Rampaging Manuscript!

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(Image blatantly nicked from Fresh Pics blog on typewriter sculptures by Jeremy Mayer)

It was sitting on my computer a little while ago, just staring at me. You know how they do... THAT look. That "I'm not going to do what you say" look. Yes, the manuscript has become an intractable little brat.

Sadly, I don't seem to be able to control my WIP at the moment. It's been a royal pain since day one--which was back in June--and it will probably still be a pain in October, when it's due. Sometimes manuscripts just get stubborn. They won't stick to an outline, the wander around like lost dogs, or they stop in one place and glare at you like an angry monkey.

In fact they're a whole menagerie of annoying little pseudo-animals. Most of them slow moving and very grumpy, from elephants who stop in the road and decide to eat the best parts of the outline because the don't really work, no matter how tasty they are; to gibbering apes throwing poo.

I know why my manuscript has turned into the Nightmare Zoo, but I'm not sure I can do much about it--things have been a little crazy here. I just wonder if I can make something good out of it, maybe just ride it out on the back of a charging, spitting arc camel as it careens wildly through the plot, or play whack-a-mole with the plot bunnies until they get in line.

If you see an emergency flare in the shape of a broken typewriter, coruscating like alien neon over the local zoo at night, that'll be me: send chocolate, extra ammunition, and memory upgrades. Please.


image blatantly stolen from Dad's Big Plan.

Comments

Amanda Makepeace said…
I hope you can make it behave. Hang in there!
August 16, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Sharon Stogner said…
I say put an open sign on your Nightmare Zoo and charge admission ;) I will set up a kiosk selling ponchos right next to the gibbering apes throwing poo (well, maybe not *right next to them )
August 16, 2011 at 11:30 AM
LupLun said…
I know how you feel. A short story I was writing went on strike for nearly a month, with a deadline looming. I finally got it back on track a few days ago, just in time for my life to get hairy. Argh. >_< IME, the trick is to hold on and keep writing until the kinks work themselves out.

-LupLun
August 16, 2011 at 4:28 PM
craft brag said…
I think I'd rather have wild thoughts versus nothing at all. :-)

It'll all work out in the end and it may be even better than your outline predicted.

~ Jenna
August 17, 2011 at 6:28 AM
Mario Acevedo said…
Chocolate, ammo, and memory upgrades on the way.
August 19, 2011 at 7:43 AM
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