Fear is the motivator

I do call this a writing blog and myself a writer, but of late (okay, most of the past year) I haven't been actually writing much.  So I joined the McKoala challenge this year.  Now fear movtivates me--pure adrenaline rush and fear!  [see previous post] If properly motivated, I should be able to bang out the short story a month the cruel Koala demands.  (Well, I can make the 4k requirement, anyhow.)

So, with sharp marsupial claws in mind, I picked up The Magus of Athlinar, decided I didn't wanna, and opened up The Redemption, a high fantasy that I set aside over a year ago.  I keep getting stuck on this one, mostly because I based it originally on a scene I had planned for an epic fantasy series I've been thinking about for at least 30 years.

However, as usually happens when you start in the middle of a plot AND you're a seat-of-the-pants writer like moi, you don't get what you were thinking for the arc; you get what the new story demands. 

So I had to set this baby aside until I could think of it as it's own individual story with no requirement of being true to the original arc and idea.

Oddly, the approximate 4800 word starting word count has already decreased to 4438.  I'm slashing the beginning at the moment, and will slash a bunch of the existing text before I move on.  There's too much.  I've also gone back to the original opening, which omits a lot of stuff. 

My mantra for today is "when in doubt, throw it out."  Doesn't seem to be hurting this piece at all.  And while the opening isn't that great at the moment, it's better than it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the halls of the Emperor’s Flower Court the Imperial Consort walked, her figure cloaked in yards of pale and drifting silk so that she appeared a willowy cloud. Not even the toe of a slipper was visible as she progressed, nor the soft petals of her fingers. She was the White Lady, and to look upon her was dangerous to mortal eyes.  Had she not cracked the earth so it swallowed an army? Did she not command the winds and the waters and thus kept the bloody barbarians at bay in the recent wars?

Voices stilled and heads bowed as the White Lady passed through the Lower Courts.  These were the petitioners--guildsmen, smallholders, and peasantry--their eyes filled by the glint of starsteel weaponry and bloody reflections cast by the crimson breastplates of the Emperor’s personal guard.  Behind them, she felt the weight of gazes, of speculation.  There would be whispers, and, no matter the outcome of this meeting, that was good.

Enshrined in her veil, the Lady in no wise acknowledged her surroundings. They could never know or even guess the truth of the situation:  Their great Lady and symbol of the Goddess' approval and protection was an accident and a lie.

[Yes, that 2nd paragraph has continuity issues, has vague references and is not working to say what I want.  I'm struggling with it.]

Comments

[G]

Fear is a great motivator to do writing.

Interesting concept. I think what motivates me is not fear, but leaving stuff undone. My current WiP is about 75% finished, and I've been doing everything esle but work on it for the past two weeks or so.

Fortunately, since I got the long MLK holiday weekend, I plan on sitting my my butt down, whipping out my Dragon software, and getting the damn thing completed. I believe once I get it completed, I'll be able work on a few other partially started things that have been gathering dust for the past three or four months waiting for me to come back.

[writtenwyrdd]

Actually, I was being flippant, G. It's more that we are committing to a certain amount of writing and will be ridiculed by our friends if we fail to come up to scratch.

[G]

And yes, this proves once again the inability of yours truly to tell whether or not someone is being serious....:D

Committment is good....so long as you aren't being committed to somewhere...:D

Sorry, just having one of those afternoons....I have a tendency to get a little bit goofy on the weekends...

[writtenwyrdd]

Nothing to apologize for. Written language tends to lose snide, ironical or other snarky cues, doesn't it?

[G]

And how...I saw a small blurb on Fox News this morning about some guy who invented a new punctuation mark for sarcasm.

It only costs a $1.99 to download, and he even made a promotional video for it.

[writtenwyrdd]

That's genius! Why didn't I think of that? The guy'll make millions! (sarcasm) ;)

[Bernita]

Think I remember this lovely entrance. Shouldn't say it, but I liked its vivid richness better before you slashed it.

[writtenwyrdd]

I did too bernita, but keeping it to short story length...it needs clipping.