Week 11 - Downsizing

Update – Things didn’t go so smoothly last week, but I did get some writing done on the romance. I know now how to fix that scene that wasn’t going right. I’m also getting nudges from the detective story rewrite, where I was similarly stalled. Now that I know specifically what the crazy zombie hunter had in mind for his daughter, I can proceed again. That’s assuming the assignment that’s coming in tomorrow doesn’t take up all of my time. It’s either feast or famine here.

Which leads neatly into today’s topic, in which I admit defeat.

$$$$

Not total defeat. I’m not giving up, not by a longshot. That phrasing up there was deliberately chosen to entice people to keep reading. In the biz it’s called a hook. TV shows do it a lot. Some shows run a quick pre-opening credits scene to drag you in, then end each segment with a twist or a threat so you’ll come back after the commercial break. Books do that too, starting off on page 1 with a bang (literally, if it’s an action story or murder mystery) and ending each chapter with a cliffhanger to keep you turning the pages. Remember The Hunger Games? The first paragraph on page 1 introduces the reaping; the first chapter ends with Katniss’s younger sister Prim being chosen as Tribute. Would you stop reading? Millions didn’t. That’s how it’s done in the big leagues. This has been your writing tip for today.

Now that I’ve got you here, let me explain myself. I started this blog as a personal challenge, to chronicle my efforts to write a novel in a month, every month, for a year. It’s now the middle of March and I’ve produced zilch. I’ve got two books in the queue, both of which were already under way on January 1, and I can’t make significant progress on either of them. The detective story’s a second draft, for crissakes; the heavy lifting’s already been done, I just need to refine it. I’ve got the usual suspects lined up as to why I can’t proceed: writer’s block, depression, video game addiction, outside assignments (at least they pay), and the million other things life can and will throw at you at a moment’s notice. It’s all excuses. Either do or do not, sayeth Master Yoda. There is no try. Except I don’t believe that. It could just be I bit off more than I could chew. If I were to take smaller bites…

Which is why, for April, I’m going to scale back. Instead  of  a book, I’m going to see about writing a short story. Or a couple of short stories. I’ve got a ton of snippets and false starts in notebooks that date back years. There’s got to be at least one that I can draft in a week, polish up, and send out to market within thirty days. I need to start getting subs out. It’s the only way checks will come in.

Then there’s that book I was thinking about, the compilation of the best of the worst of my toss-off flash fiction. Most of those are just dialogue; a little added exposition would flesh them out nicely. Maybe some can stay as is. If I can find a hundred entries and learn to self-publish, that could be my April submission. Plus a short story or two. Oops, there I go again. Haven’t even started and already I’m overextending myself.

In spite of what conventional wisdom tells us, just because you fell off the horse doesn’t mean you should get back on right away. I’m remounting, but this time I’m riding a pony. If I fall off again, it’s a shorter trip to the ground. Now all I need to worry about is my subconscious figuring out ways to screw this up. As I’ve said in previous blogs, my brain and I have issues.

For instance…now I’m wondering if I should post the detective novel’s first chapter on my Reading Room page, as an example of the opening hook and the chapter-end cliffhanger. Maybe I should have been a teacher after all. Nah. They don’t get paid a living wage either. See you all next week.