Writing: February 23rd & 24th

2/23
Words Written: 906
Total Words: 19,411

I had a choice to make today.  I didn't have anywhere I had to be after three pm, and I couldn't decide whether to go to the library again and write for a couple of hours, or go try to make some money out of town, which would eat up the rest of my day.  I edited for a few minutes, then decided, "Screw it, let me pursue the almighty buck."  I ended up doing alright, but not exceptionally well, and I did record a podcast on the drive.*

Afterward, it started snowing pretty hard and visibility got pretty gross, so I pulled over at the Lord's restaurant, Del Taco, and grabbed a burrito (or ten) and wrote in my notebook while I was there.  I stayed nearly an hour, working on TTC, and started putting in backstory and world-building, all right here at the beginning of the story.  It is, what Abbie non-affectionately calls info-dump.

So, I had to/have to ask myself, 1. How much of this information is necessary to the story?

Answer: All of it, don't be an asshole.

Question 2: How much of the information do I need right here, in the first chapter?

Answer: Well, that one's harder.  I want to explain to the reader what's going on, and why there are only three characters at this point in the story, but hey, I'd hate to be referred to as the info dumper.**  I tried to start the story in medias res, as late as I possibly could, with the discovery that something is wrong (and that revelation occurs about 350 words in, which feels pretty early, especially if this sucker turns out long, which it might), but I could be mistaken.

The neat thing about storytelling is, there are a dozen ways to tell the same tale, and all dozen can be effective.  I have to just trust my gut and keep on going, and if I think it's too exposition-heavy later, I can fix it later.  Self-doubt at this point would be damning, and I've accrued enough damnation, at least for today.

2/24
Words Written: 362
Total Words: 19,773

I didn't want to write today.  Oh, I still did it, getting down a paragraph or two in my notebook early in the afternoon, and then heading to the library around three, with my laptop in tow.  But once I sat down, I didn't want to do any writing.  I wanted to edit audio, which I couldn't do at one of the cubicles (though I could just use headphones, couldn't I?), and I felt like reading (which I did manage), but that familiar sense of apathy reigned, and I would not write as planned.

So, sorry.  I blogged, I wrote a couple of emails, made a new post for my Patreon pals, and before the call of Facebook took hold of me, I opened my notebook and started typing up a story I wrote in October, telling myself that it was the next best thing to my daily writing, and discovered a bit of that to be missing too.  So, I wrote up that section, which counts as about 269 words according to my counter, and then went back to typing.  A page or two later, I found the missing section, which I must have, I dunno, gone back to write after the scene that had come into my mind earlier (several days earlier, knowing me, and the different colored pens used).  Ah well.

Tomorrow will be better.

*It's an incentive episode I'll just share with the Patreon supporters.  Hey, those person deserves it.

**As opposed to the Phantom Dumper, which I welcome.