Yeah, that's right; out of order, and proud of it! fourteen and a half pages is good for a chapter, right? I mean, holy cow has my MC, Sabby, been running on a hamster wheel today! Whewie! She was giving a rough time earlier today where all I wanted to do was write her into physical existance and throw something at her. Give me trouble will you? I'll just write you getting the snot kicked out of you by Bentley (my other MC)! So there! I can't say it worked like a charm, but eventually she came around. Ahh... Time for a sugar break. And by sugar I mean sugar cookie So, if anyone wants to breeze through my fourteen and a half page chapter two of Sabby and her insane life, let me know!! I'm all about getting feedback!
My son's room shares a wall with my office/cat room, his crib on the opposite wall from the common wall. My desk on the opposite wall from the common wall. So, literally, my desk is on the opposite side of the house from my son's crib. His crib has wheels, and he's got long enough arms to reach through the bars and pull his crib toward the changing table, which stands right next to his crib. So as I sit here, typing this, he is in his crib defying all reasons for taking a nap. He is 'singing', he is babbling, and he is pulling his crib toward the wall, and pushing himself off. Thump, roll... Thump, roll... Thump, roll... Babble babble (mostly Da-Da!'s and raspberries)... Thump, roll... Squeal. I'm thinking of maybe giving in and getting him a bottle so he will actually take his nap. If he doesn't nap, I suffer the consequences horribly. And it starts with his attitude. Fuss at this, fuss at that, shouting 'No!' at me before a sippy sup or piece of food goes flying by. Not wanting to be held, but doesn't want to be put back down. Grabs for and 'asks' for everything he knows he shouldn't play with. "Honey, can you watch him for a minute? I've got to use the bathroom, I've been holding it for hours now!" to which my husband will sigh loudly, and slowly leave his man-cave to keep an eye on our grumpy little angel. The moments away are bliss. I'm not hefting around a 25lb toddler bent on distruction and general chaos and mayhem. I'm weightless as I stand in the bathroom, eyes closed, counting to twenty in my head. I didn't really need to use the bathroom, but my temper sure needed the break. "Please, oh please Colton honey, take your f**king nap!" I want to scream, usually just as he says or does something that makes me regret not having a camera ready. Such a cute little bugger!! Is it wrong to think, if I'd had an ugly child, it would make being a disciplinarian easier? That question is completely rhetorical, by the way. I know that whether my son were hideous, or angelic, I'd still love him unconditionally. But the times when I am trying to teach him "Don't throw food at mommy!" or "Don't hit the dogs with that baseball bat!", I really wish he weren't capable of such undermining cuteness.
So what started as a way of breaking through my writer's block and coming up with one or two alternate scenes between MC's Sabby and Bentley, I've gone and created a monster. I have three alternate scenarios for Bentleys abduction of Sabby, and two alternate scenarios for how Sabby kills/doesn't kill Gabe. I have three versions of how Sabby gets hired by the mafia boss to be his personal assassin, and all this, branched off of one scenario- the foot chase with the cop after stealing Warden's ferarri. Darn Warden and his sexy little car! Temping Sabby into committing grand theft auto and escaping to the beach. And darn Sabby for being so... easily lured. I thought I taught her that lesson already, but I guess not. *sigh* Now I need to come up with a scenario/situation to put Sabby in, to teach her that stealing cars willy-nilly doesn't make avoiding jail easy. Maybe, just maybe, Bentley abducting her will help smooth that wrinkle out. But I doubt it. Bentley's an even bigger enabler than Warden. I need....... I need something to distract Sabby long enough for Bentley to make contact with his police counterparts, but not have Sabby find out. I need both Bentley and Sabby to step back and let Taren take her place. And even better, Taren's about to meet Eve/Damien. I'm so excited for that to happen! But! I also need to further develop Eve so that when Taren does meet him/her, there isn't more awkward and forced dialogue. That's the last thing I want to wade through more of. Honestly! Also, staying in Bentley's head while writing scenes between him and Sabby is getting easier, but it's still a struggle sometimes. I confess I've no mind for espionage, and so writing about someone who's doing it for a living is a huge hurdle. Mountainous. Where's my harness and safety rope? It's going to be a lonnnng day!
