Fine. We'll do it the hard way.

[evil_whimsey]

Right. So. Long story short, I have a horrible case of writing block, going on two months. The kind where I can't open any story folders without being overcome by a screaming case of the fantods. And I'm pretty much out of safe, legal forms of distraction from the condition

Comments

[fpb]

Do the lead characters have romantic links? Could any of them go off the boil, causing ongoing problems that would reflect on the story? Or would any of the persons involved have ties with whatever opposition exists, and danger of split loyalties? What about family ties? that is always the worst source of complications in real life, apart from money. (And yes, what about money?)

[evil_whimsey]

Have you ever had that moment where someone says something so basic and perfectly down-to-earth, that it suddenly makes you realize you've had your head stuck up somewhere in the Crab Nebula looking desperately for quasars, all this time?

Yes, I do have to thank you for this one, sir. It's just....brilliant. Split loyalties. Family ties. Money. Wow, I'm not sure I ever consider how much energy those things can generate, in the fundamental physics of stories (which yes it's silly, because hello Dramatic Plots 101, but my thought process is quite often rocket-propulsion-before-the-horse. Things often get overlooked.)

Hmm. New toys to break! Okay, I need to think.

[fpb]

Delighted. I mean it.
Have you ever had that moment where someone says something so basic and perfectly down-to-earth, that it suddenly makes you realize you've had your head stuck up somewhere in the Crab Nebula looking desperately for quasars, all this time?
Yes. The time that always comes to mind was when I was explaining to my father (who has a degree in Mathematics and Statistics and no great knowledge of comparative religion or anthropology) why the Roman god Quirinus had to be understood as a god of wheat, and as a god of human society as a whole. My father said something like, "I see, and of course, raising wheat is a very social activity indeed." Cue lightbulb.