What’s better than one funny book? Two funny books! Space Trip II follows in the same hyperspace lane as Space Trip, and I think it’s even better than the first book. This post gives you the story behind the story of how Space Trip II came to be.
WARNING! This post contains mild spoilers.
The Immaculate Inception
Believe it or not, the seed of Space Trip II germinated while I was working one night as a supermarket shelf-stacker. One cantankerous customer complained about something, and because every night-fill worker hated their job, I grumpily called her an “old hag” in my mind. Not my proudest moment, but it gave me an idea.
I thought, “The Old Hag. Now what could that be?” My creative mind took over. I brainstormed, eventually deciding that it could be the name of a pub or a character in Space Trip II. It stuck. From that one detail, a book was born.
Crafting the Story
The first hurdle was deciding why Dave, Jimmy, Chuck, and Eddie would need to find “The Old Hag”. That meant a classic adventure where one clue led to another. This naturally grew into a treasure hunt. So, while Space Trip has been described as “Wild Hogs in space”, Space Trip II is most likely “Indiana Jones in space”.
What do you think of when you hear the term treasure hunt? A long-lost civilisation? Well, that’s exactly what Space Trip II has. But now I needed a reason why four men who were not historians or archaeologists would get involved in a treasure hunt.
In the Beginning
I quite enjoy writing my Space Trip characters when they are separated, either in teams or as individuals. The first chapter of the first book saw them as individuals, so this time I paired them together. While Chuck and Eddie are trying to gain the interest of investors for the renewed Haven Resort on the garden world Paradise, Dave and Jimmy visit an antique shop. There, it made sense for Jimmy to cause havoc and stumble upon an object which would launch them all into a journey of history, intrigue, and shiny gold.
Writing
Writing began in November 2018 as part of NaNoWriMo. I failed to complete the book within the one month stipulated by the challenge, instead finishing it in the first week of January 2019. The first draft came out at nearly 46,000 words, a bit longer than the first book. True to my nature, I underwrote the first draft, adopting my usual skeleton draft approach.
I was happy with the overall story and worldbuilding, but there was definitely room for improvement. Rarely are first drafts in perfect order.
Character Development
There was nothing wrong with my main characters. Dave, Jimmy, Chuck, and Eddie are almost always written the way they should be. Of course, there were some minor tweaks.
The major changes came with the story’s antagonist. I wanted more conflict, more tension. More scenes were added and his character became more defined. Of all the antagonists I’ve written, Count Karl Friedrich von Mein was the most enjoyable. I think villains are always fun to write, but I’ve always written truly bad people. Now, make no mistake, Count Mein is a bad guy. His motives are wicked and his methods equally so. But because Space Trip II is a comedy, I could embellish his personality. On the one hand, Count Mein is a hospitable, conversational, and sometimes funny man. But on the other, he’s ruthless, murderous, and thieving. I suppose in creating Count Mein I really have created an example of one of the most dangerous people to exist—think of the killers who are quite endearing on the surface. They are the scariest. But nobody should look into it that deeply in Space Trip II.
Editing
For Space Trip II, I turned to Bezariah Editing and Proofreading for my copyediting. The edits and comments were extremely helpful and helped to create a much stronger product. The final word count came out at around 60,000 words.
Internal Non-Fiction
While I was typesetting, I encountered a critical error that the editor missed (it happens), and I also missed on several passes of the manuscript. I realised it was entirely my fault. It had to do with the age-old history of the civilisation that the main characters are investigating. I realised that if my editor missed it, then my readers might need some assistance in remembering some key details. So wrote an appendix for the book—an internal non-fiction article summarising a key point in history within the Space Trip Universe. I hope readers find it useful.
Cover
Once again, I went with Tom Edwards Design for my cover art. Several ideas were tossed back and forth, but I eventually settled on an image of the four main characters surrounding the object that sparks their journey. This also links back to the humorously long subtitle of the book: The Journey to Find the Secret of the Thing in the Box.
At this stage, I was still learning about cover design, and I have a feeling I made a mistake. While the cover art looks brilliant, it is a diversion from the subject matter presented on the first book cover, which featured Liberty, the protagonists’ space ship. To maintain brand familiarity, I should have stuck with a cover that featured Liberty again. Lesson learned. I may redo the cover, but it is quite expensive. It’s a long-term goal now.
Release
Space Trip II was released in November 2022. Like its predecessor, it had less fanfare than it deserved. At that time, I had only just finished an exhausting postgraduate course one week earlier, so I had no time to market the new release. Publishing schedules and marketing plans are very important, but there simply wasn’t enough time for to develop anything. There is a reason why traditionally published books are released so far in advance. However, I have learned a lot since then and have radically changed my author platform. New challenges bring new opportunities for the next book, Space Trip III: The Lost Chapter.