The taunting cookie
On Monday night, as I mentioned, I had a meeting with a guy about a thing. I'm being vague until the idea has legs.
The meeting was at the local P. F. Chang's, a moderately expensive Chinese restaurant. (The food was decent, but I doubt I'll be going back anytime soon. There's something to be said for cheap Chinese food.) Since there were three of us, the waiter brought three fortune cookies with the check. Neither of the other two wanted them, so I brought them home.
I offered two to Mike and Amy, and ate one myself. Last night I had another one, since they hadn't been eaten, or even moved from the table, yet. Tonight I had the last one, and this one taunted me with its fortune:
"You are a lover of words, someday you should write a book.
Lucky numbers 10.13,18,31,35,36"
Laying aside the inherent distrust I have for little slips of paper with less than three prime "lucky numbers," this was a message I could not let stand.
"I'll show that little cookie bastard. He won't get the better of me!"
So I sat down to finish Brothers in Bits. I got about 50 words in when Mike and Amy came down to play some Fallout 3. Since the chair I've chosen as my writing chair is in the same room as (and facing) the TV, the difficulty of getting writing done was increased. I put on head phones and turned my music up.
300 words (and a few distractions) laster, it's time for pushups. My writing momentum had been derailed by then anyway, and hasn't come back yet.
I'm torn between a logical solution to the conflict, and a solution that sets up a recurring villain. The first time I tried to end this story, I shoehorned in the recurring villain ending and it just plain didn't work. My first readers all had the same complaint. I don't want to force an ending that doesn't work logically, so I'll probably end up with the logical ending and no recurring villain. We'll see. Maybe my villain is smarter than I think he is. And just like that, while typing out my problem, I thought of a good solution. Thanks internet. You solve everything. :)
The meeting was at the local P. F. Chang's, a moderately expensive Chinese restaurant. (The food was decent, but I doubt I'll be going back anytime soon. There's something to be said for cheap Chinese food.) Since there were three of us, the waiter brought three fortune cookies with the check. Neither of the other two wanted them, so I brought them home.
I offered two to Mike and Amy, and ate one myself. Last night I had another one, since they hadn't been eaten, or even moved from the table, yet. Tonight I had the last one, and this one taunted me with its fortune:
"You are a lover of words, someday you should write a book.
Lucky numbers 10.13,18,31,35,36"
Laying aside the inherent distrust I have for little slips of paper with less than three prime "lucky numbers," this was a message I could not let stand.
"I'll show that little cookie bastard. He won't get the better of me!"
So I sat down to finish Brothers in Bits. I got about 50 words in when Mike and Amy came down to play some Fallout 3. Since the chair I've chosen as my writing chair is in the same room as (and facing) the TV, the difficulty of getting writing done was increased. I put on head phones and turned my music up.
300 words (and a few distractions) laster, it's time for pushups. My writing momentum had been derailed by then anyway, and hasn't come back yet.
I'm torn between a logical solution to the conflict, and a solution that sets up a recurring villain. The first time I tried to end this story, I shoehorned in the recurring villain ending and it just plain didn't work. My first readers all had the same complaint. I don't want to force an ending that doesn't work logically, so I'll probably end up with the logical ending and no recurring villain. We'll see. Maybe my villain is smarter than I think he is. And just like that, while typing out my problem, I thought of a good solution. Thanks internet. You solve everything. :)