While driving today, I remembered something I discovered before but forgot; something that helps explain why I have not made much progress on my monsters story: “If I don’t want to read it, why would I want to write it?”

I ran into this same block while working on Grelko. I reached a point while writing that story where I didn’t want to look at it anymore. I had no interest in reading my own writing (which is very rare for me—I love my own writing. I’m a huge egotist when it comes to that). That’s when I discovered that the writing wasn’t the problem. It was the subject matter. Nothing in the story caught my imagination. It was based on something that happened to my when I was a child, but I couldn’t figure out why anyone would care, especially me.

Originally, Grelko was a ho-hum tale about a mouse and a cowardly boy. What I added was the whole Grelko part—the online fantasy game. I liked the story I came up with for Grelko (with the exception of the cheesy ending), but the writing never came together the way I envisioned it. I won’t get into why that is (besides the obvious problems related to poor writing and organization), but I did want to comment that the only way I was able to finish the story was to add the fantasy element.

I want a few more of my stories to involve fantasy worlds and fantasy-type games. I have other ideas I’d like to share, and worlds I’d like to introduce. But the monsters story is not right for the fantasy world. While I won’t add a fantasy element to my monsters story, I do have to add something that makes me want to read it. As it is now, I haven’t finished the first scene and I’ve already lost interest. Regrettably, I haven’t figured out what that something is. That’s why I came here today. To try to flesh it out, to figure what it is I should add to make it an interesting story (to me, which is my yardstick at least for the first draft).

It’s a world run by monsters. Monsters make the rules. What are you babbling about? Stay with it. Democracy has failed for all the obvious reasons. The rule of the people is not the rule of what’s best of the people, only what’s best for the people tomorrow. After the last natural disaster, the people had to find another answer, that’s when they turned to children. They are the most selfish creatures, but they are innocents. So, lost monsters it sounding less like a story about deciding whether to have children than, what? I’m not sure.

Okay, that sounds extreme. I’m not sure I could take that bit and fit it in with my original story idea. I’m also not sure why a society where democracy had failed would turn to children, and what type of government could children form? Is a strange world what is going to make you interested enough to write? Fatigue washes over me. Ideas slow in my mind. Distraction pokes its head through the table and stares up at me, dragging me away from my thoughts. But I fight and resist…at least presently.

So, what is it about monsters that would interest you enough to continue writing? That’s what I’m trying to discover. I'm reaching for something. You had that silly idea about children ruling that might be interesting for another story, but it doesn't help this one. What is it here? Is there nothing you can say? No angles to add? What? There is something there. The character's are interesting, the story clever—but it’s missing something. What?

List what you enjoy and want to write about: fantasy, computers, online worlds, money, power, creation. Ugh. What is it about computers that can add interest? Not online worlds. Perhaps an allegory for what's going on with Stan and Janet? What type? I give up. I'm going to sleep on it. Perhaps it’ll come to me then since it doesn’t want to come to me now: damn slimy ideas.