15

That count is estimated, as I'm working in a weird format.

Anyway: I actually did have a guy with a gun come in, and everything changed. I'm currently wrestling with whether combining two ideas is going to generate one deeper storyline. The alternative is that it's going to be two separate horses jogging along together until they don't. One of the pieces I'm toying with is significantly older than the other, which might work well.

The key to this current piece is staying true to character, which feels now like trying to stay on a balance beam during a hurricane. The hurricane is the dark force of comedy. Every moment is a chance to toss away character in pursuit of a laugh, and the discipline is all about not going broad. Broad is bad.

I'm also learning that some ideas I knew I wanted to get to are no good anymore. I might have written them five years ago but not now. That story about Tolstoy? Alas.

The white noise has receded a bit and I think I'll threaten to keep at this until it's done.