I have a habit of reading about the last dozen pages before I start. It helps with continuity. I don’t want to write about snow if it was sunny when someone walked inside last session.
I wanted to write a creepy tension filled segment.
The raven, Doubt, made a noise. tok tok blork
I pressed the pager. “Lisa, can you come in here. Tell me what this stupid thing wants. ”
“Sure boss, be right down.”
“I thought you were out front,” I said.
“I was just hooking up those holographic monitors you wrote for me. What’s up?”
“Listen to this stupid thing.”
tok tok blork
“What’s he saying?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t speak bird.”
“But you’re a robot. You speak Bluetooth, Gaelic, mandarin, fax tones and everything else.”
“But I don’t speak bird.” She held her hand up and paused. “Ravens are considered the largest songbird in the world. They’re related to–
“Look, I just want to know what he wants.”
“They are now considered one of the most intelligent animals on Earth. They make a wide range of sounds and can even mimic human speech.”
“Amazing, how did you get all that?”
“I’m a big computer at heart. It’s called Google. You should try it. Where did he interrupt you?”
“Just as I was reviewing the last stuff I wrote.”
“Maybe he wants you to doubt that section. That’s his name after all.”
“Maybe it needs to be moodier, creepier even. Why am I taking lessons from a bird?”
“Lorelei wouldn’t bring him here without a reason. I have a hunch that rewrites are going to be a hoot. I’ll pick up a bottle of Dickle for when you meet with the editor.”
“Good plan.”
I wound up adding some things to the last section, and still managed a thousand new words.
I’ve got to go for now. My wife and I have an appointment with Smaug the Terrible. I’m going to Old Chicago afterword to work on my beer tour.
I may blog later if I get the time.
Entertaining Stories 