Brain loop...

[Nik]

Sorry, this is going to sound very silly...

Couple of pages on from the opening of 'Soft Target', I've been caught in a brain-loop.

I'm writing a terse exposition of the People's ships' speed and tactics. At most, a couple of long-ish paragraphs, and quite straight-forward given the facts...

Where-ever I start is also the logical end. Where-ever I end is also the logical start. I've shuffled the middle about, but it flows out of that start, into that end-- which are both the same...

Okay, it needs either a new start, or a new end, or a new middle, or all of them. I keep re-writing, but those same words come around and around like a silly song...

How do YOU break a loop ??

 

[ice.monkey]

Hit 'ctl+alt+del' and if that fails, hit the reboot button

Personally I haven't hit into this before but I'd try walking away from it and writing something completely different that will need concentration - like a poem, or something.

Just a suggestion.

 

[JDP]

<drole> I'd suggest going right back to the beginning. </drole>

 

[Nik]

I have an incipient cold...

At least I think that's what's wrong...

And, yes, perhaps explaining the strategies & tactics of interstellar raiding in ~100 words is currently beyond my wits...

Given a week or two, I may return to my usual table at 'The Spires of In'.

My head hurts.

Droll humor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Interference]

Or you could post the offending para and see if anyone here can crack it (?)

 

[Ursa major]

Is it necessary, this early in the story, to describe the tactics used? Why not just let them play out in the story. If things go to plan, the tactics will become apparent. And if things don't go to plan, you can describe where things start to go wrong, and what has to be done about. If the tactics are usually foolproof, and the characters note that this is the xth time they have worked, the drama is all the more apparent when things begin to go wrong. (If, that is, they do.)

 

[Nik]

moRe: Brain loop...

Hi, Ursa major, I managed to work through that section-- 'Soft Target' is growing by fits & starts in the 'Critiques' area, see what you think.

Then I hung up again. Currently trying a *fourth* way to write the next phase of the battle...

Big problem is the logarithmic time scale. I gotta convey the way stuff happens at hyperbolic speeds. And, to be honest, my attempts are shambolic...

I'm going to try POV from Tug Skipper, see if that will break log-jam...

 

[timelord4]

Hi Nik

Got a cat or dog on board. Monkey's even better. Let one of them have the POV until you get to where you're going. I'm sure you'll get a few laughs as the animal makes fun at the antics of the humans. If anything, it'll unblock your cycle and give you something to work off when you finally resume your piece where you left off.

 

[Nik]

A wedge in the block...

POV from tug crew seems to be working...

They're clawing out to throw a crude road-block in the path of Juggernaut, don't expect to survive it. What do you talk about when the stars are going out ??

(Rapidly approaching Others' dust-screen is eclipsing bigger and bigger chunk of sky... )

Oh, this and that...

Needs another thousand words before I can be sure.

 

[Interference]

Re: A wedge in the block...

What do you talk about when the stars are going out ??

Birthdays.

"Oh, look. God's blowing his candles out!"



"I don't believe in God."

"Yeah, but you gotta believe in candles!"