McDonald’s Theory — What I Learned Building… — Medium.

I use a trick with co-workers when we’re trying to decide where to eat for lunch and no one has any ideas. I recommend McDonald’s.

I want to write. I want to put words to the proverbial page. The only problem is that very little seems interested in bubbling to the surface. Hints and glimpses of things that have been there for a long time. Things that refuse to fully develop. As a writer it’s my job to force them to, the only problem being is that I don’t really know how to.

How do you force a story to be born? How do you make something new and interesting without stealing, or borrowing generously? I don’t know how to answer those questions just yet, obviously. The endings are always the hard part. Ideas are everywhere. Interesting situations and interesting characters are plentiful, but the satisfying ending is what eludes me.

I know, in theory, it is about meeting your obligations to the reader. The first act includes a murder mystery, therefore the killer must be captured, or at least revealed. So I suppose my problem may be that I don’t know what promises I’m making to the reader, I’m just chasing tangents that interest me, and while they have a chance of striking a chord with the audience it’s far less likely to win out over a well executed story.

How to Write Successful Endings | WritersDigest.com.

This isn’t the greatest article, but it got me thinking. Ending the story is my biggest weakness. I love getting started, but can never think of the perfect finish.

Happle Tea – The Problem with Purgatory.

Sounds a lot like my definition.

This is a little snippet if description I wrote while on a forced march through an outlet mall this weekend. Feel the melodrama!

Every scrap of fabric emblazoned with labels, he made a show extracting his hundred dollar shades from their leather case, despite the fact that we were in doors. His entire image was manufactured at the command of fashion, I wasn’t sure I could see who he was at all. Even the ink on his arm was comprised of trite and meaningless design, nothing conveying a message beyond the calamitous roar of trend. The worst of it? We’re both dad’s, sitting in a children’s store and waiting for our daughters wardrobes to be filled anew. He’s busy sizing up the merits of the labels he’ll hang on his little girl now, so she can hide behind trend and cool. Who will she be? Will she even know?

Message In A Bottle – Light Grey Art Lab – Gorilla Artfare.

Beautiful.

Happle Tea – The Last Slice.

One of my favorite comics, doing what he does best.

NaNoWriMo may have done something to my brain.

1. I enjoy writing one liners. A lot.
2. When in doubt, fight scene.
3. Albums utilized in the production of November novels don’t make it back into a playlist for at least a year.
4. Info dumps seem like the way to go for word counts, but I just can’t do it. Even in the mad scramble, information is sparse.
5. Yes, I should be writing right now.

A Writer, Bob Harris, Offers a Personal View of Microfinance – NYTimes.com.

Interesting read and something I’ve long considered taking part in. I think this is the push I needed to go ahead and take the plunge.

**EDIT: I did sign up for Kiva and loaned some money to buy some cows in a country I’d never heard of. I’ll update on my experience as more happens.