This story has an outline, which is an observation made because i find that amusing: Stories rarely have outlines, these days. They just knock on the door and come to life.

Ideas about what will come, how the story will develop are sometimes tossed at the end of an active document. Words, short phrases – ideas. Those get devoured and erased as a story eats through them. But most stories are just written, relying on the brain to hold onto thoughts and get us to the end – not saying that always works out well. But this one has a fairly comprehensive outline, unlike anything since Javi and monsters.

Back then, writing a story that was more than a few thousand words, that was – planned – to be something of voluminous body seemed tremendously daunting. So, tips were looked for on how to plan a story out. The first suggestion, of course was to create an outline. For those first two, those outlines were extensive. Tens of thousands of words on their own. Printed out, and hand-written notes were scribbled in the margins, between lines; on the back. Arrows circumnavigated the paper, and bubbles collected ideas that were deemed important. That needed to be fit in somewhere.

None of those stories that were meticulously planned ever got written, as has been detailed. Every one came to life and fell off track.

Monsters derailed. I think Javi’s alright, for what it is.

Withal, i quickly discovered i preferred writing over planning. My wife will second – that’s my approach to life. So, sometimes I’ll plan out a story to a degree, but that tends to be done with simple words, vague nudges for the memory, and important events that will carry the journey. Things like, red string, elbow grease, south of France, or don’t forget George. Too much detailed sketching steals from the process.

From chewing ideas.

Letting a story grow organically.

Letting the brain open up and creating the narrative. That’s my favorite part of writing: Breathing the life in. Bringing characters to life, and discovering their story.

All that’s to say, I don’t type out multiple page outlines to follow when i’m writing. And, i didn’t for this one, either, which is why i find it amusing: I typed it up afterwards. An outline – summation. The main ideas from each chapter. And i did it to help with creating chapter titles.

I got a real bad idea. I thought it would be entertaining to create a poem, or a story with the titles. It isn’t the first time that’s crossed my mind, but in the past it seemed too difficult. That was the correct assessment: What a stupid idea. I also remembered – I’m not a poet. I’m just a barely held together hack that occasionally rolls out something passable.

Occasionally, something catches a little wind: I can’t even begin to explain how or why.

Anyhow, i left the chapter titles how they are, because going through and changing them pulls zero interest. Chapter titles are difficult to begin with, so – voila: Nine, four-line not-poems that are supposed to connect in some manner. That’s right, the entire enterprise had fallen apart by chapter five.

This started as just a riff, just writing down words that wandered through the mind, into a funny idea for an awkward greeting. Thoughts quickly walked down the hall, and by the time Nalan strikes the “C”, pretty much all the ideas for the story were in place.

Nothing new: Space traveling people find other people and encounter problems. They try to solve them, but mostly don’t. Somehow, that stretched out over five-hundred pages: Taljron, available on Kindle Vella, and the usual formats.