Failure Analysis
August 10, 2000
7:17 a.m.
When something goes wrong on a piece of equipment on the production line or in the field, engineers descend upon the issue and review it and analyze it until they can analyze no more. At that point, they draw straws. The one who gets the short stick is given the duty of writing up the dreaded Failure Analysis Report. It's a document that describes the problem, and all the pertinent information required to follow the path of the investigation to its conclusion. I figured my latest effort was about ready for this type of effort--at least as an interim report. So, I gathered up the straws, and waited for someone else to pick one. When it became obvious that no one else had any inclination to do so, I figured I had the dirty deed thrust upon me. So, here it is: Statement of the problem: Difficulty going the next level on this latest story. The good news is that I think I'm past the stage where I'm trying to push weak Harlan Ellison rip-offs into the story. The bad news, however, is that I hit a place where I knew where I wanted the story to go, but couldn't quite figure out how to get it there plausibly. This really bugged me. I shouldn't get into these situations. My process shouldn't allow them. So, I did what any self-respecting writer would do, I ignored the problem and hoped it would go away. This, by the way, does not work. It never has, and probably never will. Still, it's the path of least resistance, so I tend to try it first no matter what. Analysis: This morning, I finally gave in to reason and actually looked at the flow-chart/outline I have for not only this story, but for the "big picture." I've got this series planned, see? I've been following the plot I've thought through, but there's been something missing. So this morning I started asking myself several writerly questions ... things like "Can you describe the story?" (And in that I include all the motivations and whatnot). The astute of you can probably guess that the answer was No. Root Cause: "But," I complained, "I've got an outline, dangit. How can I not know what the story is?" Eventually the more rational side of me realized that, yes, I have an outline ... but it's all the external world stuff--the politics and the wheeling and dealing. It's the motivations of factions and groups. And it's their tactics and general activities. But ... What I've got has very little to do with the main character. That's right. For longer term readers, you may remember that the problem I had with the second and third stories in this series was that I needed more externals. I needed the politics and the environment in order to make my characters work and respond in an appropriate context. So I threw myself into this portion of the process. Now, I've got politics (boy have I). And I've got science and I've got environment. Somewhere in there, however, I managed to leave my characters sitting alone. Corrective Action: This morning I wrote a character sketch. I started pretty much from scratch, and wrote from a very tight point of view aligned with my main character. I let him talk, basically. I let him move where he would move, getting used to his new surroundings. I imagines him going through the situations he's had to go through lately, and I had him respond. I had him deal with his new responsibilities. Probably needless to say, there's a real spark to the work now. I'm interested in it again. Is the story any good? you ask. Well, I honestly don't know. I scrapped everything this morning, and started over. And at around 1,200 words this morning, I'm not ready to plant the flag and declare this one a masterpiece, yet. But the pieces are coming together. I'm enjoying the process. So I think there's hope.   Have a great day.  Persistence is not always what it's cracked up to be, eh? Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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