N minus 11: Step One

Step One: Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel.

Apparently this should be under 15 words. It was extremely difficult; I was getting to 20 plus words that were not any where near close enough to a summary of my idea. In the end I had to really work hard to cut everything out and find the basic premise of my novel. I got it to exactly 15 in the end.

A millennia in the future, five radically different humans hunt for the legend of Earth.

I don't know if that sounds at all interesting. It doesn't tell you any of the things I love about my idea. But it has helped me to identify what the hell my book is about, and what my characters are doing and why.

Still, I'm sure you want to see my previous attempts. Just for the lols.


Five members of races descended from separate off-shoots of the human race band together to find long-lost Earth.

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Attempting to discover about the humans they are descended from, five members of separate societies hunt for Earth.

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To prove their radical beliefs, five members of societies descended from humans colony ships hunt for Earth.

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Five colony ships left Earth thousands of years ago. Now five members of radically different races are desperately looking for Earth.

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Earth, the fabled homeworld. A planet of savagery, slavery and misery; a planet of peace and enlightenment; a planet that holds the answers to all questions. Five members of five separate off-shoots of humanity are trying to find it, and the proof for their beliefs that are dividing their societies.

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A young girl from a travelling race dreams of settling on a planet;
an out of work slave-trader wants to prove that humans are the superior race;
a millennia-old robot housing the mind of a millennia-old human believes she is no longer the same person;
an intergalactic traveller, and the symbiont he carries, attempt to complete his coming of age ritual;
and a genetically engineered scientist seeks for original human DNA.

Five colony ships left Earth a millennia ago; now it is a legend for five radically different races. As five members of these races rebel against their societies and begin their search, can they find Earth, and will it hold the answers they are looking for?



That last one was really helpful to get down on paper. I knew the five people I wanted to write about, and the societies they came from, but it's incredibly helpful to have a sentence describing why they are looking for Earth.