A New Idea/Story -

I tried to restart Firestar, I tried 8 times. My hard drive is littered with the attempts. None of them worked.

I came to three possible conclusions about this:

1) my subconscious says I've told that story, and doesn't want to work on it any more.

2) I like the story as it is, and tweaking will or won't help it at all.

3) I started it in the wrong place, and my subsconsious knew it.

Let's look at them in turn.

#1 - it's possible this is true. I rely upon my subconscious a great deal for my writing, and in many cases my "plot outline" consists of some scribbled notes, and I compose as I go, trusting my subconscious to get me where I'm supposed to be. The danger of this is that I'll repeat my self a great deal, and I can wander down long sideroads without getting to the point. This started to happen in Devlin's Story, and a reader brought me up short. I admit working on another story has been refreshing.

#2 - this, also is very likely. I want to cut a bunch out of the story, but I like it too much. Tough love, though. The trouble is, I recognized taht one of the characters in the story is the war itself. And I want to show all of the neat, intricate things that went on. I think I'm a prisoner of everything I've already written. I know I've been corrupted by the Clancy style, multiple stories weaving back and forth like a tapestry to tell a much bigger story.

#3 - this, too, is possible. I started the rewrite with Corey already on the de Ruyter, and went forward from there. Maybe if I started somewhere else... But I want to show how Corey got there, what's made her the person she is at the Battle off Lexeon. I want to show her growth as a commander, and use that to demonstrate how military ability is an innate talent.

So what have I done in the meantime?

I started Engage the Enemy More Closely, aka, Josie Davenport's story. The first chapter is to give a flavor of the Families, and to have a brief fight in which Josie wins a battle.

The second chapter she gets chewed out for not doing more (she achieved her objective). Life sucks sometimes, and for Josie, for underappreciated Josie, it certainly does.

So Chapter 3 she meets Edita Macquarrie, who recalls certain incidents in their past relations. But it ends on an upbeat note as she is put in command of a squadron (the 7th); Part of this is a rehabilitation of Edita Macquarrie, but that's another story.

The rest of the story is already plotted. Josie is present during the Raid on Home, and gets promoted in the general shuffling after that. She has some difficult times (not with Edita) as she is detached and used in an independent manner. But her successes are always cast as somebody else's. This twists her guts until K-303 where there is no doubt how good she is.

And this is downplayed, lost in the "everyone did their part" view. Have to rethink the conclusion I already have.

So that's it at the moment. We'll see where this takes us. I'm going to meet with Ted and talk it over, see what ideas he has. But I'm excited about this one.