' STORY FILE

! PRELIMINARY TITLE: The Wishing Star

" GENRE: Science fiction (or anything you want…)

# TAGLINE: Be careful what your parents wish for.

$ SYNOPSIS / BLURB
Estella Harmon thought she knew exactly what she wanted: to rebel against her
parents. Even if it meant training for the most dangerous job in the Confederacy
and becoming a pilot in a war-torn galaxy.

But when she finds out that she’s adopted, and that her ambition to become a
pilot might have more to do with her real parents’ dying wish… her life is turned
upside down.

How can a mysterious tutor, a cryptic letter, and a strange new weapon help her
succeed in uncovering the truth about her past? And can she save her home
planet from being destroyed by her foster planet… Earth?

% THEMES
- Wishing vs. Desire vs. Action
- Communication & miscommunication
- Taking risks & leaving home
- Acceptance & family
- Rebellion vs. Conformity

& TIMELINE: See spreadsheet.

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

 ( CHARACTER PROFILES
♀ ESTELLA HARMON (STEL)
- Trainee pilot, working on the crew of
The Rigel, a small mail-carrying star-
ship.
- Possibly named after the Great
Expectations character?
- Orphaned as a baby when her
Thirrhonian parents died in the war.
Fostered by Mr. and Mrs. Harmon
on Earth (which is part of the Calen
Confederacy). She’s unaware of this
until she returns to Thirrhon.
- Her biological parents wished for
her to return to Thirrhon.
- Possibly because of this, she
rebelled against her foster
parents and began training as
a pilot, even though, with the
w a r, i t ’ s a d a n g e r o u s
occupation.
STASIS STATES: Doesn’t enjoy her
work, rebel without a cause, lone
wolf.
RESOLUTION STATES: Doing fulfilling
work, understands her
rebelliousness, has a companion she
trusts, values teamwork.
© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com
What the plot demands of her as a
character:
- Good piloting skills
- you may want to consider the
subset of skills this requires.
- Rebelliousness
-chooses a dangerous
occupation that her foster
parents don’t approve of.
- sides with the rebels.
- Lone wolf
- needs to learn to work with
others, to trust them and ask
them for help.
- yo u m i g h t a l s o w a n t t o
consider why she’s a loner in
the first place.
NOTES ABOUT ESTELLA *
♂ QUINN + MINOR CHARACTERS

- From Thirrhon. CREW OF THE RIGEL

- Pilots a Thirrhonian ship. Osie - Captain
- Tutor to Arvilla. Estella - Pilot
- Working with the rebels. Alba
Fletcher
What the plot demands of him as a character: Poll
- Ability as a teacher and mentor
- Skill as a pilot THIRRHONIANS
- Fighting ability? Quinn - pilot and tutor
- Thirrhonian map-making / map reading? Arvilla - pilot and pupil
Kameron
NOTES ABOUT QUINN *
Elders:
Eumbrike
Nym
Euphia & Obaeus (Estella's
biological parents)

CREW OF THE HESPERIA

(REBELS)
Floyd
Dillard
Ros

MEMBERS OF THE CALEN

CONFEDERACY
Commander Sahn
The Inspector?
Mr. & Mrs. Harmon?
(Estella’s foster parents)

OTHER CHARACTER NOTES *

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

 - WORLD INFORMATION
GENERAL WORLD NOTES *
Intergalactic space travel is the norm, and
humans have long colonised far-flung planets.
There are many "planet confederacies" all
warring for key locations.

CALEN CONFEDERACY
An alliance of planets (including Earth) with
possible imperialist tendencies. They want to
control Thirrhon because of the wishing star,
even though their previous conflict (which left
Estella orphaned) resulted in defeat. How? You
decide.

THIRRHON
Thirrhon is the only (habitable?) planet with a
view of the wishing star, which they call Leirrhia.
The people of Thirrhon are renowned stellar
cartographers and explorers of the universe, and
they’ve been using their skill to try to bring the
power of the star to other people. However,
making wishes takes great mental control, both
conscious and unconscious, so the Thirrhonians
are trained from a young age in the art.

Although generally peaceful, some (mostly

younger) Thirrhonians join the group who are
rebelling against the Calen Confederacy.

SPACE SHIPS
The Hesperia - a craft belonging to the rebels.
The Rigel - the post ship that Estella is serving on
at the beginning of the story.

