State of the suckitude

I’m having real trouble with my WIP. It’s not The Buried King; that’s on the back burner for now, based on the excellent advice of my agent. At the moment it’s A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark.

There’s a solid idea behind the story, and a solid setting to build it on, but as I’m writing it the whole thing feels slack.

And I think I have an idea why. I’m trying something different here, with a main character who is very knowledgeable and competent, and the stakes are both personal and very wide-ranging, but there’s a kind of emotional distance. The main character and her, well, sidekick, are a little cool-headed about things. Almost like a pair of amateur detectives from the 11th installment of an British mystery series from the 30′s. Sort of blase (imagine and accent mark above that last “e”) and unflappable.

Sort of.

Anyway, I’m used to characters who are more emotionally invested. I’m trying something new to stretch myself, but I think it’s hurting my method. I’ll need to do a couple of things to establish strong feeling soon.

And you know what? That wasn’t the post I was planning to write at all, but the act of typing about this WIP helped me find a solution. Thank you, modern blogging.

Tonight I’m actually heading out of my apartment (gasp!) to meet friends I know online but have never met in person. Two of them (I’m actually unsure how many people will be there) are highly-acclaimed writers. An occasion like this calls for a clean t-shirt.