*puts on writer hat* *puts out an APB for Muse*

[icepixie]

Unlike many writers--if the massive amount of story prompt (often with an opening sentence) books/websites/what-have-yous out there are to be believed--I have no trouble getting a piece started. I have approximately eight billion files with just a few opening sentences in them. My problem is going somewhere with that opening bit. (This actually ties into a post/poll I plan to make soon, covering some, but not all, of the same ground as this poll and discussion from last summer.)

So for this one, I turn to you, gentle flist. I have the following passage. Tell me what to do with it.


The bit of snow that fell last night dusted the surface of the world: dark-shingled roofs, the tips of still-green blades of grass, the jagged remnants of cornstalks which had been threshed three weeks ago. The cold hit us with the bitterness that only the first snow of winter can have; the cruel unexpectedness of it after eight months without burned in our lungs. Even the sun seemed frozen in the sky that afternoon, none of the heat that had been so oppressive in the summer reaching us now.

Jim and I sat on the old trestle bridge, our legs hanging off the edge, watching the sluggish progress of the Bird River twenty feet below. In another month, there would be days and weeks where it would freeze solid.


Who are these people? Why are they sitting on a bridge (one very familiar to certain people, I'm sure ;)) in November, freezing their butts off? I honestly have no idea, and I have no clue where to go with it. I think this is why I usually stick to writing poetry.

(Incidentally, this is an excellent example of what I'm talking about in the post linked above, about how setting usually shows up first in the writing process for me.)

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely start! You should definitely continue with it, even if you don't feel like you know where it's going. Sometimes, the only way to find out (and the only way to get the neurons firing so that things will start to come together) is just to keep going and see what happens next, even if it's only a few paragraphs at a time. They'll tell you who they are, and they'll tell you their story, if you let them :)

[icepixie]

Thanks. :)

Yeah, sometimes they talk by themselves (or, as I certainly learned in fiction classes, sometimes you make them talk ;)), but...these aren't. And I'm getting to the stage where blood is starting to come out my forehead when I stare at the computer screen. *g* Just kind of looking for a kickstart here, to see if it takes me anywhere interesting.

Eh, I'll poke at it some more. I really like the bridge and cornfields in winter, and I sort of don't want to sully them with characters, actually. *g* Hmmm...

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I sort of don't want to sully them with characters, actually.


Hee! You haven't seen "Paradise Towers" lately, have you? (Seventh Doctor and Mel) Your comment reminds me of it, a bit :)

[icepixie]

Noooo...is there a particular reason? :)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Of course--but if I tell you, it'll ruin that particular story for you, and since it's one of the better Seven stories, that'd be a pity :)

[icepixie]

To be honest, I was actually planning to avoid all stories involving Mel...

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Well, that's understandable, though you won't quite understand why everyone hates her SO much ;) And seriously, PT is a great story, if a bit more campily executed than it deserved. Richard Briers is in it, along with one of the sisters from Keeping Up Appearances, for whatever that does for you.

[icepixie]

though you won't quite understand why everyone hates her SO much ;)

Something about carrot juice and screaming? I think I could live without that in my life...

Richard Briers is in it, along with one of the sisters from Keeping Up Appearances, for whatever that does for you.

Well, if I knew them at all... ;) DW is only the second British series I've ever gotten into, the first being The Avengers</i. (particularly the Diana Rigg years). And a certain amount of Monty Python and Wallace & Gromit, I suppose, which mostly count.

[icepixie]

Apparently half that comment got lost. Recreated:

DW is only the second British series I've ever gotten into, the first being The Avengers(particularly the Diana Rigg years). And a certain amount of Monty Python and Wallace & Gromit, I suppose, which mostly count.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I got the whole thing via email :)

Something about carrot juice and screaming? I think I could live without that in my life...

Knowing that Mel screams is not at all the same as having experienced it yourself. Trust me on this. Failing to witness it leaves a gap in your DW literacy that cannot be filled by reading/hearing about it. :)

Well, if I knew them at all... ;)

If you haven't seen Richard Briers (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0001972/) somewhere, I will honestly faint. He's done quite a lot of stuff, and not all on British telly. If you've seen, for instance, Ken Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing or Henry V, you've seen him.

[icepixie]

Failing to witness it leaves a gap in your DW literacy that cannot be filled by reading/hearing about it. :)

And yet there are some gaps in my knowledge I'm really okay with having... *g*

Richard Briers: I have seen part of Henry V (back in high school), but all I remember about it is the St. Crispin's Day speech. Haven't seen anything else with this guy in it.

I'm hopelessly film-illiterate, I know.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

there are some gaps in my knowledge I'm really okay with having... *g*

Ah well. You'll never truly be able to participate in a good round of Mel-bashing, which is the reward for having suffered through her in the first place, but...suit yourself :)

Haven't seen anything else with this guy in it.

I...I am just gobsmacked. How is that possible?? Go thou and get both films--they're fabulous!

[icepixie]

You'll never truly be able to participate in a good round of Mel-bashing, which is the reward for having suffered through her in the first place, but...suit yourself :)

Sounds okay to me! *g*

I...I am just gobsmacked. How is that possible?? Go thou and get both films--they're fabulous!

