Writing Report February 29, 2020

TOM:  Rock climbing.

CROW:  Rock climbing.  

JOEL:  Rock climbing.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Lost Continent
(a.k.a. The Rock Climbing Episode)

The problem when one can’t sit down and complete a story in a single burst is going back and recapturing you’re original groove.

My latest Q’a story hit a rough patch and I had a couple of frustrating days with it until I re-read what I’d written and found my problem.

As I mentioned earlier, my dissatisfaction grew out of the opening for this story (we’ll call it Q’a .0 for the moment) matching the opening for my as-yet-unsold second Q’a novella (Q’a .2).

In particular, characters and scenes that felt far too similar.

Even more particular:  Climbing.

A significant part of Q’a .2 is my female barbarian climbing into a dangerous situation.  She does the same thing in Q’a .0 only not as suspensefully or with as big a payoff, so I jettisoned and replaced the two-similar characters and situations then reexamined the climbing scene.

I thought I’d beaten the problem and certainly made progress but found myself bogged down by a lengthy-yet-necessary-yet-seemingly-unmotivated exposition scene.

This time my frustration didn’t feel as unfocused.  I realized the elements were right but their placement felt faulty.

So I started re-reading what I’d already written and quickly discovered the source of my malaise:  Not one, but two climbing scenes in my beat outline, the first for purposes of infiltration, the second for purposes of escape.

But the re-read also pointed out a solution:  Instead of doing both scenes, I combine the two.

This means re-arranging the story points and moving about 1/4 of the story up closer to the beginning and changing the purpose of the original climb -- as well as going back and laying some track to further explain a couple of vital details.

(When I write sci-fi or fantasy, I always enjoy the world building.  While I’ll come up with the broad strokes before writing, I prefer letting the details fill in as they present themselves.)

Now the story seems to flow more swiftly and, barring unforeseen disasters, should be finished before San Diego Comic Fest (which, hey, I’m gonna be doing two panels for this year).

© Buzz Dixon