I have the basic idea of what the characters are trying to tell me in my head, but when it comes time to actually putting some order to the mess well, putt—putt, plllllttttt story inturuptous.
Pantser it? Yeah, I’ve considered that, but this story is already kind of a mess in my head, I can only imagine what would end up on the page without a little direction. ;)
Just this morning I had a blip of a scene jump into my head for this story, check it out…
(No kidding, this is exactly what came to me…all dialogue)
“Dang Billy, why the hell did you drag me out in this crap-assed weather?”
“It’s only a little rain, dude, besides you have to see this.”
“It’s a deluge.”
“It’s a dribble, Buck, now shut up and look.”
“It’s a fucking downpour, numb-nuts, nothing worth seeing in a—is that a…”
“You see it?”
“Um, yeah, I think…effing A, man, is that a…”
“Mermaid.”
“Nice rack!”
Now, as I read it, it really is useless…two human buddies gawking at the topless mermaid. How does that fit into the story? I tried to dismiss it and move on with other things, but no such luck. It sat there; clogging up the old noodle until I finally just typed it out and shoved it in the Dragon file…maybe someday, more will come to me to add to it.
So, does anyone else have crazy story snippets that won’t leave them be? Also, how do you whip a story into plotting mode if it’s resisting?
