The Great Leap Forward

Or is it a tiny one?

I'm not sure, but I recently had a eureka moment in the writing project that I've devoted the most time to of late. I previously had a protagonist, an outcome, and a few situations to get there. Each piece was coming along well, but there wasn't much substance. I thought there was enough for a short story, but I was caught trying to unify the concepts into a single moving story while keeping the length down.

The epiphany came after, when watching a movie, I came up with an idea for another story, and quite a few details from an antagonist's point of view. As this concept began to take shape, I realized more and more that this antagonist and his actions were the perfect counterpoint to my hero's story. With only a few additional pieces of characterization, I had a sort of dark twin.

Now, I've only written about 600 words of this new addition so far, and the similarities in the characters are not quite so clear yet, but the foundations are there. I don't yet have the flow that will weave all the scenes together, or a definite placing of each situation in relation to the others. I do think, now, that I finally have enough material to seize and turn into a novel-length tale. It remains to be seen, though, how it all comes out on paper and if I can produce a coherent sequence. For the moment, optimism reigns!

I'm not sure why I feel inclined to post to my blog about this, when I should be writing further. I suppose in the past reflections on my writing process have helped me to focus. It certainly doesn't hurt to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses periodically. Yet somehow this always seems like a waste of valuable time.