... an offer I can't refuse ...
April 13, 1999
6:33 a.m.
Still not a whole lot going an around the mailbox, but I did get a note from Stan Schmidt saying he would be willing to look at a rewrite of a story I sent him before he bought "Stealing the Sun." Like I needed something else to do, eh?   I see Tamela "demystified" my image of the week by explaining what it was in her April 10th entry. While that's all well and good, and while I'm glad to know what it is, that misses the point! Idea generation is about magic. It's about picking an everyday event and seeing what it could be, what it could mean. So what if it's a photo shoot. There's still that wonderful graffiti image to work with. There's still the mysterious message on the wall. There's still the question of what happens when the man in the wall talks. Maybe the fact that it's a photo shoot shapes the words that comes out of his mouth. Not meaning to rag on T here. [sheepish grin] For those of you working on the idea and maybe stuck in the middle, try Gene Wolfe's method of getting a story going--bring in an alligator. yeah, yeah, yeah . . . you might need to make it an uzi-weilding gunman, or a magical spell that goes awry. Or maybe a sudden love interest walks in (a new type of alligator, eh?). i don't care what the alligator is, just do whatever it takes to give the story a little jolt in your mind. "1 is True, 0 False," is definitely finished now. Oh, it may be copy edited a bit (see my post on typos) and I may smooth a rough edge along the way depending on various reactions I get to it, but the story is actually complete. I mentioned somewhere before that the key to writing is sometimes knowing when it's the right time to stop. And I think the best thing about "getting better" is that this moment becomes more concrete in your mind. I'll note that this is also the worst thing about "getting better" because sometimes you know a story isn't finished, but you've got no idea where else to go with it. But today I'm pleased. Maybe it'll sell, and maybe it won't. But this story is told, and I like what it says. Of course, readers are free to disagree with me. :)  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"As a commercial writer, I can't do that (write about things that move you); I don't love, hate or fear enough things year in and year out, I don't have a new cause every week, and my creditors have expensive tastes. But I think there's no question that my best writing does reflect my feelings about things that move me for better or worse." Mike Resnick in the April, 1999 Speculations highly recommended, BTW |
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