Too Much Caffeine = Dead Characters

Too much caffeine and sugar is a bad thing for me when trying to sort through the next steps of a plot... I start killing off the good guys. That's what happened yesterday. With half my department gone at work I was bored to tears which led to copious amounts of soda and chocolate. Then I tried to distract myself by working on my latest story. What I come up with is:

1. The death of the bad guy is not the final climax. Oh no, he's just a puppet for a bigger bad guy.
2. In the fight against the bigger bad guy, he doesn't die but one of the good guys does. I'm talking something along the lines of a nuclear explosion and mental breakdown for more than one character.
3. What started as a total red herring has turned into the addition of another god in my little fantasy world. Perhaps not such a bad thing since I've also been killing off the existing gods. They keep insisting on being noble, even if they aren't good.
4. In relation to #3, the prospect of a whole new generation of gods is being proposed. My characters aren't sure they like this idea so much. They're arguing.
5. How big of a piece of precious gem stone would be needed to create a dagger blade and how much would said blade be worth on the black market?

Rereading those notes today, all I can say is wow. My plan for this weekend was to add a couple more chapters to this particular story but I really need to rethink all of this. I'm off to the bookstore and coffee shop. Heh.

SK

Remember

I just have to get this out… I HATE BEING SICK! For most of the past week I have been reduced to watching movies and blowing my vacation time from work. I tried writing pages… I really did… but it’s hard to lose yourself in another world when you can’t breathe or swallow properly in this one. Thank you and back to your regularly scheduled program.

This weekend gave me another reminder that I’m getting older and need to move it on following my dreams. There are many of them but of course this blog is about one in particular. What happened? Another of my nieces graduated from high school. That’s four out of the six who are supposedly all grown up (yep, I have my doubts on that score occasionally), and number five will be next year. Also next year number two will be getting married. While their parents are a good bit older than me, it still reminds me that the years are passing. I am very proud of the girls, though, and do everything I can to encourage them to follow their dreams and not regret their choices. At their age, I was terrified to do so and now regret failing to make choices. I was one of those shy young women who just let life happen. That’s my regret and it’s one I will be bluntly honest with the girls about, whether my siblings want me to or not.

This being Memorial Day, I have two more statements to make.

First, thank you to all the soldiers out there doing their jobs for the rest of us. Some are putting their lives on the line, facing deadly situations daily. Others may not be physically threatened but no less sacrificing and important. You won’t find me talking politics much here just because I don’t like it. I’ve formally studied history and political science so I’ve researched many situations where politics has been disastrous to those not making the decisions. Regardless how we got where we are today, we are here and we need to deal with it. I may not always agree with the decision makers but that doesn’t mean I don’t support those making things happen. Thank you.

Second, my thoughts go to those close to us that we have lost. In a few months, it will be ten years since we lost my mother to cancer. I don’t deny that we had our disagreements but I still miss her. There have been others I personally have lost of course but losing Mom seems to be the worst. I suppose it’s the little girl in me.

Remember those who have gone before us and those still here but losing their loved ones. Just last night more storms came through the Midwest and killed people not far from where I have family and friends. The pictures on TV this morning are devastating. Light a candle, say a prayer, whatever works for you. Just remember.
SK

Werehorse

I'm still on my military special ops kick for heroes but it's starting to morph into the fantasy realm. I always intended for this to happen but was afraid I'd have to force it. Nope. These guys are morphing quite nicely on their own.

The current troupe are taking on werewolf and other predatory type animals which got me to thinking of other possibilities. Someone related my boys to horses today... and not for the first time. So what would a werehorse be like? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one.

I'm also thinking squirrels. I don't know if this is a unique phenomenon to the Midwest, but we have ninja squirrels around here. High flying, wall walking ninja squirrels.

SK

Talking to Myself

I was on my way to get coffee today and evidently my department head was watching out his window as I headed down the skywalk. Later he asked me if I was singing or having a conversation with myself. It took me a minute to realize I had been talking through some dialogue for the story I'm currently working on at the time he saw me. Thinking back, I now realize I do this a lot. The stories are a constant in my brain that I have to consciously block out when I need to do something else. One might say my imaginary friends are with me always. So nice not to be alone, isn't it?

Do any of you walk around talking to your characters?

SK

Stagnant

Have you ever wondered about where the world is heading? Perhaps it's my degree in history, but as I watch the news and History Channel I keep thinking about how things repeat. If I think about it enough, seems like the world has gone stagnant. We're stuck in a rut and repeating ourselves. At least that's what I think especially during political commercials. I'm all about democracy but I hate election years just because of the commercials.

But all this got me going on a plot line to stretch between several books percolating in my brain. I've had many of the main characters for these books for a while as well as the relationships between them. I knew they all were the same world and connected but I didn't know what would be the plot that tied them together. Now I do.

The powers that created this world (insert religious warfare here) come back around to find their creation stuck. Who better to give the world a swift kick in the rear? Here comes the gibbering prophecy and weird powers to wake everyone up to the next stage of evolution. We have drugs amped with supernatural blood and a vampire terrorist torturing an unassuming computer security specialist for the information crossing his desk. Bring in the military special ops boys to save the day and get their brains twisted too.

Thank one of my coworkers for the military angle. He's ex-Navy and lets me pick his brain for information. Over the years I've known the occasional college ROTC or former something or other who tried it, put in minimum time, and got out. He's the only one I know who spent any length of time in armed services and he has some of the best stories. Drunk Marines backing down from a SEAL no bigger than me. Red kangaroos showing up on a missile launcher. Fabulous stories that make the rest of our coworkers leave us alone. Huh. Wonder why that would be. :)

So I put a scenario in front of him. Take this big bad military dude, put him in a desert, have a spell caster drop an ice storm on him. What would he do? The response was find shelter, take inventory of what he has, get the hell out. Once out, find a beer and a steak then figure out how to find the SOB who did it and mess him up. I would so love to actually meet such a guy just to see how he would act and react. Have I ever mentioned all those lovely psychology classes I took way back when?

Keep reading and let me know what you're thinking about.

SK