Fiction

Why, hello there, Wednesday! You sure crept up on me.

Today, my son’s school is having a fundraising event for cancer. His jazz band is playing again, so a bit later I’m off to his school to hear them.

This week’s WIPpet is from a scene that gave me a lot of trouble. It felt dry, so one of my betas suggesting adding heat to the argument. I struggle to write good fictional fights—it’s why I write love stories and not action! My beta was right, though, so I added a lot more tension.

When I changed the scene, I realized that I had an angsty teenager on my hands who was likely to say some things for the purpose of being as hurtful as possible. I’ve been back and forth on this one, and I’ve changed it more than once. I sensed it would be true to his character to use a particularly awful homophobic slur. However, I felt that it would be inappropriate and offensive for me to actually write it, for a number of reasons. So I didn’t; I implied. Today’s bit is the rest of that argument.

The title of the post is what my kids say whenever someone has taken things too far. Simple math: today’s the 18th, so 1 + 8 = 9 dialog paragraphs.

The blood drained from Alex’s face; he put up a hand. “Don’t you dare ever call me that again.”

Michael made an irritated sound in his throat. “I’m done listening to anything you have to say.”

“Was there a time when you did?” Alex snapped. He wanted to take the words back the moment they left his mouth.

Michael’s expression darkened. “Screw you,” he spat.

“Your mom wouldn’t be too happy if she heard you say that to me.”

“You know what? I don’t care. I don’t need you to tell me what to do, and neither does Mom.” He pushed away from the wall and stepped close to Alex. “Don’t you get it? We don’t need you.”

Alex stared at him, his mouth open, trying to find words. “I—”

Michael huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m going to wait outside.” He turned around and stalked off.

“You’re still wearing your tap shoes!” Alex called after him; Michael gave him the finger.

Be sure to go here and read the other entries. You can add your own if you like—just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date by whatever tangled means necessary, and enter the link in the collection. Thanks again to K. L. Schwengel for hosting!

Another Wednesday, another week down. We survived the Ultimate Recital Challenge over the weekend (band competition, dress rehearsal, dance recital). My son’s jazz band won first place in their division, second place overall, and division awards for best brass/woodwinds. The dance recital was fantastic, and the kids all did a great job. You can read all about it (and see pictures and video!) here. Now all we’ve got left are one dress rehearsal, one recital, two concerts, and a graduation before school ends. At least they’re not all crammed into one weekend.

I’m finally doing some actual writing rather than editing. I think I already mentioned this, but I’m adding several scenes from Alex’s POV. That’s been fun but challenging, because I’ve only ever seen him from Dani or Phin’s perspectives.

In order to write this scene, I put out a question on Facebook asking what Alex might be drinking if he’s mostly just in the mood to forget his crappy day. For the very curious, he’s drinking scotch, which was the suggestion of several friends based on the details I shared about his personality. The best part was how this resulted in three days’ worth of ongoing discussion. My friends apparently really like alcohol!

WIP math: 15 sentences (6 + 4 + 1 + 4) from a new scene in chapter 5.

“This is completely screwed up,” he told the fish. “Dani thinks I can get inside his head. Hell, I can’t even get inside my own head most days.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “And now I’m talking to my fish. I can’t decide if I’ve had too much booze or not enough. Think I’ll go with the latter.” He picked up the glass and sipped more slowly this time. He snorted at the fish tank. “You guys are lousy company. I need a dog.”

He set the glass back on the table and stared at it, his head buzzing. Damn, he thought. I have to work in the morning. He shrugged and poured another shot.

As always, thanks to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. Why not post a bit of your own WIP and link up with us here? I promise we don’t bite…usually.

Woo hoo, it’s Wednesday again! I’ve recovered from my weeks of on-and-off illness (I hope), but now I’m in the thick of mass chauffeuring. Two kids + concerts, recitals, and awards ceremonies? Bring it on.

I’m also still immersed in editing Lower Education. I’m almost done with my first pass-through, and I have 2 added scenes (of 5). I’ll finish the last 3, which are partly done, and then do another sweep of the whole shebang.

Since I’m not doing anything new, I’m back to sharing bits of Lower Education. Ages ago, I polled readers for what they wanted me to post as my last (ha, ha) entry from this work, and everyone wanted to see poor Phin drunk. I thought I’d reward him for suffering through that humiliation and for letting me be a little mean to him in his interview last week. This is also a reward for those who requested a steamy scene. ♥

My WIP math is boring: It’s the 28th, so 2 + 8 = 10 for 10 short sentences.

Phin leaned down along Alex’s back. “Tell me,” he breathed. “Tell me what you want.”

Alex twisted around a little and they locked eyes. “No,” he answered.

Sucking in his breath, Phin pushed himself up a little. “Please,” he begged. “Let me make you feel good.”

“No,” Alex repeated. “Make us feel good.”

Many thanks to K. L. Schwengel for keeping us all in line. Add your own post here, and be sure to read the other entries. Happy WIP’ing!