I have been beating my brains out, trying to make a story work. This time, I’m going to let you in on the workings a little.
The theme is “The Morning After”. After what is left up to the author. It could be apocalyptic, or just one of those ‘actions at a cusp’, to channel Stranger in a Strange Land. I have three, count them, THREE abandoned stories, about 1000 words in each, where I knew that the story was going nowhere. The topic was the Morning After, and all I could come up with are tales where the MC is wringing his hands over a decision for weeks. That would merit a Fail from the market, I just know it. So, I have to condense the action into six hours of time. That’s not time enough to a good hand-wringing.
I was driving back from MD in a slashing rainstorm yesterday, and I was musing over this problem. Considering that this is due in seven days tends to concentrate the mind wonderfully. I realized that the magic may well depend upon the definition of ‘Morning After’. Change that, and I have a chance!
So, the tale (which I start at 1645 today) will have a nice time discontinuity between the day the decision is made and the next morning. Problem solved! Well, maybe. We shall see.
————————————— UPDATE ———————————————-
The story did NOT come together in time. In fact, as of today (5/11) it still lies abandoned. Sort of like those stories where frozen embryoes are stockpiled, awaiting the word to be decanted and warmed up. Fortunately, the story was set in one of my universes, so it’s all good.
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