Author: Joe Vasicek

Joe Vasicek is the author of more than twenty science fiction books, including the Star Wanderers and Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus. He claims Utah as his home.

update on the novel

Ughh……. Alright, in the tradition of last year when I would write until 2am every night and then blog on it before going to bed, here is another update on how Bringing Estella Home is going right now. It’s getting tougher.  I’m right in the middle of it right now, in chapter 7, and I’m… Continue reading update on the novel

Trapped in a parking garage and other late night story ideas

I had a weird idea for a story yesterday.  I went to the library and parked in the underground parking lot of the JFSB, and when the library closed at midnight, I came back and found the garage completely empty.  I was on the bottom floor, but forgot that the exit is only on the… Continue reading Trapped in a parking garage and other late night story ideas

Breaking 40k

Broke 40k words today…again.  I looked back while compiling my submission for English 318 and realized that I could cut 1,000 words from the middle of one chapter without losing anything.  So I did it.  And now I’m back to about 40,500 words. And…I’m delirious.  Stayed up late hanging up with Steve last night.  Combine… Continue reading Breaking 40k

LTUE 2009

Wow. Life, the Universe, and Everything 2009 is over, and it’s hard to believe that only three days have passed. It feels as if this symposium has been going on for a week, and that’s a good thing. Friday and Saturday, I spent practically every waking moment in the Wilk, the student center where the… Continue reading LTUE 2009

Worldbuilding

This is what I was doing the other day.  The FLSR (Foreign Language Student Residence) at BYU has chalkboards in the common rooms, and I just discovered that those can be WAY useful for diagramming your story. On this occasion, I drew out a couple of space battles, according to how they’d play out with… Continue reading Worldbuilding

It’s been a while

Man, it’s been a while since I wrote on this blog.  I guess I’m caught in the semester tailspin or something. Writing’s going really well, though.  I’m about 100 pages into Bringing Estella Home right now, and even though I’m probably a day or two behind where I’d like to be, I’m generally right on… Continue reading It’s been a while

Always too slow

I’m kind of paranoid the way I plan things out.  I set a grand deadline for the novel I’m writing, then I figure out a general plot (VERY general, without any of the subplots or other stuff), and use that to tell myself where I should be from week to week.  I’ll have the few… Continue reading Always too slow