In Which Our Hero Attempts to Write!

I have always been a fan of stories. Early on in my life, the stories I was obsessed with, began with "Star" and ended with "Wars."

I won a copy of the novelization of the Star Wars trilogy in the completion of a ridiculous dare to run up to a stranger, yell "hi mom!!" and hit myself with a water balloon. It's not the dumbest thing I've done on a dare, nor the worst prize I've been awarded for doing something stupid. I read the 600 page tome in about two weeks. I remember the next time I watched "a new hope" with someone I casually pointed out that the stormtrooper Leia shoots near the beginning of the movie got himself killed because he was smiling to himself and thinking of how he would be rewarded for capturing the princess. I knew this because I read the book. I felt smug and superior. I was not. I was closer to this.

My excitement and love for the book grew and I decided I would write my own story, using my favorite characters from Star Wars. How could it fail? I envisioned a bright future of fame, awards, and hot star wars girls. I was going places. The only thing I needed to do was write.

"The Jawa yelled 'help!' and ran away. Boba Fett shot him and looked angry." This is removed verbatim (not verbatim) from my story.

Ok it's been a long time and I don't know that that was exactly what I wrote, but I remember writing it, and saving it to a 3.5" disk that I very proudly labelled "star wars stories by David Logghe."

Good sense prevailed and I did not ever finish that story. I went on to start a number of different stories, some about star wars, some early attempts at a detective story (without having a real clue at what detectives do apart from sit at a desk and talk to themselves), and stupid little narratives to vent my annoyances (such as: The Cat who was also the devil).

Sadly this is a trend that has happened numerous times throughout my life. I no longer attempt to write Star Wars fanfiction, but I do find myself constantly under the binds of writer's block. Though I don't know that I can consider myself a writer when I've got a number of word documents starting with "Chapter 1" and none with "Chapter 2."

I have started another story, based on an idea I've been kicking around for a year or two. It's a simple little fantasy/sci-fi story that would probably work well as a short story but lacks the arc and polish needed for a true novel. I started working on it again a couple days ago, and found myself quickly in a spot where I didn't know how to proceed. I'm going to try to write a little bit every day, and even if it's trash maybe I can finally finish a story. That feeling alone would be pretty good I imagine.

Until then, I'm working on a new story:

My Novel: The butthead meanie that won't finish itself. Writing is dumb. The story.
by Dave Logghe.