OK. OK. OK.
I've been promising a new story for a while now. I can tell you now that I actually have four stories that I've been working on over the past year.
The first story is my attempt to rewrite the Tickets story, but I'm currently blocked on that one. Instead of retrying and failing to continue it, I've started to write other stories.
My second story is a new genre for me. I have about five solid chapters for that one, and then I have about two branches. This is the one I am currently most excited about.
The third story is mostly complete. I just need to do an editing pass without making any changes, which is pretty hard for me to do (it's like listening to your recorded voice, it never sounds "right" at any time). I'm giving myself a cut-off date where I will have to have it complete, which I will announce below. I would think it's similar to the Tickets series, a coming of age story, without the plot element of the Tickets, and the mind control is very minimal. (It's hard to explain, but trust me on that. You'll be able to read it soon.)
The fourth story is actually a set of stories (in other words, a new "universe" on this site. I'm thinking about publishing it either as a single story with an undetermined number of chapters, or a few shorter stories (where each is a consecutive chapter for the entire story). This story is "finished" as in the first four "chapters" are complete. I'm not yet into the editing phase of this story.
So, now that I've explained what I have been doing over the year or two since I've started this journey, let me pre-announce that "third" story, which is going to be called Quitting.
Like the Tickets series, Quitting is a coming of age story. My story description on the site will be:
What happens when your best friend, whom you’ve known since high school, drunkenly blurts out a secret about you that he promised never to share, and does it at a college dormitory party? Lives can change. That’s what could happen.
Don’t you wish that life had an “UNDO” button? Don’t we all?
So, now that I've announced this, I have given myself a due-or-die date of November 1, 2026.
I will be back here within a few days to make good on this promise.
I guess my previous blog entry describes how this story came about, but I'll add some new facts about it.
The story's first line indicates the idea I had, with Jake sticking his finger into Laurie's mouth. I guess there are similar stories out there, but I figured this would be an interesting concept for me to try to get a new story out.
After writing the initial “chapters” of this story, I realized it was spiraling out of control. I introduced Cathy, and then had ideas for additional scenes, each of which was gradually becoming more intricate and convoluted, with any conclusion out of reach.
With a heavy heart, I decided to stop. It was destined for my "slush pile" (I never delete any of my stories) but I didn't have the heart to stick it there, never to be seen by anybody.
Now that I’m writing the third draft of a chapter story, I realized that my promise of a story a year ago was taking longer to materialize than I had anticipated. Knowing that my “short stories” are rarely popular, I decided to post this one as a sample of the stuff I start writing but never complete. Since the story isn’t “finished,” I understand that this will likely be one of my lower-scoring posts, but I’ve long since stopped caring about my story scores.
Regarding Scores -- An Aside
My favorite short story that I posted here is the one I call "Smitty," a parody of a short story by James Thurber. (My parody is here on StoriesOnline and has a dismal score.) I guess Thurber's work isn't very popular with the people that frequent this site, despite the fact that Ben Stiller made a movie from the original story, so I guess the parody seems kind of wasted on them. (This is not a complaint about my readers, by the way. Its that I'm an "OK Boomer" type of old-fashioned geezer that has different references than younger people nowadays.)
Anyway, whatever the reception that "Tricked" gets, I'll still be happy that I bit the bullet and posted it, even after promising myself never to post another short story here again.
As for my next "real" chapter story, it's still in progress, and isn't ready for publication yet. I promise that I'm working on it, and hope to get it to an acceptable state (by my own definition) soon, but I've learned that I am the most stern editor with regard to my work.
Anyway, I hope that some people enjoy my uncompleted (and abandoned) "Tricked" story in the meantime. I enjoyed rereading it as I edited and proofread it before posting it here.
Peace!
JiMC
Over the years, I've often been asked about the possibility of a third installment in my Tickets series. Lately, especially this past year, I've been giving it a lot of thought. I've read through just about everything I ever wrote for the Tickets series, published and unpublished, so I've decided to take this opportunity to once again reflect publically on the Tickets series.
Tickets marked many firsts for me and garnered a dedicated following early on.
Tickets was my first experience where I wrote a story with the aid of an editor. He corrected my many grammatical errors and also highlighted issues within the story and some continuity errors. He helped me with local references. The story was set in the Midwest and I was unfamiliar with the area. He pointed out the impracticality of a scene I wrote that involved a swim in Lake Michigan. This is not feasible in May, as the lake is too cold at that time of year! His guidance was invaluable. Note to potential authors: Write what you know!
In my slush pile, numerous discarded chapters didn't fit the evolving narrative. For example, one such discarded subplot involved Jim visiting a strip club—a tangent that didn't contribute anything to the story. Initially, the story lacked a clear direction, with chapters feeling more like disconnected episodes in a TV series. Characters took divergent paths, often conflicting with other parts of the story.
