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Spring In My Step
I know, that sounds like a good thing but it really just represents a newfound ache in my legs.
Oy!
Now that it’s finally done snowing around here, my front yard turned into an ankle-deep shag carpet. What’s a geezer to do but break out the mower and get it back to sort of matching the neighbors’ grass?
Well, it was quick and surprisingly easy but afterward, I felt like I’d done a 12-hour shift at the factory.
Ding! Dang! Dong!
Fergawdzakes! I just want to feel better already. I wonder if this old carcass is ever going to heal.
Endgame
That’s the big cultural touchpoint this weekend. The MCU has been building up to this massive, anti-apocalyptic battle to recover half of the people in the universe from oblivion.
It’s a cool storyline, but I’m not really a fan of this huge galactic calamity stuff. I always liked Spider-Man because he was always down to a human level. Even his biggest villains were still generally constrained to New York City. I know there were some exceptions over the years but the things that make a good Spider-Man story are his basic decency, his concern for his community and his awareness of his own personal limits.
Big stuff is good cinema, but human decency in the face of dreadful circumstances is excellent storytelling.
Utmost Importance
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true. ~John Steinbeck
Reality is hammering ruthlessly at the door these days but I’m still making progress. I’ve got five chapters in First Draft status. The beat sheet method is working for me thus far. The bare bones are down. I’ll need to add more descriptive elements on the second pass and then do the ruthless editing on the third.
The thing that’s been challenging is trying to be consistent with some of the characters’ idiolects. Mary Christmas is an elf-like alien from a parallel dimension. I’ve got her speaking with a sort of faux-Celtic and quasi-Elizabethan style. Detective Stan Dargis, the NYPD Liaison Officer to the Sentinels, speaks with an exaggerated NuYawk accent. It will serve to help identify him in future stories. Fuhgeddaboudit!
I’m sure my proofreader will advise me to tone it down, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to take that advice. I guess I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.
Last weekend in April. That’s all I’ve got for you.