by enraged chickens was the highlight so far...)

O.o A clue to what may come I see... I'll be waiting!