Friday, Friday, Friday

Sorry guys, I just really don't have much to say this week. I've been feeling pretty blah in general (you can verify this with my husband who asked me at least 4 times yesterday if I was doing okay - he even specifically asked if there was anything I "wanted to talk about", which for a guy is like voluntarily going into a combo Barbie/perfume/craft outlet store).

I've been getting some decent stuff written on the scifi story (sorry Quint). The problem with Quint's story is that I'm not really sure what to do with everyone yet - where I want them to go, what problems I want them to tackle, etc. I'm a character driven writer for the most part, which means that my plot tends to derive from my characters - what they happen to do, what situations they'd get themselves in, issues they need to confront to grow, etc. And right now, I know in general what needs to be resolved in this story, and several things that need to happen to the characters, but none of those things are specific enough to dictate where and when they need to happen. So I don't know where to have the characters or which other characters should be with them, or even if they should be alone for these specific events. The only one I know for sure is Chase - he needs to be back at the base, and I've got good reason to have Jason there with him. Everyone else though? Your guess is as good as mine. 

I think I want Quint out on his own, confronting aspects of his past. He needs to decide if he's going to grab for the future he wants but doesn't think he's worthy of. But in today's day and age, there's no reason for him to have to be alone. He'd have good reasons for wanting to get back with the others (Jayna) and it'd be tough to keep others from going after him and tracking him down (again, Jayna). So I have to come up with a plausible reason for him to stay out on his own (either voluntarily or not) or I have to deal with a peanut gallery while he's on this soul-quest of sorts. And really, who wants to go on a soul-quest with The Third and Jason along snarking over everything?

So these are the problems with Quint's story, and I don't want to just start writing and hope it all comes out okay. It's too easy to write yourself into a corner when you do that, and then once it's written, there's this difficulty with mass-deleting parts of your story. Since I do have another story to work on and have a better idea of where that's going, I'm working on that one for now while Quint's story percolates in the old noggin.

Wish me luck, and have a great Memorial Day weekend!