Ok, so I know I just posted a semi-rant of this show in the tv show thread, but I really can't get it out of my head! First, it's the tension between Rookie and Training Officer. The tension between Rookie and Detective. The tension between Detective and Training Officer. One big, cliched and extremely addictive love triangle. Rookie: Andy McNally Training Officer: Sam Swarek Detective: Luke Callahan Sam made the first move on Andy, Andy declined since it was her first week on the police force. Luke makes the next move on Andy, and she accepts. Andy has an extremely rough night and Luke is unsupportive. She goes to Sam's place and they make out (FINALLY), but then she comes to her senses and leaves before it gets heavy. Since that episode, I have found the tension building between Sam and Andy, and Andy's wavering in her decision to marry Luke or not, to be one of the most annoying things ever. I mean, it is driving me crazy!! I just want to reach into my TV and shake the sh*t out of Andy sometimes! And then pull Sam Swarek out and into my living room (oh-la-la!). And another reason I'm so dang hung up on this show is because the character, Sam Swarek, is exactly how I wanted my own character Bentley to turn out. I know writing for this show started way back in 2009 (Very possibly earlier than that), and their first season aired in 2010, but I haven't heard of this show until AFTER I started writing my Bentley character. I didn't see the tv show until after I'd gotten Bentley worked into the majority of my ridiculous no-plot-having-stories. So do I keep watching Rookie Blue, takes notes and tips on how to further develop and make Bentley more complex? Or stop watching it altogether to avoid plagiarism? I will say that doing the latter will be a very hard thing for me to do (watching, not plagiarizing) since I'm so addicted and invested in the show already. I am just so frustrated! I think I've even created new onomonopias because of it!
I mean, I am on a roll! Cranked out another scene between Sabby and Bentley, though it is an alternate progression to what happens after Sabby is 'rescued' from the foot chase with the cop. 1,315 words in this alternate progression, and I must say that though it leaves me more confused than ever in which direction I want to take their story, I'm still pickled with myself for getting it out at all. In the original version, I have Sabby murder someone in front of Bentley and his 'Boss', which leads to Sabby being 'hired' into the gang and eventually used as their personal hitman. To which Sabby is equal parts elated, and scared stiff. Elated because it means she has enough muscle behind her to get the Italian mafia off her back (the reason she's banned from the state of Illinois), but scared mindless because it's a gang for one, and two, because although she's killed before, she doesn't have enough faith in herself to pull it off without cracking. And once you crack, the gang takes you out. No mercy for the weak. In the alternate progression, Sabby almost blows Bentley's cover (He's currently undercover for the police, and it took him 5+ years to work his way up to being the gang Boss's 'left-hand man', AKA 'Zocato'), so Bentley threatens her and they wind up at his place, where he hopes to just shut her up long enough to explain everything, but Sabby almost blows his cover again, and to shut her up, Bentley kisses her. Now, originally it was never supposed to be about attraction, lust, or even sex between Sabby and Bentley. It was supposed to be more about platonic partnership with a little bit of a 'big brother, little sister' feel. BUT. The way I have Bentley pictured just meshes so well with how absolutely insane Sabby is, I can't help but waver from my original perspective. Sabby needs someone who is heavy handed, yet just in ther actions. Someone who knows how to be utterly savage without losing rationality. Bentley isn't savage-yet- but will be eventually, and it's why I want them paired together. She will bring about his savageness as he softens her edges down a bit. Eventually being so in tune with each other they can finish each other's sentences. But I digress. So to turn their relationship less platonic, and sprinkle in more attraction, it creates an unknown for me. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I wanted them to just be friends, and Bentley more protector than anything else. But the more I look at this alternate progression I just finished on my blog.com page, the more I'm liking the idea of a little spice between them. Oh the woes of writing alternates
Got the ball rolling on one of my MC's who had taken the back burner for my MC Sabby lately. Taren finally has a 2nd page all on her own So happy! I love it when inspiration hits like a mack truck going 90! WOO!I just wish that my Taren character would stick in my head. Grr. She has a habit of fading into the background whenever another character is introduced. Like her opposite-yet-best-friend Felix, who is quickly gaining ground in my story line. My total WC is now 22,569! I think it's nearly doubled in the last 2 weeks. I'm so happy! Excited! And content now that I know it wasn't any writer's block I was suffering from, but just obsessing about the characters and letting them take their time. Oi. What a whirlwind!
