The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction needs to be credible.
Mark Twain
I am my own worst enemy in many ways. Many, many ways. I guess I could put all of them on the list of things to cover, but for now I’m focusing on the one that matters specifically for this site – my inability to get past myself to write.
“But ThemeAttic,” you say, “haven’t you written multiple drafts of multiple stories? Isn’t that getting past yourself and writing?”
Ah, if only.
Are any of those published? Have any of them made their way to something approaching a final draft? Clearly not. And why is that? A combination of things, certainly, but a big one is the overbearing need to have everything make sense. Every time I go over my work there’s some new loose thread I find, some comment made on page 10 that means something at the midpoint shouldn’t have happened the way it did which means the climax was built on a house of cards and discerning readers will see right through it. It’s a paranoia of sorts, and one that’s held me back for years. Decades, really. And continues to do so.
This deep-seeded story OCD gets me burned out and leads to me not spending the time I need to get past it, which just keeps me there longer and on we go in the perpetual cycle of repetition. It sucks. But, it leads to the question – can I fix it? Or, rather, is this something that I should even be trying to fix?
As much as I hate to say it, I think the answer to both questions is an emphatic “No.” Story cohesion is not only vital, I don’t think I could ever convince myself to give up that side of me. I wrote in the past how there are some necessary evils I just have to accept about myself, and this is one of them. Which, in turn, leads me once more back to the answer. The same answer I keep running into, the same one I keep bringing up, and the same one that I keep flubbing. Time. It needs more time. All of it. If I’m going to have to deal with this level of self-nitpicking, I’m going to have to allow for that time. Set it aside. Foster it. I’m just going to have to win.
So, back we go. Back to the public goals and weekly check-ins. I started all of this with an eye on publishing, and if I keep doing what I’ve been doing then this has all been for naught and I’ve just been leading all you lovely Dwellers along in circles. That’s not me, so back to putting up or shutting up. Let’s do this.
June is a bit of a mess for goals – most of my weekends are / have been booked solid and I both have and will later spend a lot of time out of the city, so it’s hard to accurately get things assessed. But, I mean, when has that stopped me before? Also, to spare you from all the personal garbage I put on normal goal lists, this one will be exclusive to writing. I’ve got 64 non-writing goals for the month (Gee, I wonder what the problem is when it comes to time?), but they don’t matter here.
Without further ado, the goals for 6.10 – 6.16
- Residuum
- Polish up the new ending of Chapter 9.
- Completely rewrite Chapter 10 in the new direction.
- Catalyst
- Decide on whether Kahs is appearing in book one.
- Generic outline for the first quarter (Up through the First Plot Point)
- Project CT (A new game project I’m working on designing and writing for)
- Finish the first basic play rules.
- Finish and print the PnP cards for local sessions.
- ThemeAttic
- Create a logo.
- Compile a list of at least 10 audience expansion ideas.
- Start fleshing out at least one of those.
This will undoubtedly end up being a LOT, but whatever. Go big or go home. I’m behind enough as it is, might as well start with a big step forward.
Until next week!
Themeattics 