I have spent most of this week re-watching Lost. It’s a fascinating TV show to me because so much of it is just the writers winging it - introducing mysteries for the sake of mysteries, resolving some things and giving up on others, making connections between characters to give an air of intrigue even though it often didn’t matter, whole story arcs that seem to just be to pad out a series, and so on. One of the main characters (Jack) was originally supposed to die in the pilot episode, although at least the change was made before it was filmed. Another character, Ben, was only supposed to appear in three episodes, but the producers liked the actor so much that his character becomes a central antagonist. There is so much that is utterly stupid, inconsistent and frustrating about the show, and yet I’m mesmerised by it.
…By which I mean, I haven’t done any writing since Tuesday.
I have two stories in mind for next week, I suppose we’ll see if I end up procrastinating over them. One is for the Fictionistas Prompt of the Month - the story has to involve a slack who steals cats, something beautiful yet useless, and something has to be wrong with the water… In under a thousand words! I have something in mind, though I don’t know how coherent it will be.
My second story involves someone leaving a cult. I have already run into the problem of having too much time to think about it, and thus I yet again find myself worrying “can I do this idea justice?!” I’ll hopefully push through and write it towards the end of the week.
I have read very little this week, and none of it was worth recommending. Now that I’m no longer writing a story a day I’m not sure whether to skip the musings I was doing in my previous Sunday posts, as hopefully going forward my stories will be more polished. I only wrote two stories this week anyway, #36: The Waterfall Sisters and #37: Ancestral Memories, both of which were flash fiction.
I still like the idea of having a weekly reflections post, even if it isn’t about specific stories. This week’s offering is obviously very lacklustre as I’ve mostly taken a rest from writing, but I should be more engaging in the future.
What would you find interesting or valuable in a weekly round-up/reflection post?
"None of it was worth recommending." Ha! That cracked me up. Honestly, I enjoy just getting these musings on stories you're reading, writing, and watching, it's neat to see another author's thought processes for short stories!
I would love to know more about your writing process. What inspires and compels you to write.