After just shy of two months, I finally put my fictional story to rest. 18 posts overall, including just under 20,000 words. That qualifies as a novella, and is about half of the minimum requirement for a novel. I just looked that up a moment ago, and I was a little surprised. I think I'd like to collect all of those words, do a little editing, and maybe submit it somewhere and see what happens. We'll see what happens.
I have found that the more I write, the more I want to write. Sometimes I don't have enough time in the day, and sometimes I'm just lazy, but I could write a post every day. I couldn't guarantee I would keep on track writing about recovery issues every time, but I could keep it interesting. But I won't. My life is busy and it's about to become busier with this new job. More on that later.
While writing the Quandary, I often had to bring my mind to a dark place. Although it was a work of fiction, it wasn't far off from the reality of the meth world. Kidnappings, robberies, and even murders take place every day in our country with their main goal being the acquisition of meth or money for meth, or as the result of doing something taboo such as narcing. Down in California and Arizona, closer to cartel territory, murder over drugs is a daily occurance. I've heard stories about people being brought out to the desert to see mass graves before being given the opportunity to work with the Mexicans, and they came from fairly credible stories.
I have found that the more I write, the more I want to write. Sometimes I don't have enough time in the day, and sometimes I'm just lazy, but I could write a post every day. I couldn't guarantee I would keep on track writing about recovery issues every time, but I could keep it interesting. But I won't. My life is busy and it's about to become busier with this new job. More on that later.
While writing the Quandary, I often had to bring my mind to a dark place. Although it was a work of fiction, it wasn't far off from the reality of the meth world. Kidnappings, robberies, and even murders take place every day in our country with their main goal being the acquisition of meth or money for meth, or as the result of doing something taboo such as narcing. Down in California and Arizona, closer to cartel territory, murder over drugs is a daily occurance. I've heard stories about people being brought out to the desert to see mass graves before being given the opportunity to work with the Mexicans, and they came from fairly credible stories.
The point is that fiction is often based on reality, and I was given the opportunity to create more of a background story and paint a picture for your mind and I had fun with it even though the subject matter was scrofulous. I would think about the characters while I was working, and be excited for the weekends when I could put pen to paper so to speak.
Now it's concluded, and I wonder what I could have done differently. I knew it was going to have an unhappy ending from the very beginning. The original beginning and ending happened at an airport but I soon realized the inherent danger of transporting drugs and money via the sky. Bus trips to Arizona for cheap meth are a very real thing so that made more sense. The part I wrote about signs in the bus depot about trains, and the tracks outside all happened by accident when for some reason my brain kept telling me I was in a train station. Either way, the real motivation for the decor was unit 10 at Moose Lake prison with the shiny gloss walls and signs and flyers everywhere.
King and Mason were based on my main suppliers in real life, both of whom are serving Federal time now for their parts in crimes involving drugs, guns, and money. Seth is based on a crackhead version of my real friend Seth who is nothing like that except maybe for some of the mentality. Crystal and Erika are real people from the Fillmore County area that are friends of mine, and blog readers.
Yes, everything I wrote had a root in some very real person, place, or thing. I don't know if I could write a novel or short story about something that I had no experience with, but maybe someday I will find out.
Now it's concluded, and I wonder what I could have done differently. I knew it was going to have an unhappy ending from the very beginning. The original beginning and ending happened at an airport but I soon realized the inherent danger of transporting drugs and money via the sky. Bus trips to Arizona for cheap meth are a very real thing so that made more sense. The part I wrote about signs in the bus depot about trains, and the tracks outside all happened by accident when for some reason my brain kept telling me I was in a train station. Either way, the real motivation for the decor was unit 10 at Moose Lake prison with the shiny gloss walls and signs and flyers everywhere.
King and Mason were based on my main suppliers in real life, both of whom are serving Federal time now for their parts in crimes involving drugs, guns, and money. Seth is based on a crackhead version of my real friend Seth who is nothing like that except maybe for some of the mentality. Crystal and Erika are real people from the Fillmore County area that are friends of mine, and blog readers.
Yes, everything I wrote had a root in some very real person, place, or thing. I don't know if I could write a novel or short story about something that I had no experience with, but maybe someday I will find out.
