I am one of those writers who writes without outlining the novel ahead of time. The outliners out there are shaking their heads at me. My first drafts are long and meander all over the place that requires large portions to be cut during the following drafts. Sometimes cutting whole, or several chapters, is hard as I love them. What matters is whether they are needed to move the story forward. After a draft or two, it is easier to realize some of this material does not do that.

Writing this way allows me to get to know my characters, their backgrounds and motivations and where they want to take the story that I have not been able to flesh out whenever I’ve tried to outline. Just like an iceberg, there is more below the surface than one reads in a novel.

I hinted about the scene posted below in the published novel but felt the reader didn’t need to read this to figure out some of the difficulties one of my main characters, Debra, has.

Orbital Logistics held a press conference to introduce to the public the first two crews of their manned space flights. Win stood off to the side and let Adeline, his vice president of marketing and public relations, introduce the fourteen astronauts and give their background before coming to work for Orbital Logistic.

When she opened it up to questions, a reporter from Space.com got the first one. “Commander Taggart, how’s it feel to get chance to fly into space again after Nasa terminated you after your accident?”

Debra pasted on a smile. “Great. I’m honored to have this opportunity.”

“Did you ever imagine you’d get to go into space again?” A reporter from the New York Times asked.

Adeline threw Win a glance, as if admitting he had been right. Win had been on the fence about having this press conference.

“No, I didn’t.” Debra’s expression was now a grimace.

“Maybe a question for somebody else,” Adeline said to the reporters. “We have thirteen other extremely qualified astronauts here too. Major Cooks has also been in space.”

“Ms. Taggart, do you have the trust of your crew to command this mission?” A Washington Post reporter asked.

Win stepped up. “We have complete faith in Commander Taggart’s abilities, or we wouldn’t have her commanding the second mission. But I must ask, you call yourself reporters and grill an American hero about the worse day of her life without first researching what caused her accident. You want some headline producing news, look into that. Are there any questions for our other remarkable astronauts?”

Relief swept across Debra’s face.

“Commander Taggart, it was reported you flew an unairworthy aircraft that caused your accident. Is that not true?” A reporter from Bloomberg asked.

“If that were true,” Win said, “we wouldn’t have hired her. Now if you don’t have any questions for our other astronauts, we’ll conclude this and thank you all for coming.”

A reporter from Aviation Week and Space Technology, who had run a series of articles on Win’s accident over a decade ago asked, “Mr. Swift, did you hire Commander Taggart because you have similar histories?”

Smiling, Win said, “Really, Ms. Hunt, do you think so little of Orbital Logistics ’s hiring that we only employee those who have experiences similar to mine. What boring unimaginative company that’d be.” He gestured to one of the mission specialists. “Commander Judy Murray was an executive officer of a submarine. I’ve never done.” He pointed to another mission specialist. “Dr. Summers summited Mt. Everest while on he was on sabbatical from getting a doctorate in geology. I’ve never done that either. Maybe I shouldn’t have hired you guys.”

Luther Bronder, a mission specialist, raised his hand. “I was in a car accident once. It wasn’t an aircraft accident, but does that count?”

“Yeah, I was too.” Scott Holt, a mission specialist beside him said.

“I had to cut an airshow short because of a rough running engine,” Heather Langston said. “Can I keep my job? I really like this company and what we’ll accomplish.” She, like Win, had been on the U.S. Aerobatic team.

The pilot, or who would be the second in command on Debra’s flight, Craig Malone, pulled up the pant leg of his flight suit. “I scrapped skin off my leg when my motorcycle went out from under me. I think have the scar to prove it.”

Win couldn’t help but smile from this group sticking up for one of their own. A quick glance at Debra showed her beaming.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have hired this group,” Adeline said to Win. Turning to the reporters, she said, “So, unless there any questions pertaining to our upcoming missions or for any of the other crew members, we’ll conclude this and thank you for coming.”

“Mr. Swift, what will be the most difficult aspect of the first flight?” The Space.com reporter asked.

“Ask Major Cooks,” Win said. “He’s the one flying it. I’m just writing the checks.”

The stories the media published were favorable, doing a decent job of explaining the first two missions and the difficulties the crew would experience. Several, though, reported that “Orbital Logistics’s disgraced former NASA astronaut Debra Taggart avoided questions about her troubled past.”

If you want to find out why the reporters were so interested in Debra’s history, you can download or order the novel here.