Storyteller

I've been working on a short story lately that's just so unruly and unweildy and uncooperative. I have forgotten how brave you must sometimes be when it comes to writing, to trust this character or that one to take you down one path or another -- or even drag you down a dark alley half the time and when they get you behind a dumpster or in a deep doorway, they give you hell, a real whack along side the head, grab your wallet (or pencil or pen or computer), take the story off in some ridiculous direction and you can barely stumble back onto your feet and get out of there and find yourself back in the light.

And you have just written 15 pages you'll have to shred. Thanks. Stupid idiotic characters. Why did you ever trust them at all?

Writing sucks.

I hate it.

And it's great.

And I love it. But I hate it too.

Did I mention I hate it?

So my story started in one place, a woman on her way to work flirting with a guy in a Starbuckian fictional coffee joint, thinking about her boss, trying to figure out what the hell his problem was with the mean way he was treating her, thinking about a new guy she was dating, who liked to be spanked, wondering what the hell her life was about anyway, and the poor woman was having a lot of trouble getting to work on time, as you can imagine.

That was draft one and in draft two, the office and the boss are pretty much almost gone and the story tilts to late night and is all about the dark and dangerous strange Carl who is very intriguing. But now in draft two, Carl has taken over and he's far too dominant. I've had it with him and his health-club-perfect ass that longs to be spanked. He's a jerk. He's getting the boot. He's headed out. I'll have to send him somewhere, like off to Club Med in Hell or something.

And she has a girlfriend at work -- that might be the medicine my story needs -- her girlfriend can keep my heroine's feet on the ground. She needs that kind of help. Girlfriend help. She needs someone to help her regain earthly gravity. Character needs a name though -- I'll call her Renee.