So, I actually got some writing done. Not enough, not by a longshot, but the beginning of Elsewhere is actually starting to take form.
Part of the problem is this awkward framing device I’m using. The story opens with an intense event occurring in real time, and then the story delves into the protagonist’s memories, switching to past-tense and moving forward in time to dovetail with the scene in progress. Yeah, me and Octavia Butler, right? I don’t know if it’s going to work; I don’t know if I can make it work, but that’s how the story came to me, so I’m going to try.
So it’s just a matter of working through awkward phrasing and tense in this weird opening. The second is the meeting of my two main characters, and the third is a game of questions over breakfast. Chapter three is inspired by conversations from my past, and I’m really looking forward to it because someone I miss very much lives in those particular memories.
(And yeah, I’m doing a present-tense opening and then an “11 years earlier.” This is absolutely the equivalent of a stand-up comedian shitting on his audience so he can earn them back later. For what it’s worth, I have never claimed not to be a hack.)
Since I don’t have anything of that ready to go, I’ll just wrap this up by sharing a joke.
Three retired spies are walking through the forest on a cool fall morning, engaged in a good-natured argument about whose service trained them the best. The ex-CIA, MI-6, and KGB agents have come to an impasse, when the British operative spots a rabbit on the path ahead, races forward, and catches it. Holding the struggling animal up, he says, “I know what we can do, chaps. We’ll let the rabbit go, and whoever can catch it the fastest will prove their service is the best.”
The other spies concur. “I’ve got this,” the CIA agent says, grinning broadly. His British counterpart lets the rabbit go, and the American races off into the bush after it. Fifteen minutes pass and he returns, winded and grinning, holding the rabbit.
“Not bad,” the MI-6 agent says, “but now let me show you what they teach us on His Majesty’s Secret Service.” The CIA agent lets the rabbit go, and the British agent races off after it. Ten minutes later and with a smirk on his face, he returns with the rabbit in tow.
“Bah,” the ex-KGB agent says. “Amateurs. I’ll show you how things are done in Mother Russia.” The British agent lets the rabbit loose, and the Soviet agent charges off into the woods after it. Five minutes pass. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty.
Finally, after a half hour has gone by and the Russian has yet to return, the other two agents decide they should go looking for him. They head off in the direction their counterpart took, and after a while begin to hear loud shouting and shrieks coming from the woods ahead of them. Fearing the worst, they break into a run.
The two men burst into a clearing in the woods. On the opposite side is the KGB agent, who has a deer tied to a tree. As they watch in disbelief, the Russian beats the bleating deer over and over with his truncheon, shouting, “Admit you’re the rabbit! Admit you’re the rabbit!”