Random thought: I bet there are more planes in the ocean than there are subs in the sky.

Last week I was vacationing, and since I’m still floating (that’s a whole other story), I’ll dive right into the Story of the Week. The tale was inspired by the unusual prompt of “Lottery: A tax for the math-impaired,” generously donated by Scooter’s godmother.

      Clearly, He’s Done the Research

Whenever the lottery neared another record, Buford jumped in.

“I got this down to a science,” he said. “Instead of buying twenty dollars’ worth, I buy forty. It’s only twenty bucks more and I’m doubling my chances to win five hundred million.”

“You know what the odds are, right?” his brother, Albert, asked.

“Whatever they are, I’m doubling ’em.”

“So… they jump from one in three hundred million to two. That’s statistically insignificant.”

“Doubling anything is always good, Albert.”

“If you doubled your I.Q., it still wouldn’t hit 100.”

“Hey, dumbass, 100 is a perfect score. Nobody could do that.”

Prompt: Lottery: A tax for the math-impaired

NOVEL NEWS & NOTES…

After addressing all the major notes from my editor, I have moved on to analyzing each scene of Questionable Characters. Since every scene should serve at least one purpose (if not more), here’s the system I’m using as I review my outline. I put an “A” next to each scene that advances the story; a “C” if the scene reveals something about my character(s); a “T” stands for tension or conflict; and “E” represents an emotional response I’m hoping to generate with the reader. My opening scene, for instance, checked the boxes for A, C, and T. If I come across a scene, or major parts of a scene that don’t do any of those things, it needs to go away. While I haven’t found that to be the case anywhere so far, I have seen places that could definitely use some trimming.

One other quick (and much welcomed) discovery. My editor made a comment about how my manuscript itself had too much space between paragraphs. She pointed out that this was something that can be adjusted. After following her suggestion, my manuscript looked much better, and more importantly, the page count went from 396 to 352. I was always hoping to wind up near 350 pages and this simple fix did the trick. I’ll take the win.

I may be looking for a few beta readers shortly, so if you’re interested in being among the first to read the book, and you’re willing to give me very specific feedback, Questionable Characters could be in your future.

Stay tuned.

Scotty out

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