I am determined

to write more. And if my stories are going nowhere--which, to a page, they are--I shall write on my blog! This, at least, requires little coherence.

I like my stories. I really, really do. I like spinning them. I like inventing characters for them. I like trying to challenge myself to write different characters. There's one, who is mostly just chilling in my mind, but spilling over a little bit to my computer, who is as nearly silent as I can possibly make him. First time I've ever deliberately made a character who did not talk his head off. Usually, I have a fair idea of where a story starts, what'll happen in the middle (a vaguer idea there, admittedly) and every once in a while, a good idea of how it will end. The people are easy. The story line isn't too difficult. It's the individual scenes that have me wandering in circles, muttering "And then she says...what? He says, 'oh yeah?' and then she says....what?" (Yes, that is how the creative process goes. In circles, muttering. Yes, it resembles insanity. No, they're not always the same thing.)

I find my favorite story ideas are the ones that stick with me, long after I've abandoned the original writing project, long after I've told myself there's no story there. The characters stay, for years and years, changing, growing, meeting new people, rewriting endings, discarding and acquiring characteristics. All in my head. Sometimes this leads to staring vacantly into the distance, but not always.

I have many favorites. One of my old favorites is the cop story I've had bouncing around for....two years? Three? I'm bad with dates. Another is the war story that is definitely shelved, but has remained comfortably on a mental shelf for four years. And once in a while, I dredge up the truly ancient stories, the ones from six and seven years ago, the ones that, were they to take human form, would be doddering simpletons. But they had some nice things. Like names. I tend to be consistent about the names I like.

Archie Devereaux is a name I used quite a while ago. That one needs to make a reappearance. And though it is imbued, for me, with the character of its original owner (with the character of its character), Michael Holbeton. I still like that one.

I have written.