Intermission

Phew. I've been running strong on Raiders for a lot longer than I anticipated. Heck, when I first wrote “Raid” I didn't even know it was going to turn into a thing. It was only in the second half of “Lockdown” that I decided to do a callback to the previous story. And then “Seeking Truth” came along and decided to introduce yet another character to the mix. It was starting to look like an actual plot was forming.

So I ran with it. Still running with it. It's getting trickier as time goes on. There's a funny paradox that the more invested in a story I am, the harder it is to write. The Raiders setting started off as generic cyberpunk with very little going on. Now that characters and plot are forming (with characters often writing the plot themselves!) every day is more of a strain.

It's an interesting, if frustrating, pattern to watch in myself. I've known for a long time that being nervous about writing something “wrong” in a story or setting I'm invested in shuts down my creative process. The free-flow that Raiders has been up to this point is evidence that I can develop a half-way decent story – as long as I don't care too much about it.

But now I care more and the ironic condition is biting me hard. So today I'm taking a break. Detach myself a bit, feel less like every one of my Five Minutes has to be given over to driving Raiders to completion. I'll be back again to it soon enough. Maybe even tomorrow. We'll see.