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

Thirrhonians have special space ships that are
piloted by two people, possibly using the power
of the star to direct them telepathically.

OTHER
You may also need to make some notes about the
rebel base planet and the hideout planet,
although their description isn’t central to the
plot.

TIME
I provide a rough timeline in the spreadsheet. It’s
always useful to sketch the passage of time into
your outline to avoid obvious inconsistencies,
especially with a story (like this one) that involves
a lot of travel.

Science fiction writers have another problem

though: how do we measure time when our
characters aren’t on Earth?

In my timeline, I opted to ignore this question. It

might turn out to be important to your story, in
which case you’ll need to figure out a system. But
you’ll also need to remember that your Earth-
bound readers have an innate understanding of
Earth-time. Try not to confuse them too much!

Also remember to use a unit of time that makes

sense for your story. You might require a much
more precise hour-by-hour or even minute-by-
minute timeline in order to make sure your
events line up. You can also mix and match, of
course, but this does make it a bit more difficult
to get an overview of your novel’s pace.

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

 / YOUR NOVEL OUTLINE
* STEAL THIS PLOT TAKE NOTES *
. STASIS
Estella is preparing for her qualification exam
to become a long-haul pilot. As part of her
apprenticeship, she's working on a post ship.
That morning, the Captain is acting a bit
strange. (1000 words)
The ship is about to take off when they're held
up and inspection crew board. The Chief
Inspector is in love with E. He takes E aside
secretly and asks about smuggling. E doesn't
know anything about it. (1000 words)
Inspectors are searching the ship when rebels
attack and force them to surrender. The
rebels assume command of the ship and
manage to escape Confederacy space. (2000
words)
E and crew are kept in brig and made to sort
mail. (1000 words)
E overhears rebels talking. They don't know
what they're looking for, but they have intel
that whatever it is is on the ship. (2000 words)
The Inspector tries to convince E that they
can take the ship back, but she doesn’t think
he’s capable. She attempts it herself but is
caught. (1000 words)

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

0 TRIGGER
Quinn finds a letter in Thirrhonian addressed
to E. Not among post, but in her room. E
doesn't know about it. It can only be read by
light of the wishing star. (2000 words)
Rebels are angry with Quinn because they
expected to find a weapon on board. He was
acting on info from Thirrhonian elders. They
weren't counting on officials being on board.
(2000 words)
Quinn convinces Estella that she needs to go
to Thirrhon to find out who sent the letter and
what it says. (2000 words)

1 QUEST
They land at the rebel base. Estella meets the
other rebels and learns about the rebellion.
Gets to know Quinn and his pupil, Arvilla,
better. Not all the rebels are Thirrhonian. The
Confederacy has invaded other strategic
planets too. (2000 words)
Rebels want E to use her influence over the
Inspector to infiltrate the Confed admin
building and copy the security codes for the
blockade ships. In return, they'll give her a
ship and a licence. Now that she's been with
rebels and involved in smuggling, she has no
hope of qualifying as a Confed pilot. (2000
words)
The rebels manage to smuggle E into Confed.
Inspector convinces them to let him go with
her as a guard. She doesn't trust Inspector
and ends up getting captured. (3000 words)

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

Quinn convinces rebels they need to save her.
The Inspector helps them break her out but
she won't leave without the codes and the
Inspector is captured (possibly injured or
killed) trying to save her. (3000 words)
They can't get back to rebel base, so have to
hide on another planet. Can't transmit codes
to the other rebels. Quinn begins training E to
fly a Thirrhonian ship, which is telepathically
controlled. (2000 words)
E struggles with empyting her mind to drive
the ship. She and Arvilla bond over their
shared experience of being Quinn's pupil.
(2000 words)
Meanwhile back at base, the rebels discover
what the Captain had been trying to smuggle
(for money, within the Confed): a special new
weapon. They use weapon to destroy one of
the blockade ships, but have their ship
destroyed in return. (2000 words)
E and Quinn bond. He tells her why Thirrhon
is important to the Confederacy - the wishing
star is only visible from there. (2000 words)
E has an argument with Quinn. She thinks
Thirrhon should share the star, but he says
that to learn to control wishes takes a lifetime
of training. (2000 words)
She still wants to pass the exam. She steals
the Thirrhonian ship and surrenders it to the
Confeds as a peace offering. The ship needs
two pilots, but she manages to hack it. En
route, she sends message to the rebels to tell
them that Quinn and Arvilla and other rebels

