World building — ComPad

This element is hilarious considering how much the world has moved on.

I started writing Melody Harper’s Moon in 2003, although much of the world building remained the same, that first draft was very different to my final story.

One of the things I wanted for my colonists was a personal computer that they could carry around with them. Hand held, portable.

Eventually I’d write the book using a journal system for my main character, so it was something she used. Back in 2003 computers were mainly what we called desktops, and rarely you would see a laptop.

I had the idea for a hand held device colonists would use instead of a computer. In some ways stolen from the PADD in Star Trek,

I called it a ComPad in my world, but something I did was be very ambiguous on how it worked. It was for colonists an every day item to send messages and write in.

Of course today we’d just call them a tablet. How technology marches on! But it’s a good reminder how you science fiction can become science reality.

I had a line about Melody Harper’s grandfather who “had a ComPad which was more like an olden days typewriter” to show that a ComPad was basically a computer. But it didn’t make the final cut, as it was already old hat by the time I published!

You can buy Melody Harper’s Moon through Amazon,

In the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Melody-Harpers-Moon-Meike-Torkelson-ebook/dp/B07GTYY3NL

In the US: https://www.amazon.com/Melody-Harpers-Moon-Meike-Torkelson-ebook/dp/B07GTYY3NL

In Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Melody-Harpers-Moon-Meike-Torkelson-ebook/dp/B07GTYY3NL