Essays

A Story from Scratch, Act Two

September 15th, 2011

Note:  At the moment I’m writing this, my neck hurts like all-get-out.  Yesterday I was driving northbound on Interstate Five, when a driver two lanes to my right hit his brakes on wet pavement, spun 180 degrees and slid to the left, then continued southbound into north-bound traffic, and collided with me head-on.  My pick up truck is trashed.  Totaled.  Not a great day.  That’s a strange comfort about writing...

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A Story from Scratch, Act Three

September 15th, 2011

Note:  To date, we’ve established the three human characters, plus the dog and tennis ball.  We’ve established the narrator’s motivation: to win Jenny’s affection.  We’ve created the obstacle of Hank, and the counter-motive of the tennis ball… which wants to retrieve some gold coins and do – something unknown with them.  At this point, the narrator has stolen the gold and is fleeing with it, trying to escape the tennis ball.

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