325 making progress one step at a time
The last one started with a title, too.
Miley McMeteor and the Lost Dog on Mars. I thought it was a funny idea for a plot, a regular old lost dog story, but set in a sci-fi setting. And it wrote itself fairly easily. As the first in a planned five book series, it establishes her world, and sets in motion the pieces for a bigger story arc.
And then my brother, Deb, and my cousin read it. Maybe a couple more people. (Bernadette?) But I started on book two, and made it about halfway before I had a health crisis and had to set it down, or else my lack of plotting ran into a dead end.
That was almost two years ago. Since then, I've attempted to start some new projects, and I've made some killer progress on the musical, but every time I've sat down to move on, Miley keeps popping out.
So now I'm looking at what to do. Do I radically change my approach, from a YA novel, to an illustrated kids book? An interactive puzzle book? Do I leave my old, complicated, Hunger Games in Space arc, and make something simple and easy to digest?
This is what I've been going over and over. More and more, I'm realizing I want to write a slightly simpler, shorter book with illustrations, some of which might be puzzles and/or clues to the story. And stick with my original arc, which is a teenager going through awkward teenage shit, while living in this very oppressive, yet super nice and smiley, society.
I'll keep exploring the visuals and refining the characters, but I'll probably start by writing. First an outline, then a treatment, then a draft. Then I'll figure out the visuals.
Currently, I've got a ways to go. The drawing at top doesn't look awful, but I'd like to get into Tintin territory.
Maybe Asterix and Obelisk is asking too much.
NC Wyeth is a pretty good goal, too, although I kinda like the comic-book style of Tintin, with halftones rather than pure painting. So yeah, I guess I'll continue to practice the drawings while I work out the plot.
Meanwhile, I'm lying there thinking about all of this, when the first line to a book I've been thinking about for ten years pops into my head, "My dad was always into tawdry mysteries." That one has a title, too, "Marblehead." And I pretty much know the plot, because it's non-fiction.
So, the race is on. Which one will my mind and fingers gravitate toward first?
The inherent problem in that situation is, what if I just go back and forth between the ideas and get nowhere? It's possible. But I kinda think I'll get through this block. Sooner or later.
Damn you Google. Looking at my feed, you'd swear the world is nothing but SPACs and emobility these days. But here's the truth: when money wants a piece of the real action, they don't go public.
IPO? No. SPAC? No. How about a good old investment banker deal, getting the inside track on a proven company with a big cash infusion.
It's kind of amazed me how close Rad Power Bikes has tracked to the fictional "New West Mobility" in my story Self-Driving Mystery. They're both ebike companies in Seattle named after their founders. When I wrote the story, Rad was just finishing their first Kickstarter. Now they're the biggest ebike brand in America.
What's next, a self-balancing encapsulated ebike?
Let's hope so!
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