Not saying I'm an alcoholic, or a functioning one. Just that after every three or four nights of sobriety I feel a good relaxing can of beer is in order. Mostly to kick off the weekend. I have awesome weekend BBQ-ing neighbors, and a beer connoisseur husband, Lucky Me!, that help I also want to point out that ALL day, all freaking day, I've trolled WF, waiting for someone to post something on an interesting thread, and only Art was kind enough to log on. Thanks Art for the laughs while I was at work bored out of my gourd this afternoon! And Mallory. *shakes head* Mallory, where were you darling?? I finally found the time and finished your 37pg draft you sent me two weeks ago and I wanted to share my enthusiasm over your writing! Serves me right for drinking at a time everyone else would be getting home, or getting off work (9pm CST)... Le sigh *nods to Link the Writer*, tomorrow is another day, and hopefully I will be so occupied with my little Angel of a heathen son I won't worry or wonder about WF until he goes to bed G'night everyone, and sorry for the lightly buzzed ramble/rant. I've kept it bottled all week. Really! All week this sites been slow. I haven't pouted so much since I learned I was going to my high school prom, stag! Grr.
Last night after adding "Sabby and Bentley's reunion" to the General Fiction forum, I was in such a groove I managed to iron out a few more kinks in my blog (not this blog ). Of course I have a long way to go in grammar and hammering out the remaining rough edges of character development, but OH WELL! I'm just happy my work makes sense now, haha! www.cali426chick.blog.com Now all I need to do is get back to work on my plot If only my MC's weren't so much more fun to focus on.... Le sigh. It's actually crossed my mind to create new characters for the plot I've been twirling around in my head, and just make a new plot for the MC's I have now. I love the plot idea I have now, too much to completely trash it. And I love my MC's too much to work on my plot. So maybe separating them is probably the best route. But then... ugh. I have to come up with new characters. Is this what multiple personailty disorder feels like? It's driving me nuts.
So in trying to post an excerpt of my MC, Sabby's, police chase, I ran into a word count issue. My word program says there are 786 words in my 'story', but when I copy and paste onto here, it says there are 4,262 characters... Ohhhh!! Characters include spaces, right? So that would explain it, because seriously, I was looking at the word program like a villain or something. "Lie to me, you stupid computer program!" I was getting so mad! Haha! Oops! Well, I guess that means I can't post any excerpts? That's a downer. I was looking forward to posting things with titles like "Sabby's feeling stabby", but I guess I can't now, knowing my excerpts are too long to post in a blog
Honestly, I've never blogged in my life. It is as vague to me as pod casts... whatever those things are. Anyways, I was reviewing my other MC's character obsessions I have typed out, and decided I want to combine two MC's into one, or maybe split one up and divide him/her amongst the other MC's. That part I haven't figured yet, but I'm sure inspiration will come sometime. All I know is I have way too many personalities running amok, and it's getting tiring pining down their POV's. Also, combining one MC with another or dividing them up will make my plot go easier. It's just too hard for me to work a homocidal nympho who teams up with an undercover cop working for a mob boss, and her mechanical genius brother who eventually turns gay and hooks up with my other MC who is a transvestite, into my main plot of fossil fuel depletion in the 1970's with subsequent population transplantation to a Mar's space sation. Talk about run-on sentences. Yeesh. But there you have it. I'm so lost in a messed up, mucky, world of my making, and I can't focus on one MC/plot line long enough to see my way out. Yet. For all the trouble it's giving me, I'm not ready to leave it yet. It's too funny and odd. I mean really, a transvestite? A homocidal nympho? Man moving to Mars?? Haha!! What is wrong with me?
So one of my MC's has turned into my favorite. And by favorite, I mean I started out writing with 5 (sometimes 6) main characters all running around, doing what they do, to only writing 3; Sabby, Warden, and Bentley. But even Warden's beginning to take a back seat. I find this frustrating because I really need my other MC's (Taren, Lainey, and Eve) to move along in their 'lives' so I can pick my plot back up. Being stuck as they are, only half my plot is moving on, and even that is stunted because I still need Taren to meet Warden to complete that half, and then Taren to 'disappear' (which her disappearance begins as well as completes, the other half). It can't be writer's block because when I put my mind to it, I have no problem writing out these other characters, but Sabby has become my go-to MC, and it is just... Frustrating.