Stuck

So—for the past few weeks, I’ve been stuck.

(And also, from your perspective, absent. But never mind about that. I’m back now.)

The villain of the piece, the guy I threw in at the beginning just to make everything go wrong, the one whose motivation and personality were supposed to just come together over time—well, he didn’t.

I’ve tried switching to other projects, which is, as you all know, my go-to problem solver. I’ve tried making up random stuff—after all, the Awful Space Opera was born out of making up random stuff, so it should continue to grow that way, right? But somehow it doesn’t. It’s like trying to turn stem cells into a new eyeball instead of a new person. It should work in theory…

I’ve tried distracting myself with blogging. I’ve tried taking breaks.

Really long breaks.

Do I need more coffee? No, this cup’s still half full.

Maybe I should make more for after I finish it though.

And I should eat something.

But nothing has helped. So now, all I do every day is re-read my draft, skimming quickly over the awful villain’s bits and gnashing my teeth. Maybe his motivation is that he wanted to write a great novel and couldn’t, so he just started killing people and taking over the world instead.

Alternately, he could feel like a misunderstood loner. Or maybe it’s something something something Corporate Greed.

Ah well. It will all sort itself out.