Dana's Magic and Mayhem: Eh, It Happens

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Eh, It Happens

It's a weird feeling, being a third of the way through a story you've been fighting the characters to tell... only to realize, nearly ten thousand words in that you're going to have to scrap pretty much the entire thing and rewrite it. But that's what happened this week with Kiss the Girl, Book 5 of the Halle Pumas.

The plot wasn't working. The characters were unhappy. I felt like I was pushing concrete through a straw, with the rule being that I wasn't allowed to damage the straw!

Eh. It happens. It's aggravating, but when I finally shut my "stubborn" up and listened to what Gabe and Sarah were trying to tell me, I got that feeling again. That excitement that I was on to something, something that would be good.

In one day I wrote three thousand words; I hope to be back up around ten thousand by the end of the week, if my kids cooperate, that is. So I'm not really behind, just annoyed that I almost didn't listen to my instincts. Luckily Gabe and Sarah kept at me with those Nerf swords until I was bugged enough to pay attention.

1 comment:

Unknown said...: Good luck with finding productive writing time!; September 11, 2008 at 4:55 PM

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Favorite Quotes

"I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability." Ron White

"So let me get this straight. You want me to kill the little guys, kill the big guys, crowd control those I can't, buff the team, debuff the boss, keep myself alive, AND keep you alive, all while waving a stick and dressed in a towel?" - Anonymous Role Playing Gamer

"I think that statue over there is a statement on modern life. The statement is, "Well, shit." - Varric, Dragon Age II

"Why is it all claws and guns? Can't we piss off a fuzzy planet? Still dangerous, but hey. Bunnies." - Joker, Mass Effect

"Last night, I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and thought to myself, "Where the heck is the ceiling?" - Dilbert

"Aim at the high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you'll hit the bull's-eye of success." - Annie Oakley

"It is only when you fall that you learn whether you can fly." - Flemeth, aka The Witch of the Wilds, Dragon Age 2

"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.'” - George Carlin

"I hear there's a wild bridge tournament down the street. And you know Bridge. It's a lot like sex. If you don't have a great partner, you'd better have a good hand." Barry Weiss, Storage Wars

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." - Marcus Cole, Babylon 5, "A Late Delivery From Avalon"

"I aim to misbehave." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

“If you think you can or think you cannot, you are correct.” - Henry Ford