Been a While
Sometimes, you think you have a brilliant idea, and then that kernel blows up in your face. Thus, being a writer.
I am kind of in between things at the moment and decided to go back and revisit an story note I’ve had for my ongoing series. I haven’t looked at these characters in, oh let’s say 7 years. But the opening line was good, and the motivations were solid.
I outlined the thing. I killed a side character as the inciting incident. There was action. There was pathos and drama. I was excited to move on.
Well, except, something was bothering me. I ground to a halt. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t read prose. Something was eating away at the back of my brain. Telling me, you probably don’t want to move on here. There is a wrongness about this book.
Clue #1: I started listening to the audiobook of The Exchange by John Grisham. It’s a follow up to The Firm, probably Grisham’s most famous novel. I read it when I was a kid and it was the reason I never wanted to be a lawyer—but that’s an aside. As I’m listening to the new one, the third chapter of the book lays out a plot that is exactly what I was planning on being the story of my book. I put The Exchange aside, parallel thinking is weird, and I figured if I didn’t listen to the book any more, I could still move forward. My brain didn’t think so, but my soul wanted to.
Clue #2: This happened last week. I was really trying to push through this writer’s block. I picked up one of the old books in the series to look and see if I could still use a location, or if I’d made a choice earlier to take that place out of the equation. Much to my joy, I found that yes, I could still use that location. But, as I’m flipping, I came across some shocking information. The character that was going to die as the inciting incident of this story? He, uh, died two books ago. And I just… forgot.
Yeah.
Um. Well, in that case, I’m starting over. I still have great characters, a great opening line, I just have to do some research and find another plot to hang the vibes on. I’m confident it will happen, but I ended up losing two months in the process.
That sticks.
What I’m Reading, Watching, and Listening To
Remember that reading slump?
I’m still in it. I finished The Yankee Way by Andy Martino, which was great. I don’t read much non-fiction, but this one was a breeze. I’ve already been reading a lot of Batman comics.
I watched the first episode of Bad Monkey on Apple TV+ and very much enjoyed it. So much that I stopped watching and went and got the novel from the library to read first. I’ve never read Carl Hiaasen, but I think this is a good place to start.
I’m listening to the new Jack White album, the new The Killers song, and all the Comedy Bang Bang live records. The latter of which is making me laugh really, really hard.