To boldly write what I did not plan to…

On Friday I sat down and intended to do more work on the story I started at an online writers’ group on Wednesday, as mentioned in Writers’ Race. It has been a busy week with regards to writers’ groups this week – two in two days! They were worth it though, as some fun ideas were born as a result.

At Thursday’s group, some story  topics were mooted for upcoming meetings. One of them was ‘The Id’. Visions of  Forbidden Planet popped into my head. (I have not seen that movie in years!).  I didn’t think much of it, as I was now on the waiting list and not likely to be at a meeting where this short story topic would be shared. Well, I was not consciously thinking about it.

Ah, where was I?
On Friday I sat down, intending to do more work on the story I started. It didn’t happen and this is a good thing.  Let me explain.

I had managed  500 (ish) words so far on The Feline Principle which is intended for an upcoming short story competition, due later this month. Though I have a rough plot, I could not get the words to behave. I started writing randomly, in an effort to get the creativity going. I could not stop thinking about the id.

I googled id – “the creative, dis-organised, instinctual drive with no moral judgement.” Three words stuck in my imagination: The pleasure principle.  From there, my mind raced. How would someone react if they were only driven by their need to experience pleasure? Why would this happen suddenly to an adult? What would be the consequences?

By mid-morning I had a hand-written first draft of just under 1000 words. By lunchtime I had typed it into Scrivener, resulting in my first rewrite. I then printed it out and did a quick edit, rewriting a few sentences. My proof reader has done the first read through. The next step is to leave it at least a day or two and revisit it for a fresh proof read and the inevitable edits.

But what to do with it? I tried something new in how I wrote this one and, surprisingly, I am reasonably happy with it.
Ah, serendipity is such a wonderful thing!