The Blue Alfa

That's the title of novel #4. And I'm happy to report that I actually have more than a title written down for my newest story. I've written 27 pages over the last two days, and I expect to get more done later today. It's much harder than I recall it being to jump into a brand-new story. Or maybe this one is just harder to write.

I am fairly confident that I have most of the pieces in place for this novel, but there are a few things - some minor, some major - that I'm adopting a wait-and-see approach on. I'm not much of a pre-planner when I write. Some of my previous work has been completely seat-of-the-pants for the first draft and some has been more explicitly planned out. The Blue Alfa is somewhere in between. I remember hearing someone say somewhere that the first draft of a story is best known as a "vomit draft." Pardon the imagery, but basically you get it all out of your system. Then, once you're through with the purge, you go through the mess and decide what stays and what doesn't.

I had breakfast with my friend Todd this morning, and as I explained to him, I'm going to write as much as I can of this story until I get to a part that I haven't figured out yet. Then I'll have to make a decision. (You should note that since Todd and I were eating, I left out the reference to this being a "vomit draft.")

Despite the struggles and the frustrating periods of time where I just stare at the computer screen and what my characters should be saying or doing...I'm having a good time. My biggest concern right now is that there's too much dialogue. I frequently stop and try to figure out if I could replace dialogue with action to make the story a bit more balanced, but I realized that I can't right now. Or at least, considering this is a rough, rough first draft, I don't need to. Let's see if the story even holds together.

On a completely random note, I drove by Culver's just now to get a Lemon Ice cooler, my favorite treat from there. It was supposed to be a small reward for all the progress I've made during this writing week. They don't have it! It's a "summer" item. Now I'm mad. I'll just have to vent through the villain in my story.