Friday, November 27, 2009

black friday

Here's your Black Friday Blog Special.

And it's all free.

First of all, it's pretty cool that people have actually used the suggestion box to ask questions. So, I am going to quickly answer one that was left for me yesterday: If you're trying to create a story, do you find yourself imagining how others will react to it?

Well... yes and no. I mean, for me, the only thing that matters is how I will react to it. I think I have pretty good taste in fiction, so I try to write for the toughest potential audience member I can think of: me.

That said, once I start something, and although I usually do have a general idea of how it ends in mind, the story and the characters frequently start going off in their own directions. As long as I see their direction as being steerable toward the ending I want to write, then I let them go.

Sometimes, though, they can do some pretty nasty things. Sometimes, they make me uncomfortable. And sometimes I have to rein them in just a little bit.

Okay, now for part 2 of your all-free Black Friday Blog special... here are three of my favorite lines from my recent (SEVENTH) novel (and, no, I am not going to say the title), that I am this close [holds up narrowly-gapped thumb and first finger] to finishing:

Cows don't listen very good.

In eighth grade, Physical Education was far less about fitness than it was about fitting.

"I drive at night. I blow things up."

Don't shop in anger.