Mystical Murder Weapons

Here is my problem when it comes to prep work and anything involving research. I go to look up one thing, and two hours later I'm reading about martyrdom and the Fisher King. That's one of many reasons why it takes me so long to write my blog posts.

I was trying to research the Spear of Longinus (aka the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Lance). I was trying to figure out what happened to Steve to cause him all the trouble he's about to experience. I'm inclined to think that whatever kills him first has something to do with it.

Night of the Living Steve

Oh, Steve. Poor, poor Steve.

I'm going to murder him. Repeatedly.

The question is, of course, why? I can write his unfortunate demise in fifty different ways, but I need some kind of narrative framework to hold it all together. How has Steve found himself in this situation? Why is this happening to him? How is he going to get out?

Previously, I've said, on at least two occasions, that he's been cursed by an angry god. But unless I do some work and really flesh that out into something, it just ends up being "just because." As in, these things are happening to him because it's convenient for the purposes of story writing. It's not a good reason. And a good reason for him getting into this pickle is going to be instrumental in getting him out. I mean, how do you appease an angry god?

Squiggly Lines

Here's what I've been up to lately. I built a fire of creativity, and I stuck every iron I had into it. I have this new story I'm planning for November, and I have at least three old stories I'd like to revise. I have all this stuff, and I'm not really doing anything with anything on a daily basis.

I need to pick one project and go with it. My next NaNo novel is the obvious choice. Everything else can wait until December. Cold Blooded (the vampire one) will probably be the first revision project, because it has the most usable material to work with. After that is done (yes, done, not just half-done and abandoned), then The Long Road (the road trip one) and Cape Nowhere (the Victorian X-Files one) can get their chance.

But in order to make any of these stories really work, I'll need to do some planning.

Mostly Dead

It always happens that I'll be in the midst of one project, and already I'm thinking about the next. At the moment, I'm supposed to be plotting my upcoming NaNo novel, I haven't even started it, and instead I'm thinking about revision.

It's been brought to my attention that my 2016 vampire NaNo novel, Cold Blooded, is not half bad. It's readable, even. So it might be prudent for me to try to revise that one, as opposed to The Long Road, which still needs most of a plot.

Now, I haven't reread Cold Blooded in a while. I'm not sure if I've read it since I finished the first draft. But I remember it being a lot of fun to write. I did a lot of research on vampires in various works of fiction, picking out the attributes that I wanted to use.