Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Here was something freaky for me.
In one chapter of the work in progress, I encountered a scene where the main character suffered from vertigo. I’d experienced vertigo a few weeks ago. I never had vertigo before but this scene spelled it out exactly as I’d experienced it. Reading it, I remember writing the scene in early last fall.
Yeah, I’m astonished. Blown away, even. It induced a weird sense of deja vu, like I’d seen what was going to happen to myself and put it into my novel.
Have you ever been writing and have to pause to take a roll call about which characters are where and what they’re doing during a scene?
“Let’s see, Kanrin, Richard, Handley, Forus Ker, and Brett are in here (the lounge on Wrinkle). It’s Richard’s POV. Handley (burger and tots) and Kanrin (chicken sandwich and coffee bulb) are eating. Forus Ker is standing and staying mute. Brett is sitting and drinking beer. Philea is in the command section (next chapter). Pram is in the cargo area (about to go Hulk) (two chapters away). Anyone missing? Nope, that’s the seven. The rest are all elsewhere.”
Okay, now that I have that straight….
He was young, maybe, I don’t know, sixteen or seventeen, using limited impressions: long light brown hair, no split ends, clear and firm white flesh, a slender jean-encased body with a hoodie.
She was black and young looking, on a leash. Racing along with her long ears flying and flapping, she was pulling him down the street. Riding a skateboard, he hung onto her leash with one hand and clutched an acoustic guitar in his other hand. “Wait, Rachel, wait,” he called.
Pink tongue exposed, she slowed and glanced back in a questioning canine grin. When he said no more, she turned her head back and accelerated her young, muscular body, intent on her mission, regardless of what he wanted.
Michael Seidel, writer 