I’m currently in a headspace where I can squeeze out just enough words to keep momentum going on my current project, but don’t have much more, so I’m forgetting about regular blog updates for a while. One thing I’m doing, to keep my head in the story when I can’t squeeze out actual story because it’s become a thick glue-like paste and clogged up my brain tubes, is putting my characters in hypothetical situations. It’s a great exercise because you should know your characters well enough to know what they’d do in any situation, no matter how unlikely. I’m writing them synopsis style (third person present tense) so I don’t waste too much writing energy on them. I figured I’d post them here, because why not. The first is my take on the prompt: how would your main character go grocery shopping? Since my main doesn’t eat human food, I had to improvise.
Duran Hits the Liquor Store
Duran is thirsty, and has just enough money on his chip to stock up on booze before taking off for wherever. He heads to the liquor store and goes straight for the vodka display. Gazing at the row with the cheapest booze, he can’t decide. So he clears off half a shelf with the sweep of an arm.
The bottles slide precariously in the crooks of his elbows. The nearest isle clerk, seeing him struggle and juggle, rushes in to help. He holds out a basket for Duran, and Duran says, “Are you mad? I can’t hold that as well.”
He loses his grip on the lot of them, smashing all but one on the floor. Gazing at the puddle of booze, glass shards covering his shoes, he laments a moment for the loss. Then he smiles sheepishly at the clerk and says, “I’ll take this one.”
He slips and slides his way, crunching glass under his feet, to the till. The clerk rings him up for an exorbitant sum. Duran glares at the single bottle in his hand and says, “That much for this?” The clerk then explains how he has to pay for all the ones he broke. Duran looks down the isle to the broken pile, now being swept up. His face flushes, and he teleports away.
Since he’s had no time to root himself to the bottle he had in hand, it hovers in the air a millisecond before joining its fallen brethren on the floor. The clerks gape at the empty space Duran left in the air, and check this off as yet another shitty day.
by 
Cute… and good to see an update!
I’m glad Duran has decided to teleport back into your brain. I still want to see what you do with FREECLOUD.
I’m actually working on a completely different set of stories, the ones I found while trying to draft Freecloud. I’m not sure yet if they’re going to be novella or novel length, but at least I have tons of material to work with and three solid story arcs. I figured it would be best for morale if I finished something saleable, so I’m taking a detour on the way to the daunting mountain that Freecloud has become.
Writing better than not writing.
I understand perfectly sticking like glue to one story – I’ve been doing that for Book 2 since I published Book 1 – because there’s work to do, and if I get sidetracked on something else, it just takes MORE work.
Be well. Concentrate where you need to.