Hey Folks,
I read the story I just finished to my wife yesterday, but she didn’t quite get the ending. I said, “Would it help if I had mentioned perfume” in a particular place in the story? She said it would. That was the one clue that was missing.
This was an interesting story for me. It appears to be very convoluted, but really there are only two major scenes.
And you can tell I’ve been reading a lot of Hemingway recently. This story is very detailed and very strange. (grin)
So I added the bit about perfume this morning. Actually, 18 words in three sentences, and I think it’s finished. And just in time. Today is Sunday.
The alternative was to write a brief prologue to show the crime that’s revealed at the end of the story, but I think it would give away too much. Very fine line to walk.
Still, just to be sure it works I bundled it off to my first reader, Kenneth, to see what he thinks of it. We’ll see what he says.
Today and Writing
I rolled out on time this morning at 3. But I didn’t feel like doing a lot, so I made my way slowly through my rounds on the Internet.
Then, an hour or so into the day, I added a few sentences (and fragments) to “Salvatore” (working title), ran a spell check and sent it off to my first reader.
Now I’m back to doing nothing for a little while.
I didn’t really feel well through the morning. My wife and I walked a 3.6 mile circuit. Then I got a shower and wrote a little, but I didn’t really feel into it. So back to doing nothing.
Around 11 I was thinking of calling this a non-writing day and starting fresh tomorrow.
Around noon a line popped into my head. I happened to be close to my computer at the moment, so I opened a Word doc and wrote an opening scene. Very pastoral in an upper middle-class neighborhood.
Around 12:40 something traumatic happened (in the story). So I wrote a cliffhanger and put Chapter 2 below it. Then I went to make myself some lunch. There might be nothing better in the world than tangy macaroni salad and cottage cheese on the same plate.
So the nonwriting day will end up as a writing day after all, though I can’t be sure how much writing.
But the opening is there and the cliffhanger is there and a second character, who is also affected by the trauma, is there. And the story wants to run, so I only have to write the next sentence. Then write the next sentence.
Oh, I heard back from the first reader, and I am stoked. He wrote, “Good story. The characters are believable and it flows well. It is also demanding of the reader’s attention (maybe not the best descriptor, but it is too aggressive to be called merely compelling). Not something that will allow one (me?) to read only part and put aside to finish later. I enjoyed the mystery of it.”
Yeah. And this is a guy who wouldn’t lie to save himself. I like it. By the way, the title of that one now is “The Tarp.”
So a little after 1, lunch is over and back to the story.
Calling it a day a little early. I haven’t felt good all day. My new WIP is a very interesting thing, very deep psychologically (I love that stuff), and it’s flowing.
I read the first two chapters aloud to my wife and touched it here and there as I read.
Tomorrow morning I’ll begin by reading back over everything up to this point and then writing more. I’m not worried about the light day because, as I said, this one’s really flowing.
Back tomorrow.
Of Interest
Especially if you aren’t in BundleRabbit yet, or if you enjoy DWS’ fiction, see “Bundles in BundleRabbit.com” at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/bundles-in-bundlerabbit-com/. And remember, I have a couple of works in the Guns of the West bundle right along with him. (grin)
Fiction Words: 1781
Nonfiction Words: 660 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 2441
Writing of Doctor Ramsey (novel, working title)
Day 1…… 1781 words. Total words to date…… 1781
Total fiction words for the month……… 8862
Total fiction words for the year………… 388482
Total nonfiction words for the month… 1480
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 137880
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 526362
The Daily Journal blog streak……………………………………… 645 days
Calendar Year 2017 Novel Goal (15 novels or novellas)………………… 8 novels or novellas
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 26
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182