Behind Door Two

It's good to have focus again. I've gotten two scenes edited on Trinket Box and I'm well on my way to reaching 100 pages on The Trunk (which was Mummy Case). My brilliant plan is to have the first 50 pages of Trinket Box ready for the group for the first March meeting and to have all 75 pages for February written for The Trunk.

If I can do the same in March, I'll feel ahead enough on both to be able to work on Script Frenzy in April. I might even be able to keep editing Trinket Box along with writing my script, but I'm not going to hold myself to that quite yet.

After all, there is Reven to consider as well. And I still have a chapter to finish revising for it. I'm hoping to get a little work done on that today.

I can't believe I'm already thinking about Script Frenzy. Actually, I've been thinking about Nanowrimo already, and contemplated putting off The Trunk until then, but reconsidered. That's just too long to wait and I'd rather have the pages now. I'll find something else to write by then. Something new and fresh, because I think I'll need it about then.

As for Script Frenzy, I'm still toying around with the haunted house idea TC and I came up with last June (longer, really, but that was when we fleshed it out--was that a pun?). I'm keeping my option open, though, but nothing else has yet to materialize. In March, I'll add another 5 or 10 pages to my monthly goal to be closer to what I'll need to write in April (100 pages).

Honestly, though, Trinket Box is eating up most of my enthusiasm. I love working on this story. I'm amazed how much of it clings to me, even now. Scenes I was planning on ditching I'm now finding too compelling and so I'm trying to find a way to work them into the flow of the plot. And thank god for Creepy Frenchman! He's going to be my failsafe for plotting when all else fails.

Focusing on these novels is going to destroy my chances of having another short story ready for WotF, though. I need to look up the next submission deadline if I'm going to make it. I'll need all the time I can to work in another revision.

UPDATE: The deadline is April 1st. Whew. Won't have to worry about it during Script Frenzy. But that only leaves me about a month and a half! Gotta start working on something for it.

Getting Together

Great evening last Friday! It is so nice to get together every couple of weeks to talk stories and writing and whatnot. I come away with my batteries recharged and I'm ready to write!

I'm looking forward to reading more on Enthusiast (thanks for the next two chapters, Carole) and reading the new version of Masks (thanks for the first four chapters, Kami). I'm curious about the dark fantasy short story, too, Carole, though I must admit I'm a little afraid to read it. Horror-esque and I are on shaky ground together. But I will read it!

I'm eager to start submitting stuff of my own for you two to fuss over, but I know I'm not ready for that yet. At least not until my script is done (when you'll be oh so tired of it!). I'm pleased that I'm holding myself back from rushing into a critique, as is my usual inclination. It just does me no good, and wastes your time, too, to have a piece critiqued that I know is flawed and can guess where most of those flaws are. Much better to have a piece critiqued that I think is strong and can no longer find the flaws and gaffs and rough places as easily. I'm looking forward to that day, but I can't say when it will come. Not yet. Maybe when I get closer to the end of Mummy Case or Warrior Storm.

For now, I'm enjoying being a part of your editing process and keeping my word count flowing!

Finished.

I DID IT! I wrote, edited, rewrote, and finished a short story! 3,472 words of dark fantasy/horror. My first! And I like it too!

I'm just so happy and excited I could squeal.

*squeeeeeeeee!*

Thank you. I return you to your normal Internets activities.

It's Magic!

I've had two opportunities in the last couple of weeks to try to explain how I write. Not what I write, or why I write. Not even the how of designing scenes or creating characters or plotting. But *how* as in how do I pull these ideas out of my head and form them into words in an order that makes them into a story.

I've been reduced to say "it's magic!" Because that's what it feels like when I think about it too hard. It is such a fascinating and awe-inspiring process that depends far too much on the insubstantial quality of thought than on anything truly tangible. How does one describe the process of imagination? I can say where the ideas start, in many cases, and how the idea builds, but I couldn't recreate that spark that starts the idea off. And that must be the muse, because it certainly feels like something outside of me has reached in and grabbed hold of my brain and squeezed really hard.

So I'm at a loss to really try to put the experience into words. "It's magic!" seems as valid an answer as "It's the muse" or "It's my imagination." Only, saying "It's magic" makes it sound like I have some control over the process, and really, I don't. Not for that mystical squeezing of my brain when an idea takes hold. And then, the idea tends to take over, and I can't even control that.

My control doesn't start until my fingers hit the keyboard, and even that control is questionable. How many times have I read back over a story I've written and gaped at it, wondering how I could have put those words on paper or come up with those characters.

It's just . . . magic.

Oddities - A short story exercise.

VERY early draft of flash fiction removed so as to not upset the publishing gods.