Escape Artists

The Lounge at the End of the Universe => The Writing Forum => Progress Reports => Topic started by: Lab Tinnion on April 02, 2012, 01:44:59 AM

Title: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 02, 2012, 01:44:59 AM
I just discovered a couple months ago that a friend of mine that I've known for several years is a former magazine editor.  This naturally led me to asking questions about her view from the other end.  Since she was never a fiction editor, the conversation didn't really go that far.  The thing is, it relit a pilot light I'd blown out over a decade ago.  Suddenly, night after night, I was coming up with all kinds of really great story ideas.  I kept trying to dismiss these daydreams and get my mind back to important things like work, car problems, kids homework, making "real" money, etc.

Next thing you know, I'm sneaking pen and paper into the bathroom  ( :-[ ) and writing stuff that I can't even read afterward.  I procrastinated a couple more weeks pretending to seriously research various writing tools, plotting charts, and Standard Manuscript Format templates.  Finally, I just sat down this morning and started typing and WOW, I got 500 words down in no time flat.  It's the start of a SciFi detective story.  What rafters in my head did that fall out of?

God help me, I'm writing again.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 03, 2012, 03:34:19 AM
Well, I got another 500 words down today.  I know that's not very much, but I'm in the middle of a ton of other things.  I've got two brand new eCommerce websites I'm designing for clients, and I've been sneaking in paragraphs between uploads and downloads.  The story's going really well except for one annoying character who's "decided" to be an entirely person than I had originally planned for her.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 04, 2012, 10:54:52 AM
I only got 200 words in today...along with four title changes.  One minute I think I'm being really clever with the title, and the next I think I'm being ridiculously obvious.  Now I'm leaving it alone until the story's finished.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself tonight.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Scattercat on April 04, 2012, 03:47:53 PM
Titles are a part of the story.  They'll likely evolve as the story takes shape.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Unblinking on April 04, 2012, 06:21:07 PM
Titles are a part of the story.  They'll likely evolve as the story takes shape.

Yeah, no big deal.  Titles can be important, but usually I don't fret about them too much until I'm ready to send the story out.  Usually until then I have a working title that is simply a descriptino of the premise just for the sake of having a name for the document, things like "Dream Cloud Monster" or "Zombie Penguins".
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Jonathan C. Gillespie on April 05, 2012, 04:56:15 PM
Same here. My manuscripts for short stories in-progress are often "ss- [object]" until I'm done. Best to give the story time to name itself.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 07, 2012, 06:39:48 PM
Wow, three very hectic days.  It's never good to have car problems, but especially not if you live way out in the mountains.  Anyway, to stay on topic, I've only managed a hundred words in the last three days.  Also, I did put down a great event idea for my next story.  Hopefully, it will have some characters to carry it by the time I'm done with this one.

Thanks for the responses, by the way.  I was beginning to think I was alone here.

"Zombie Penguins"
Now I have this image in my head of people running around with shotguns and blowing penguins into little pieces.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 09, 2012, 04:32:22 AM
My story is coming along nicely now.  I love when it really starts carrying itself.  I got another 500 words down today making a total of 1800 words.   I'm guessing that the final word count will be somewhere around 5000-7000 words before editing and rewriting.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 10, 2012, 02:10:06 AM
Writing dialogue that includes a translator was an interesting exercise in and of itself.  I've never done that before.  I had to write enough dialogue to establish that the translator was translating everything between the two characters before I could switch to direct, unattributed dialogue with just the two of them.  Anyone else had to deal with that before?
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: Lab Tinnion on April 10, 2012, 07:26:19 AM
Another day, another 500 words.  2300 and counting.
Title: Re: Don't Tell My Wife I'm Writing Again
Post by: alwaysblack on September 24, 2013, 11:03:07 PM
Hi, how's it going?

Your thread piqued my interest 'cos I recently got re-possessed by the WriterGuy that lives in a cave at the back of my head. It's been getting on for ten years since I last heard from him. Hope your project continues.