I have never had the Block that bad. Never.
I've spent the last three days unable to move in this story. Just thinking about it was nearly impossible - every time I did, I would get distracted by some minute detail or thought and go off onto something else, ignoring my story problem completely. The goddamn thing was frictionless.
It's not the kind of block where you just think, "Oh well, I'm fresh out of ideas, better give it up." It was the kind where you know the story is on the other side, and all you have to do is get through it.
Basically, my integrated twins (who I stared calling AzRenn in my notes just to keep it simple, and that name will probably be useful later on) needed the main character, Eliza's, help to find their father. But in order for them to explain why, I had to figure out who their father was, exactly, how they got started on their little quest, and how Eliza can help them. Oh, and I cannibalized a race of people from another story that I started and never finished. Or at least the name.
Three days (or was it four?) I tried to figure this out, getting exactly nowhere until today. I found a hairline crack in the block and pounded my way through.
Found out some interesting things, too. The main thing is that Az, who I figured was the "nice" twin, isn't as nice as I thought. I knew that Renn was the wild one, but I didn't know that Az was equally calculating. Kinda scary.
Renn is the most fun to write. The only worry I have about him is getting the voice right. He's a semi-angry young black man, and, being a sheltered white boy myself, all I know of how he might speak comes from TV. So I do my best to make it as realistic as I can without him coming off as too stereotyped.
Eliza is smarter than I thought. She made some connections in AzRenn's story faster than I expected her to. Good girl.
So, when I should be at 16,670 words, I'm only at 9,615. Four days behind. I'd keep writing tonight, but I'm exhausted.
But at least I know where I'm going. For now.
Excerpt inside....
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Az held up a hand. “Okay, I’ll make it short. But the long version makes more sense.” She glared at him, and he smiled. “Like I said, this is where it gets weird. Our father,” he said after a pause, “wasn’t human.” He looked up at her, waiting for a reaction.
He didn’t get one. She was still giving him a flat stare, tapping one foot. “Well obviously,” she said. “I mean, look at you. You’re two people in one body, you switch from one to the other…. Not many humans can do that, you know?”
“No, you’re right,” Az said. “Humans can’t do it. But some Kailings can.”
She frowned. “What the hell is a Kailing?”
“It’s what my father was. A Kailing.”
Eliza dropped her head on her arms. “That doesn’t explain anything, Az.”
He reached out to pat her on the head, but thought better of it. “Told you, the long story made more sense.” He sat back on the couch, stretching his arms along the back. “The Kailings are a race of people – and I don’t mean like black white yellow kind of race – different from humans.”
She looked up. “Huh?”
“Kailings aren’t human, Eliza,” he said. “They’re something… else. They live longer, they’re stronger and faster and tougher than humans are.” He leaned forward. “They do magic. They make art that makes you want to be a better person, science that makes you believe in god, and music that would probably bring about peace on earth.”
The room was silent. Eliza was vaguely aware of the refrigerator cycling off.
“Of course, there’s only about a hundred of them left,” Az said. “And my father was one of them.”