Listening

I've been saying less online recently because I'm in one of those phases where I have turned inward. I'm reading a lot, listening a lot, and especially digging into a story. This story is the thing I'm listening to most of all. Where does it need to go? Will it come together?

I tend to find the answers to story problems within the story. External sources can guide or inspire me, but the line I need to follow has to be within the story already; I just have to find the natural extension of it. Anything I impose from the outside looks pasted-on, forced.

However, finding that loose end and recognizing the proper angle of the continuing line is more difficult than one would imagine.

So mostly, at the moment, I'm listening.