Day 16 & 17: I Could Be A Legend

HALFWAY TO TO END OF THE WAR OF THE WORD COUNT!

Today, the first day after our personal storm, I got back to writing. At first, the scenes spilled out without reason or rationale, and I thought I somehow lost my voice. The story was scattered, the characters strangely aggressive or weak - and I knew, I knew! Something was terribly wrong! My voice was gone! My voice was off! But, after three or so pages, I fell back into the rhythm of the plot. It was hairy there for a little, though.

THOUGHTS ON GETTING BACK INTO A STORY!

1. START MID-SCENE - I write out a scene, making sure I have memorable characters and settings. And then I stop. , mid-sentence. I have to remember where the scene is supposed to go, because I'll pick it back up when I lose the story.

2. STASH O' SCENES - I think of all my scenes that will make readers bite off all of their fingernails, hide under the blankets with a flashlight way past bedtime, or sob into their pjs. When I forget where I'm going or where I've been, I pull out the stash o' scenes and write one up to help find the story again.

3. THE RED TELEPHONE - I write a version of the end. This is cheating. It is only to be used as a last possible measure. It's like nukes in the Cold War. Don't pick up the red telephone unless you mean it.

AND THEN I FOUND A FEW THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY!

1. I AM LEGEND - I read the book (a 1950s sci-fi novel by Richard Matheson) about a year ago, and knew a movie was in the works. And then I saw the link to the trailer and my head almost exploded. Robert Neville is the last man on earth, but he's not alone. Vampires stalk him as the last prey they can find. Every night they come to his house to try to kill him. Every day he hunts them down and stakes them out...literally. Look at the trailer - I promise it is fairly full of awesome.


2. ORYX AND CRAKE - Written by Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake is novel about dystopia and cloning and what it means to be human. On recommendation from my cousin, I picked it up and am already thoroughly in the love.

3. DAEMONS AND MY SOUL - How awesome is it that my daemon's name is Leonidas?

So say we all.
Bri