Folks, I have some bad news. I will no longer be working on Flux Effect.
Unfortunately, looking at the chapters I wrote so far, I decided that what there was wasn't shaping up to be the beginning of a good story.
At only two chapters in, it was tempting to stick with the story longer and see if it could be salvaged. After all, I had so many ideas for how things could go, and I still think that there was the seed of a story I really wanted to tell in the whole thing. But there was too much dragging it down. A SI with the potential for biotics? Coming into the universe and inheriting a small fortune? These are rather Stuish traits that taking an explosion to the face and losing a fiancée and child in the universe jump just don't balance, or at least that's how I feel. For a guy who had an engine blow up in his face, Chris was having it a little too easy. Hell, he sleeps with someone in the first chapter! And all that rehab in the hospital? Important character defining moments? Completely skipped over. Ugh. What was I thinking?
Like I said though, there were a lot of things I liked. I rather liked the first chapter. Though it was a little weak on some parts (mostly the angst), I thought there were some really good lines there. I loved the idea of making someone who had biotic potential, but viewed it, rightly so, as a handicap. The idea of a gunsmith who works with out there weapons concepts was fun. I was looking forward to exploring Amulius (oh, I had such plans for him). And writing a Mass Effect fic as a military sci-fi? Still gets a smile from me. I enjoy thinking of the tech and tactics that each race would use, little quirks that inform characterization…culture and characters. And I had plans to bring military aviation more into the fore.
But with the specter of Stu creeping up on the story, and with the second chapter showing me my limitations writing in first-person present, I decided to close the book on Flux Effect. For those of you who enjoyed it and were looking forward to more, I am sorry. But there is some light here, because I'm not done writing. I've gone ahead and taken the strong bits and forged a new story out of them. It's written as a memoir, and starts at the very beginning. The first chapter is already up on FFN. If you're interested, look for Going In For Guns: A Memoir of the Reaper Wars.
And if you're pissed at me? Well, my SI gets shot in the very first chapter, so there's that.
Hoping you like the new story,
-Valentine Diverse Optics