What's up next - The Psi Apprentice

So, the children are old enough, that they frequently do activities together that do not involve me!

This seems like a beautiful gift to the writer in me, however, I'm still required answer questions and appreciate their awesome discoveries. In summary, it's time for me, but it's interrupted time ;-)

So, writing the final confrontation scene is not going to happen today. Instead, I've let myself brainstorm another idea for what might come next.

Requirements:

* Another short story, this time it 'really' will be short. <4000 words.

* Genre will be SciFi - My copy of "Fantasy&ScienceFiction" arrived and inspired me.

* Single POV (A must for a short story)

* Three Scene limit - this is going to tough. I'll aim for 500, 1000, 2000 and have a little space over.

Hurdles:

* To ensure I have world building and character build happening at the same time.

I never keep the first starting line, but here is is anyway.

Being an apprentice to Tressen Smithe put Mason into a small elite club.

From everything Mason had found out about Tression, it seemed the man was made from luck. At 178 years old, Tressen was alive during the collapse. He would have been a young Psi in his late twenties. Tressen was one of the few telekinetics strong enough keep his brain operational after the body gave up. Mason was also this strong and more.

It's a work in progress. I really shouldn't have started given that I've not finished Demonic Mirror.

It is the top of the list for my next project - I really hope it does take two months like DM has taken so far.

To re-inspire

I'm about to enter the final scene in my short story and was feeling a bit 'meh' about it.  I decided a read through from the beginning was in order.  This has never failed to re-inspire me to write.  The feeling I get is the same as when I'm reading and I need to know whats going to happen next.

Hang on a second - I 'know' whats going to happening next - its my final scene and though I discovery write each chapter, I really know what I'm trying to achieve in that chapter.  So, how is it I have this same feeling?

Because what I'm feeling, is the desire to see how it pan out.  Like re-watching your favorite movie and enjoying it each time. 

So, I spent my whole lunch break reading (7500 words) and not writing, but it was worth it.  

In summary, I'm trying to capture 'awesome' and put it into words.  Wish me luck.

Word creep is a problem.

I wrote another 600 words or so this lunch time, not a bad effort.
There were two notes to my future self to foreshadow some small things, which is more than usual for that many words.

The problem I have is that I'm approximately 7500 words into my 5000 word short story, and I'm guessing I've another 2500 words to go.  Now, I know that I'll trim this down afterwards, but I can not see myself halving this word count.  I 'm guessing at this point that I'll just commit to it being longer than planned and next time keep the scope even tighter.

My protagonist, is currently proactive, but is only now realizing the scope of her problem - boy is she in trouble.

J

BTW: This work was an attempt to have a strong romantic interest, but it got so little air time that it's barely even present.  I'll worry about that once the 1st draft is complete.

Time really is a precious comodity.

Years of having only and hour here and there to write has tought me to make use of it efficiently.
Get the words down, don't go back touch up - just leave a '#' tag and a reminder and keep going.
Only get into plot/archs etc when I don't actually know where my characters are going.

This is grand, but any other efficiency gains at this point is a deminishing returns formula - There's just never enough time to write.

My lunch hour, until a few months ago, was essentially 20 to 30 minutes of actually being productive.  So, I've arranged something magical.  I get into work an hour earlier, and have a two hour lunch break.

Two hours!

This effectively adds an actual full hour to my time making me 3 to 4 times more productive.
I'm getting progress and not falling into the trap of being bored with the story because I can't get past the scene.  More to the point, I'm finishing things.  Its only taken more years of scribbles than I really care to count.

J