Into the deep dark uglies

I just erased everything I wrote yesterday, because it was crap, and to quote the great Ira Glass on storytelling, "not enough gets said about abandoning crap."

I'm not down about it, though, because I realized I had a new story, and I wrote an entire scene bringing in a character from an old story. He did not belong there but clearly I was lonely for him!

So maybe I haven't spent enough time thinking through the new story, called Red Shoes for a Beautiful Heart. I visit a few writing blogs, hoping someone will tell me either a) what the hell is wrong with me, b) the first line to the next scene, or c) something so profound and meaningful about writing and my new story in particular that a fire is lit under my ass and my fingers take off across the keyboard like startled blackbirds in flight.

Happily, I can report the winner is c. First I listened to several youtube videos about storytelling by Ira Glass and Scott Simon, made notes to myself about using vivid details and such; made a post-it note for the wall that said, "the story should have a point" (good to remember). Then I visited Writer Unboxed and read an article by Donald Maass about using fear.

Okay, the problem with using fear and putting characters in fearful situations is since I am living in the character's head, my stomach can spend months in knots, suffering along with; and since we are talking about internal conflict and internal fears, these are even worse. I mean, sure you can be afraid of a man with a gun jumping out of the alleyway, but really, what's worse- making your character face their deepest fears, make him see the worst in himself, and try to fix it, or the man with the gun? I'd take the gun in a New York minute.

Oh, wait! Hold the presses! Making a character face what he fears most about himself is not the same thing as making the writer face the worst in herself! This is fiction, damnit! Third fucking person! Yipee! Oh, God, that was exhausting. Now I think I need a nap before I slouch toward the chair to begin again.