Follow-up

Okay, as I was saying, I got this story out of mothballs, needing something to work on pronto.

I started it in August of 2009, inspired by an episode of our podcast called "Love Bites." I realized we'd never done a vampire story on the show, so I thought I'd try and write a really scary one, with none of that romance or sparklies in it.

I thought I'd challenge myself and write the story in first person, from the point of view of a seventeen year old girl. But in typing that, I realize that it sounds like I am writing a "Twilight" type ripoff. No, no, no. It's much more of a WHEN A STRANGER CALLS ripoff.

I had written a synopsis of the story (something I absolutely must do when I get the idea, otherwise it gets pushed out of my faulty brain and I not only forget where the story was going, but--no lie--forget I ever had the idea in the first place), and had even written the final sentence.*

I had then started the story from the beginning, dated August 4th, in the little notebook my Uncle John gave me before he stole my car.** I wrote for five pages, ending on--
"Why don't you go back down to your room, Crissy?"
"Alright," she said, but didn't go.
And then, it just stops.

The next page picks up in the middle of another story, continues two pages, and then stops as well. After that, we get my October Scary Story (also beginning in the middle and stopping before the end), and page after page of works-in-progress. Sad, really.

But on with the countdown. So, this untitled vampire story had lay fallow for nine months, and having finished another story this week, I thought I'd pick this one up and take a crack at it. And what I found sort of bummed me out.

You see, I'd written this story in 2009 to take place in some unspecified future (probably 2011), and it was already dated. Anticipating THE PRINCESS & THE FROG would be a huge hit, I'd referenced a collection of dolls from the then-forthcoming film. And a song which was new at the time being "that old song by so-and-so." In re-reading it, I wondered if I should change the reference to TWISTED/RUPUNZEL and just make up a band name.

When I finished contemplating that, a week had passed.

Despite this setback, I was amazed to discover the story had been three-fourths finished before I abandoned it last year. I had written the ending already, and much of what led to it. It really only took minutes to fill in the blanks, and even though I think it's a particularly weak piece, I have yet another finished work this month.

That was the good news. The bad news was that the clothes I had been wearing during that week-long fugue were not salvageable.

Rish "The Smelly One" Outfield

*The days ahead were going to be hard enough without . . . without that awful thing that seemed to be the truth.
**I'm sorry, that's unfair. He simply took the car without paying for it. And I didn't want that car anymore anyway.