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

 of the escape party are marooned on a planet.
(2000 words)
Confeds accept the ship, but question her
about the rebels. The Inspector is alive, but
she still suspects him of being a spy for the
Confeds. Actually, her parents have asked him
for info about her. (2000 words)
E asks to visit her parents, but she's offered
the opportunity to visit Thirrhon instead, and
takes it. (1000 words)

2 BOLT
The Confederacy take E to a blockade ship.
She agrees to help them with attack. When
ship comes in view of star, the windows are
covered to avoid its light. (2000 words)
The Confeds have E pilot the Thirrhonian ship
she stole to land undetected on Thirrhon and
capture the elders. They're careful to remain
out of starlight. (2000 words)
E gives her letter to one of the elders to read.
She learns that her parents were Thirrhonian
but were killed in the last attack and she was
fostered by her Earth parents. She can't read
secret without starlight. (3000 words)
E is horrified by the Confed's treatment of
peaceful Thirrhonians. When star comes into
view, she escapes compound and wishes ill on
the attackers. (3000 words)
The Confeds who run after her to catch her
die horribly. E is wracked by guilt. She avoids
detection and returns to her room. (3000
words)

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

3 SHIFT
Estella realises Quinn was right about the
dangers of the star. She explores the city by
herself and talks to some Thirrhonians. Learns
about the world. (2000 words)
Memorial service for the dead. Fights break
out. E wants to reveal she made the wish, but
an elder stops her. (1000 words)
She reveals to the Confeds that she's
Thirrhonian and convinces them to let her
parley with the elders. (2000 words)
The elders help her read the letter and find
that it contains part of a star-map. And that
her parents wished for her to come back to
Thirrhon. She realises that's why she wanted
to become a pilot, and that she doesn't need
to qualify after all. (2000 words)
She needs to take the map to the star-room
where it can be placed into the larger map.
She attempts to enter, but the room can't be
accessed without all of the elders present,
and some of them are off-planet with the
rebels. (2000 words)

4 DEFEAT
E tells the Confeds that if they allow the
remaining elders onto the planet, she can
make peace. The Confeds pretend to agree.
(2000 words)
Quinn pilots a ship with the elders, but they're
attacked as soon as they land. Arvilla and
Captain are killed and Quinn and E

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

 imprisoned. E loses all faith in the
Confederacy. (2000 words)
E is kept in isolation. The letter is taken away.
She spends her time meditating. She's
interrogated by the Confeds to reveal the
meaning of the letter and where it came from.
Meanwhile, the Confeds impose a curfew on
all Thirrhonians and start interrogating elders
about how to make wishes. (2000 words)
The Inspector tries to rescue E and she sees
him briefly before he's overpowered. (1000
words)

◎ POWER
The rebels attack, using the security codes to
disable the weapons of the blockade ships.
They threaten Confeds with exposing them to
starlight (lowering blinds in ships and on the
planet) unless they agree to peace talks. E and
Q are released. She tells him about her
parents and the letter. They head to star
room. (2000 words)
The Confed Commander is in the star
room.The elders have given him access. They
place the map from the letter in its position &
realise it shows exactly what's keeping the
light of the star from reaching other planets.
P l a n e t s /a s t e r o i d s i n i t s p a t h ? T h e
Commander takes the letter and burns it. He's
realised the consequences the star would
have on Earth, just as the last Commander did
in the last war. (2000 words)

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com

 The Commander has given orders to destroy
the star, so the Thirrhonians can't use it
against the Confed. (1000 words)
E and Q take the Thirrhonian ship and hijack
the Confed ship in the same way the rebels
took E's ship at the beginning. (2000 words)
They return to Thirrhon. E asks the Inspector
to use his (or her parents'?) influence on Earth
to form an alliance with the Thirrhonians.
(1000 words)

6 RESOLUTION
The blockade is lifted. A new treaty is signed.
Both sides celebrate. E learns more about her
real parents. Visits her foster parents on
Earth. (2000 words)
Quinn takes on E as his new apprentice. They
leave on a joint Thirrhon/Earth mission to
bring the starlight to Earth, or to a third,
uninhabited planet. (2000 words)

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com