Category: Writing

Poetic License to Kill

That scene I mentioned in yesterday’s entry, the one I was really looking forward to writing? I haven’t gotten there yet. I’ve encountered an obstacle.

Obstacle, thy name is poetry.

In order to get to the site where that scene needs to happen, there’s some travelling to be done by some of the characters. Nothing terribly eventful happens along the way, but rather than simply saying, “and then they went to , an uneventful journey of three days”, I want to use this opportunity to introduce a little of the culture of the region, as well as clue the reader in to the general mood of the travelers as they set out. The vehicle I want to use for this is a song sung by a young girl who’s along for the ride; something a little childish and whimsical, but hinting at some deeper story behind its words.

That’s where the trouble begins: lyrics. Lyrics are poetry, and for some reason my brain just refuses to spit out anything resembling non-limerick, non-parody-of-somebody-else’s-work poetry. Seriously. I try to write a poem that explores the human condition and lays bare my deepest emotions for the world to see, and within three lines I’m looking for a word that rhymes with “Nantucket”.

There’s no reason this poem/song needs to be there. It’s in no way critical to the plot or story, but now that the idea’s in my head I really want it to work out. Those little glimpses into a larger world are what separate my favorite works of fantasy from the more generic.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a long couple of days as I spend what writing time I have staring at a blinking cursor trying to find a reasonable middle ground between “There was a young lady from Exeter” and some inadvertant ripoff of Tolkien’s “The Road Goes Ever On”.

(The “Exeter” reference, for those who raised an eyebrow in befuddlement on reading it, is from a limerick:

There was a young lady from Exeter,
So pretty the men craned their necks at her.
One was even so brave
As to take out and wave
The distinguishng mark of his sex at her. )

Checking In

Over the past month I’ve been dealing with a new job where internet connections are closely monitored (so no blog or forum posting from work), a dead PC whose replacement parts never seem to want to work together, and various other distractions, so there’s been little time and/or inspiration to add any updates here.

I’ve been learning the ins and outs of Microsoft’s .NET 2.0 lately, and tinkering a bit with the ATLAS libraries as well. I’m using both at the office now and am gradually working on moving the family web site over into 2.0 with a few changes along the way to take advantage of new features like master pages and menu controls. Watch for it… oh, I dunno… eventually. In the meantime, take a look at the recently reorganized and expanded Susan’s Art Gallery page.

While I haven’t been blogging, I have been writing. Not a lot, but I’ve made more progress on my work-in-progress in the last three weeks than I did over the preceeding several months. I found a way to make a tedious-but-necessary part of the story much more interesting and fulfilling, and in getting through that I’ve now gotten to a scene I’ve been eager to write – and not just because it involves naked people. With luck, I’ll be able to crank through that over the next couple of days. This book may actually get written if I keep this up!