I'll see about Henry V (I wrote a paper on it junior year; probably I should see the film for completeness's sake), although Much Ado does very little for me. *shrug*

[serendipityxxi.livejournal.com]

I often find myself with this same problem, I'll have a great start, be all excited about it and then have no idea where to take it. I also get random sentences that don't fit into anything I'm writing at the moment. I keep em all in a file and years down the line I'll write something they'd be perfect in and incorporate them. I figure one day I'll actually have a whole story that way *L*

As for the people on the bridge freezing their butt off, sounds like they need some privacy and are avoiding a conversation they'd rather not have judging by staring at the landscape.

I agree with the suggestion, just sit down and write, doesn't matter if its good or if it makes sense sometimes you can get the story the characters are trying to tell you by just typing.

[icepixie]

I figure one day I'll actually have a whole story that way

Hee! If mine had anything to do with each other, I'd be on that same road.

As for the people on the bridge freezing their butt off, sounds like they need some privacy and are avoiding a conversation they'd rather not have judging by staring at the landscape.

I'm kind of getting a breakup-conversation vibe from them. But I honestly have no desire to write that story. Mrmph.

I agree with the suggestion, just sit down and write, doesn't matter if its good or if it makes sense sometimes you can get the story the characters are trying to tell you by just typing.

You know, I wonder if my absolute necessity to be able to hear/visualize everything before I type it out (well, up to about the length of a clause) is really hindering me in these types of situations. Although I'm not sure how "just typing" would work without that mental process...I am so not explaining this well.

[serendipityxxi.livejournal.com]

See none of mine seem to have anything to do w/ each other and then all of a sudden something clicks I can see how they'd all fit so well together!

Breakup convos are hard, maybe not a break up but a hiatus convo? :)

See it's more along the lines of typing what u think should happen until u get the characters so annoyed with you that they start telling you what really should be happening. It's hard to do, which is why I rarely do it but I've accomplished it a few times and been kinda pleased w/ what's come out of basically babbling in text.

[icepixie]

Breakup convos are hard, maybe not a break up but a hiatus convo? :)

Maybe...

See it's more along the lines of typing what u think should happen until u get the characters so annoyed with you that they start telling you what really should be happening.

Interesting. The only thing I think should happen here is that the characters say, "Jesus, it's freezing! What the hell are we doing out here?" and go home. *g*

[serendipityxxi.livejournal.com]

Maybe after the hiatus convo? *G*
End it on a high note where they're not upset w/ each other but parting amicably so they can joke about the cold and go home *G*

[elflore.livejournal.com]

I definitely have the same thing often...I have tons of story ideas and starters and snatches of dialogue written down, but hammering those out into a full plot can be tricky.

As for this scene...it feels like a great opening for a novel to me, about the winter. The line about the river, 'days and weeks to come where it would freeze solid' is gorgeously atmospheric and provocative, and suggests to me that their lives are heading into an angsty place, a place where things they wanted, dreams they were trying to make happen, will have the breaks put on big time. Maybe these are two kids that had been planning on getting out of their small town and going to college, only for finances or family obligations to conspire to keep them at home, so they're left with a winter or a year figuring out who they're going to be now...

That's where my brain started walking when you set down this map. *g*

[icepixie]

Down with plot! Silly plot. *g*

dreams they were trying to make happen, will have the breaks put on big time. Maybe these are two kids that had been planning on getting out of their small town and going to college, only for finances or family obligations to conspire to keep them at home, so they're left with a winter or a year figuring out who they're going to be now...

Ooooh, interesting. That's something I don't think I would ever have thought of (possibly because this bridge and river are drawn from the ones at Kenyon). I was going down the personal-relationship-troubles road, which feels so tired and overused to me.

Thanks!

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Let's not go to WriteAPlot, 'tis a silly place...

But you're welcome. *g*

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

Who are these people?

Dunno, but they sure HATE WINTER. Gee, wonder why? ; )

So, what I'm getting from this is, something's coming, something that they've seen coming for a long time, and they're dreading it. Kinda like the anti-Christmas or something. Why that would drive them to sit on a bridge, I have no idea. Personally I think a cramped little "Waaah, our relationship is tanking" direction would be a bad one to take, here. This seems more like a community thing.

Um, so that was basically no help. Sorry, I tried.

[icepixie]

Dunno, but they sure HATE WINTER.

Strange, isn't it? ;)

Um, so that was basically no help. Sorry, I tried.

No, it was helpful! I hadn't thought of having it encompass more than these two people, really. And heh, anti-Christmas.

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

And heh, anti-Christmas.

Your mom is the anti-Hannukah.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

I like the passage, but I have no idea where to go with it. Well, other than random and bizarre, which doesn't fit the mood. If they're not talking to you, let them sit. Tell them they can continue freezing their butts off or they can talk to you and maybe you can get them inside with some hot cocoa.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Oh! Maybe you can write something about your personality going good cop bad cop on them? Crack might get some muse talking.

Heh, ignore me. :)

[icepixie]

Oooh, crack. *goes off to force crack on Muse*

[icepixie]

Tell them they can continue freezing their butts off or they can talk to you and maybe you can get them inside with some hot cocoa.

Hey, there's a thought. I can get all Waiting for Godot and just have them sit there for a while and then leave.