January 16, 2024 Post

This week’s random thought is a crime tip: If attacked by a mob of clowns, go for the juggler.

First, here’s a brief update on something from last week’s post that included an AI-generated image of a wannabe gangster. When describing my hapless protagonist, I mentioned that he wore a pinky ring. A couple of you suggested I should have included the aforementioned jewelry in the photo. Well, guess what? If you go back to my website (www.scottycornfield.com) and check out last week’s blog entry, you will now see a pinky ring. I didn’t even know that Meta would allow me to do this, but it was actually quite easy. I just went into my recent searches, pulled up the gangster image and was able to add the ring. Pretty cool, right?

This week’s tale was inspired by a prompt from Michael P. of Arizona. He told me a hysterical story about trying to wash his hands in a public restroom where he mistook a baby changing station for a sink. Once he realized what it was, he understood why it did not dispense water. I took his story, condensed it down to the prompt of “Baby Changing Table: Directions Not Included.” I couldn’t use his actual story to write mine (that would be cheating), but it absolutely did provide the inspiration for this week’s tale, and that is exactly why I love getting your prompts.

Enough idle chatter. Let’s jump into the Story of the Week.

Nobel Winners and Bathroom Breaks

At the biochemistry conference, Leonard and Siegfried paused at the hotel bathrooms identified only by stick figures.

“The person on the left has a triangle, possibly representing a dress,” Leonard said.

“Or maybe it’s a kilt,” Siegfried noted.

“So you’re hypothesizing the left entrance is for kilt-wearing Scotsmen only?”

“Exactly.”

“Then who uses the right door? Males not from Scotland? Women? Everyone else?”

A concierge approached.

“It’s amazing, but even with these simple signs, some of our genius attendees are confused.”

“Shocking,” Leonard said.

“If you tell him about my Scotsman theory,” Siegfried whispered, “I’ll brain you with a bunsen burner.”

Prompt: Baby Changing Table: Directions Not Included

Novel News & Notes:

As promised, I held my breath and dove into the second draft of Questionable Characters this week. I haven’t finished it yet (I’m about 60% in) and here are a few brief observations. First of all, at least up to this point, it’s actually not bad. There are a few bits of what I think could easily pass for a very legitimate crime novel. There are parts that have some snarky chuckles and dark cop humor sprinkled throughout. The draft also contains its share of overwriting—scenes that need a sharp knife to whittle down to the vital parts of the scene or maybe excise the whole thing. So far, I can brag about at least one thing. I’ve kept my commitment not to get sucked into editing anything yet. I highlight typos, drop in brief post its with things like “shorten this.” I made at least one serious note where I noted that I’ve taken too long to get to my hero’s specific goal.

Assuming the rest of the story appears to work, once I finish the read, I’ll outline everything I have, and then tweak the existing outline to tighten up my story for what I hope will be the third (and final) major rewrite.

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about what I have. It’s not close to being ready to share with any actual humans yet, but I’m definitely moving in the right direction.

As always, thanks for listening.

Scotty out

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