Thursday, April 17, 2014

Day 8 - Getting on a Roll

Today was a pretty good day.  It wasn't seamless -- I got up late, and dealt with some family kerfuffle.  And I even screwed around, listening to TV and playing games for a bit.

Today's Progress: 1815 words, mostly on In Flight.  I also did a little on Man Who 2.  In Flight is one of the Romantic Suspense game stories.  I have been thinking about what I said about characters and crying and Dashiell Hammett the other day, and though some if it translates, there is one thing that Hammett does that you can't do in romantic suspense: he conveys no emotion at all.  It's really effective, but I think most romantic suspense readers would feel cheated.

So today I was writing a scene that creates an emotional shock for the heroine.  But I think it works because it's actually an emotional shock she is seeking.  She spend her whole life running from her past -- a past she barely remembers because she was a little girl at the time. Now she is seeking out the truth, and since the only thing she knows about the past is the very worst thing about it... well, it's not the kind of shock that a wilting heroine will suffer.

Eating, Reading Watching: Made mini-hamburgers and watched the rest of an episode of Columbo.  It was the one where his dog is first introduced.  I need to go back and look at it again, though.

Peter Falk was of the opinion that Columbo didn't actually have a wife.  That all that talk about Mrs. Columbo was a part of his act that he put on for the suspects and witnesses.  However, there are a couple of episodes where he is talking to his vet or other person in his personal life, and has no reason to lie.  And I think he did talk about his wife to the dog doctor in this one.  But I'm sure.  (If he didn't, though, I think he did talk to another vet about her in a later episode.)

Anyway, tomorrow, MY visiting vet comes to give the feral kitty her booster shots. (Cookie, btw, has mostly decided that she is no longer a feral cat. She is a tame cat.  She stays in the house where weather is good.  Except at midnight, when she wants to go out to the club with her pals. "Really, mom.  It's fine.  I'll be back by dawn."  She doesn't get her way, though.)

See you in the funny papers.

2 comments:

JenBusick said...

Well, if his wife was part of his "cover," he would naturally need for other people in his life to know about her!

The Daring Novelist said...

LOL - to the extent that he even lied to his fellow cops! I just remembered, there was an episode where he showed up at work without his rumpled raincoat. His wife had bought him a nice new clean coat, and he spent the entire episode trying to lose it.

Now that's dedication!