Introduction to “Figment”

The project: 10-12,000 words a month. Four chapters split into 3000 word sections.  No outlines, except for chapter titles and the main character’s name.

The goal is to get to a point where I’m comfortable with the discipline of writing.

And it’s harder than I thought.

“Figment” is a back-up story.  This was supposed to be the intro for my Dan Brown-esque “Return of Pan,” but that story stalled after 3000 words and I just couldn’t get into it.  So, for the first time since I started this project last September, I gave up and moved on.  There’s no time to stall, really.  That’s also part of the discipline.  Don’t get mired in minutiae, and don’t get snowed under by negative thinking.

The idea for “Figment” came while I was in the mire.  About 500 hurriedly scribbled words, A Boy and His Dog sort of head-talk conversation.  Most of it still survives in part one, posting next week.  I jumped ship and got to work. Though, still, slow moving.  I write this as part four of “Frozen” posts, and I’m only halfway through “Figment.”  Part of the thrill with this sort of free-form writing is that I have no idea how it ends.  I don’t even try to write towards that goal.  It simply has to end somewhere betwene ten and twelve thousand words, and that’s the only end of the line goal I allow. That also makes it hard to write an intro, so… Well, fuck it.  See you next week for part one of “Figment.”