Bard by BlueInkAlchemist, on Flickr

Starting a brand new story is proving more difficult than I thought.

I’ve tried to start Captain Pendragon and the Planet of Doom twice, now, and I’m struggling, likely because there’s a part of me that knows this sort of thing has been done before. I’m trying to shake off the negativity and nay-saying, and focus on getting the thing started with a nice, sharp hook and adequate characterization rather than something resembling an info dump. I may try putting an old-fashioned quick prelude on the first page, like a newsreel or the opening of Star Wars, to get the reader in the mood and cut to the chase almost immediately.

I’ll take a stab at that over the weekend. Today, I’ll be carving out some time to put some finishing touches on Cold Iron. I want to make sure the narrative’s coherent. The characters feel solid, and I think there’s a good flow to it, but the progression of events should be at least somewhat logical. I just need to double-check that.

Not much else to report. Some unfortunate news of the morning leaves me somewhat enervated and a little irked.