I was so stuck on 23 for a while, after it was getting worse since my last post about it. It was to the point of trying to swim in cured cement--not happening.
I started over. It took some stepping back, but that's what the story needed. Within two days, I had over 2,000 words on it. The last few days, I was a bit busy and writing slowed a little, but right now it's around 4,000 and a much better opening. It'll keep some elements but is much closer to what I had in mind in my original notes.
You can't force a story. It has be feel natural for the setting and characters, although it's not about feeling. The creativity is a bit of... exaggerated parts of oneself, sometimes grotesquely exaggerated as to be pretty much something else, but it all comes from within and what we've absorbed of other stories, other books, our culture, etc.
I feel much better about this opening, because the other was missing that hook or mystery and then I just couldn't give some of it enough of a reason for happening. It was forced and I could feel that too. That's why I got stuck at 10K words.
I would rather it take a bit longer to write the right book for the series than try to force myself to write words that didn't fit the pieces.
Anyway, it's moving along very well. It was a rough start the first time, but this time, it's flowing easily, like it should.
And here's the old man. He still has what I call his bracelet from the vet when he had his teeth cleaned a short while ago:
He's losing weight, but in his old age, he's sleeping a lot and not eating as much as he needs to. It's especially tough because he has to be on a super special diet or bad things happen. On the good side, he's not acting quite so odd like he has dementia. He's back to being more of himself. I'll take what I can get, because I would bet, from my experience, that he won't make it to sixteen. I'll enjoy what time we have left together.
God bless!
