The Search for Comet Flemmings

a novel
by Katie Lynn Beck

Author's Note

Okay, I'm going to be honest with you people up front. This is seriously one of the most challenging projects I've ever tackled. Sometimes I wonder if I've bitten off a little more than I can chew. Even though it's a great story idea, I just don't know if I'm talented enough to pull it off.

But this is a story that deserves to be written, even if it's by a silly novelist wanna-be like me. As a long-time poem and short story-writer, I'm fully aware of my weaknesses and limitations, and an endeavor of this magnitude does not fit into my job description (especially since I'm a full- time college student who isn't getting enough sleep as it is.) So basically what I'm trying to say here is I need all the help I can get. This is my first attempt at writing a not-so-lighthearted contemporary fiction, and I'm more than a little worried I'm going to totally botch the entire thing and end up turning it into an over-dramatic, anti-climatic, mega-pathetic mess instead of the inspirational story of faith and friendship it was meant to be.

Now don't get me wrong; the story doesn't have to be completely flawless for me to be satisfied with the outcome. However, I very much want it to retain a sense of realism, or at the very least have it remain partially believable. So if you see any inconsistencies or donut-sized holes in the plot that I've somehow managed to overlook, by all means don't hesitate to point them out!

Another thing that makes this project difficult to handle is the fact that I'm writing it in the first person from the perspective of two very different individuals. (In order to avoid any confusion as to which character is currently narrating the story, Robert's words are found in the even chapters and Zack's are in the odd chapters.) Although this has proven to be a very rewarding format, it can sometimes be difficult for me to decide which character I want to put in charge of each scene-both of them have such interesting viewpoints, but I don't want to end up telling the same story twice! And a lot of times, the flow of the story seems to get a little choppy as I switch from one narrator to another.

Besides that, both of these characters happen to be guys. Now, I've always been of the opinion that the differences between men and women aren't quite as massive as some people seem to think they are. However, being the female I am, I will probably never be able to fully comprehend exactly how the masculine mind functions. And even though it's been kind of fun for me to imagine what it might be like, I'm still afraid this story just isn't going to be as credible as I want it to be. In fact, at one point I even considered giving one of the female characters a first-person voice just so I could use her as an excuse to add some feminine insight, but then I got my brain back and realized she would only create a third wheel. So I'm sorry Melissa, you're a great character and all, but I already have two narrators as it is.

Sincerely,

the author

P.S. I know I had part of this story posted here a long, long time ago, but I had to take it down and re-write a great portion of it. So if this seems like déjà vu, well. that's because it is. I apologize to those of you who are annoyed at me for giving up on the last attempt I made at this story, but hopefully this version will work out better.