Tag: Fiction

NaNoWriMo – Day 25 – The end is nigh, for someone!

For all those people out there who think the end of the world is coming, it is not.

For all those people out there who think my story is getting the end, I really hope so.

I’m writing three separate chapters, each a little at a time, trying to dovetail the sequence of events that will lead to the unmasking of the murderer and find the whereabouts of 30 odd missing persons.

What had begun as a simple quest has turned into a convoluted tale of lies, distortions, and people whose propensity for being something other than who they appear, had muddied the waters,.

Yep, everything you’d expect in a completely unexpected ending.

I hope.

NaNoWriMo – Day 24 – Sanity, if nothing else, returns

Got the 50,000 words, 51,540 to be exact, but the story is not done yet.

Hasty revisions, adding more words, taking out some others, it’s a long and difficult day, with the yellow post-it note collection growing exponentially.

Where would we be without them, endless scraps of paper strewn over an already cluttered desk?

All it would take was one enthusiastic cleaning lady, and it would become an ‘oh-my-god’ moment.

The end, however, is becoming clearer, and I’m working towards it from three different angles.

NaNoWriMo – Day 23 – No, no, no, no, no

No.

You know how it is when a brilliant plot line comes to you in the middle of the night, when you’re half asleep, after a long day of writing.

A long day maybe, but not much writing, because the current plot line heading towards the end doesn’t gel.

I write a page or three, toss it.  Another page, toss it.  Another two pages, toss it.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

Another secondary character wants to come out and play a bigger part, except that to do this I have to go back and seed a few pointers so that the revelation doesn’t seem skewed, or worse, coming out of nowhere.

No sleep tonight, have to sow the seeds while it’s fresh in my mind.

Seriously, with only seven days to go and this pops into my head?

The cases of PI Walthenson – a story written page by page

How thrilled Harry had been to see

Harry Walthenson
Private Detective

painted on the translucent glass window in the door to his office.

Located in Gramercy Park, in an old building full of atmosphere, he had the small space renovated to resemble that of Spade and Archer in a scene right out of the Maltese Falcon.

His desk had an antique phone like those used in the 1930s, and a lamp that cast eerie shadows at night.

Along one wall was a couch, his bed for more nights than he cared to remember, and on the other a filing cabinet, waiting for the big case files.

Up till now it had been missing cats and dogs.  Then, everything changed…

 

The adventure begins with Episode 1
– The Wrong Place, The Wrong Time
http://bit.ly/2J4aEBP

The most recent, Episode 17
– Explanation
http://bit.ly/2Qk3500

 

 

 

NaNoWriMo – Day 23 – No, no, no, no, no

No.

You know how it is when a brilliant plot line comes to you in the middle of the night, when you’re half asleep, after a long day of writing.

A long day maybe, but not much writing, because the current plot line heading towards the end doesn’t gel.

I write a page or three, toss it.  Another page, toss it.  Another two pages, toss it.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

Another secondary character wants to come out and play a bigger part, except that to do this I have to go back and seed a few pointers so that the revelation doesn’t seem skewed, or worse, coming out of nowhere.

No sleep tonight, have to sow the seeds while it’s fresh in my mind.

Seriously, with only seven days to go and this pops into my head?

NaNoWriMo – Day 22 – So close I can taste it

Or something like that, it’s a rather interesting expression I had to look up.

There’s more than one meaning, perhaps referring to being near the ocean and tasting the salt in the air, or the fact that your objecting is so close to attainment, it is assured.

But I once again digress…

49,042 words, Day 22, 8 more days to go, 1,000 odd words to make the magic 50,000.

This novel, though, is not going to be within the 50,000-word limit, it is going to be more like 60,000 words.

Currently, I’m working on the ‘surprise’ ending…

NaNoWriMo – Day 21 – Not long to go, need to write faster!

Three weeks down and the finish line is just around the corner, and over that invisible hill.

The legs are like rubber, and the going is getting harder.  I’ve never run in a marathon but I’m beginning to think I know what it might be like.

I’d hate to run out of steam and get only 49,999 words written before they cart me off to the rehydration tent.

It’s hard work, lonely work, but like building a house, you get to see the physical results of that work.

Enough, I’ve got to get back to work.

I can see the hill!

NaNoWriMo – Day 20 – Reworking the synopsis

Yes, it’s that time, nearly three weeks in, and writing a story sequentially from start to finish has some perils involved with it.

Like the plotting, and like any good actor given a bit part in a movie, the objective is to make it their own.

I think it’s called, grabbing hold of your fifteen minutes of fame and using it.

Characters do this us, they force themselves out of their restrictive cacoon.  One of mine has taken her bit part and is now the frontrunner for the villain.

How do you make such personable people drip with evil?

NaNoWriMo – Day 19 – Finally, we’ve got the internet back

After two days in the technological wilderness, we are back, which must say something about the human condition.

I’m sure, one day, the internet will collapse and billions of us will go through the same withdrawal symptoms I just did, and there’ll be a lot of clean rooms around.

Even so, there are those two items that were very prevalent when I went to school, pencils. HB or 2B, or colored, and lined paper in what was called an exercise book, 48 pages, 64 pages, 96 pages or 128 pages.

I am yet to equate words to an exercise book page, but that’s the least of my problems.

Still working on the new killer, and a perfect match for the hero.  Yes, I’m hoping we can have a happy ending for at least two characters.

The others, well, you reap what you sow!

You don’t know what you’ve got till its gone

On Sunday morning we lost the internet.  I went out onto my office and saw the flashing lights on the modem.  There was no signal.

Outside the house, a large number of trucks had blocked up the road and the closer inspection showed they were here to remove an old pole.

The only problem was our internet provider was still using it.

I imagine what happened was simple.  The power technicians or someone else moved the cable to the new pole.

It sounds simple, but I guess it wasn’t.  End result. No internet, not via the cable outside.

We had the grandchildren staying over and whilst the spectacle of removing the old pole kept their attention for about half an hour, the signs of restlessness and boredom set in soon after.

And with no internet and no cable TV, it was just about the end of the world.  Unlike in my day as a child, we had to make our own entertainment, there was no TV or internet, it was a matter of using your imagination, it seems modern children are lost without the internet, a computer, or tv

My room needed cleaning, the library had about fifty new books to put on the shelves, and the existing books needed some rearrangement, so I put them to work.

It was either that or the garden which always needs work, but one job I can’t seem to work up any enthusiasm to do.

And at the end of the day, still no internet.

I think I’m starting to get serious withdrawal symptoms.