Fuzzy Beginnings

Well, either I'm feeling a lot better or I've maxed out on even my sloth tolerance level because I'm all revved up today. I want to be Efficient! And take Action! I want to do my taxes, write, and put on the biohazard suit and clean out my refrigerator!

We'll see how long this lasts.

I finally watched my tape of the Colour of Magic miniseries. It was surprisingly faithful to the books in that it followed essentially the same plot and had most of the same scenes, with a few notable exceptions. But they cut out my favorite part, which I'd been looking forward to seeing acted out. It's the part where the druids were building their "Stonehenge" thing, and they were referring to it as a computer, so the guys putting up the stones were the computer hardware engineers and the guys doing the chanting and sacrificing were software engineers, and when things didn't work right, they argued over whether it was a hardware problem or a software problem. I read that book on an airplane, and when I got to that part, I thought I'd need the oxygen mask. I was trying really hard not to laugh out loud, and I think I pulled something from just sitting there and quivering.

I must say there was something surreal about reading one Discworld book while watching a movie made from another (though I did end up putting the book down and just watching).

Now, though, I have to pick up where I left off on my current project. I reached a major turning point, and while I know what the next major course of action is, I'm not entirely sure what should happen in the immediate aftermath of the turning point to link to the next course of action. The last thing I wrote was the kind of thing people have to react to, and I'm still wavering on how, exactly, the various characters will react. I'm also not sure of the tone of the scene, if it should be funny, angry or sympathetic. I've played out a few variations in my head, but I'm not sold on any of them. Which could mean it needs to be something totally different that hasn't yet occurred to me -- something really unexpected. I may do some pen-and-paper brainstorming to see if I can dig up something different.

Normally on a new project, I'm pretty solid on the beginning and the end, and I get fuzzy in the middle. In this book, I know the middle and the very end, but I'm fuzzy on the beginning and the lead-up to the end (the big crisis that sets the stage for the final showdown). So, I know where I'm going, but I'm not really clear on how to get there. Maybe something will come to me while I'm dealing with my science experiments in the refrigerator.