I'd
Like to Write This Story...
[Title shamelessly stolen from Zach.]
Brooklynguy has a book idea. I'm not really
revved up about it, but it's doable. Just needs some research and
time and work. I really do think I'd be good at nonfiction.
Sometimes I hit a groove and can explain things in a very understandable
way. Heh and sometimes not.
Oh all the books I have wanted to write...Actually
I have begun one. I started a novel in high school and have added
a chapter here and there over the years. Science fiction murder mystery.
Protagonist is a stellar cruise ship pilot with a lot of dirt and wildness
in her past who is ready to settle down and have a family. Enter
mysterious stranger whose arrival is coincidental to the death of a political
figure on board. The murder ties into a porn/prostitution/sex slavery
ring, well you can see the possibilities. Sad thing is, I'm not particularly
interested in doing it anymore. You have to work out how you are
gonna handle everything, and my tactic so far has been to write whatever
hits my head and then to tie em all in somehow later. So I have lots
of individual scenes throughout the story, but no linkage yet. That
means I have a lotta thinking to do. And not much quiet time to do
it in. Plus, one or two of the chapters truly stink and have to be
rewritten. The part where the heroine and hero find out what the
villain is up to, though, I'd never change a word.
"Write what you know" is a saying that comes round
every now and again. I fall into a trap with that, though.
When I write what I know, too much detail gets in and it becomes tedious.
But I should give it another shot.
I come from the deep rural South. My mother's
family never recovered from the Depression. My father's family was
steeped in motor oil and axle grease. Throw in cotton hoeing and
catfish farming, gang warfare (yes, in rural Mississippi they do have local
groups of the more nationally known gangs), hospital society, good ole
boy politics, tornadoes and floods, rice farming, deer hunting with dogs...well,
there's a lot to work with
Then there's photocopiers, though I'm a bit rusty
now. There was a time that, because I had worked in so many places
with so many different kinds of copier, that I became the local copier
guru. I was the one yelled for to do the toner and unjam the paper
and open and close all the hatches, as well as perform magic tricks with
documents and images. "Write what you know" rather suggested that
I write a book about copiers, with all the little hints and surprises I'd
found out over the years. Dull as toast eh? And only useful
to a small segment of the population. And only interesting to a fraction
of that. So, it didn't come about.
Most everything else I know about has been written
about already, mostly by IDG, makers of those "Dummies" books. So,
guess I'll pick my brain and watch my life for awhile and see if any ideas
pop up.
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