Think I may get some real writing done today. Having done some exercise already I'm not encumbered with guilt over my slothful behavior. The Animal Kingdom is crying to be finished and I think I shall give it some more attention today.
The story has a major flaw, and in typical Bevie fashion I'll go all around the houses to tell you what it is. Perhaps you have dealt with the same flaw in your writing.
The Animal Kingdom was inspired in a fit of creative humor back in the late 1980s, I think. The actual year is revealed on an earlier post to this blog. I knew the beginning right off, which pointed me right at the end. The story opens with Sparks, a German Shepherd dog, being yelled at by Eschae, the kingdom Mare (a very attractive philly). One of the Hogs has been murdered, and it looks like a Panther did it. If a predator has gone berserk the rest of the kingdom may insist on banning all predators. So Sparks, and his partner, Casper (a Black Panther), have to solve the murder.
So I know the beginning. I also know how it is going to end. What I'm not clear on is everything that takes place in the middle.
This story lacks the stepping stones most of my stories have to get me from the beginning to the end. Twenty years in the creative oven and it just hasn't produced the required thinking I need to pull it off successfully. But the very act of writing has sometimes lured the Muses to come and see what I'm up to. If they're interested, they begin feeding me with all kinds of ideas. Then the writing goes quickly.
There's something else which is beginning to clamor for my attention. Swords of Fire History. Last fall I finished assigned all 7,000+ members of the Archive Database to a house for every year of their life. My next big project in that area is to determine when all 7,000+ people entered military service, when they received any/all promotions, when they left, and which members re-entered military life, when, and so forth. It's a major undertaking. It took me months to get through the housing. There's 352 years to account for. The problem, of course, is that I'm the only one who finds this remotely interesting. Whenever I work on these projects everyone tells me to leave it go and get back to writing. But having a history for each of the 7,000+ people makes them all real to me. When I reference some new character, I know exactly who they are and why they are where they are. I like that. It gets rid of the "why would they be coming here just in the nick of time" syndrome. All people do things for a reason. This must include background characters.
But I segue. Or digress. Or something. The Animal Kingdom. That's today's project.
When Son starts summer vacation in a couple of weeks I will do that. With him about all day I won't get much writing done at all, I'm thinking.
Not that I really mind.
Sailors on the Sea
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
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2 comments:
It's good to see you thinking about your writing.
Thanks. What I need to do, too, is write about what I'm thinking. Did get some written this morning.
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