Crafting the story was a constant struggle. I introduced and discarded many characters until a few became the bedrock for those first two stories' development. Gradually, I honed the narrative into a cohesive direction, laying the groundwork for a complete storyline.
Even after publication, the first story doesn't fully come together until its later stages. Looking back today, I realize I didn't even introduce one of the most crucial characters until the sixth chapter—a misstep akin to burying the lede. It's a detail that would have drawn a sharp rebuke from the editor of the first newspaper I ever contributed to.
A long while back, I explained the concept behind my "Helen" stories. I once thought this was an ingenious idea to create a standardized character and use that so I could focus on the plot rather than the characters.
Interestingly, while Tickets started as a Helen story, it underwent so many changes that I retargeted the main focus on Jim rather than my only remaining Helen character, Merry. That's right, in my original concept, Merry found the tickets!
The evolution of the Tickets stories was quite remarkable.
Once I nailed down the direction, I created my bible, which is a roadmap to guide the flow of the stories. This bible evolved but was instrumental in maintaining consistency and continuity:
Tickets taught me about character development, which is one of the reasons I no longer use the Helen device. I grew so attached to those characters that I couldn't bear to muster the effort to write a conclusive third story; it would feel like killing them off. I spent much time creating these characters and they are real to me.
While posting the Tickets stories weekly, I received a wealth of feedback that I truly enjoyed. Some of it remains memorable even today.
One particular reader, a musically talented fan of the story, bluntly told me my understanding of music was off and the concepts I described were nonsense. Rather than taking offense, I took time to learn what I didn't know from him, seeking to understand the nuances he pointed out. His insights helped me rewrite parts of the story to make it more authentic. We wrote back and forth between the middle of the first story through the posting of the second, and he told me of some of his experiences brought on by the appearance of the Stars and Stripes Forever in the second story.
Other readers pointed out other errors, such as my misplaced reference to Brown University as a place somewhere in Massachusetts instead of Providence, Rhode Island. It wasn't for lack of research; I genuinely believed I had it correct, which shows that I'm a typical ignorant American, especially regarding geography. Write what you know!
Some eagle-eyed readers noted that Jim couldn't have performed Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" in the timeframe I had depicted, as the song hadn't been released yet. I had to scurry to figure out a suitable alternative piece, and I'm still unhappy with my rushed solution, with apologies to Todd Rundgren.
I acknowledge there were plenty of mistakes in the Tickets stories. I was humbled by the passion my readers showed and their disappointment in its imperfections. This motivated me to make corrections to make the stories better. Thanks to the weekly posting schedule, I could update and refine chapters based on immediate feedback. Some changes were substantial enough to influence unpublished chapters, making the final published stories stronger.
Tickets continued to evolve throughout its publication.
It was a challenging yet enjoyable learning experience. I would gladly relive the entire process if I could. It remains one of my most cherished writing endeavors.
As for a final entry in the Tickets series? Part of me hopes to revisit it, while another part hesitates, fearing the daunting task it would entail.
That's not to say I haven't attempted to start a third Tickets story. Let me give you a good example. Recently, I stumbled upon an idea in my slush pile where the opening scene would feature the couple performing a song on The Johnny Carson Show. The logistics of their performance had me intrigued. What song would they sing? Would they do a duet with Jim on piano and Kristen on bass? Would it be just Jim performing a solo with the orchestra playing? That wouldn't work because I needed Kristen and Jim to be on the couch together when they talked with Johnny. Why not have the duet with the orchestra accompanying them? Rock acts were rarely shown on Carson because of technical limitations, so I would need to explain how this comes about. The scene was lots of fun to write, the "what if" things. However, with a full story, it needs to align with my bible and this scene isn't there, so I need a good reason to include it. Does Johnny offer some advice that would be useful in another scene? Does the fact that people saw them on Carson lead to another pivotal scene in my bible? While I loved watching Johnny and would have loved to see him interview the couple, that wasn't reason enough to include it. That's the daunting task of writing a full story.
By the way, those what-if scenes are fun to write. It's why I have such a large slush pile. Sometimes, I find a way to integrate them into the story, and they leave the slush pile. Sometimes, they stay in the slush pile.
As I type this, I find myself thinking of another possibility.
Instead of committing to a full third story, another approach could be to write occasional short stories that fulfill elements from my bible for the third installment. As you can see, the Carson story doesn't fit. Yet. However, once all the pieces are in place, it would be easier to weave them together and condense them into that elusive final story, and people can see the work in progress, even if it isn't sequential. I rarely write my stories from start to finish in the order they appear. This is similar to the way movie directors shoot scenes out of order.
It's an idea worth considering—a potential solution.
In the meantime, my next blog entry will introduce a new story that loosely connects to the Tickets series and a few of my other works.
Peace!
JiMC
I guess, now that I'm publishing the sixth chapter of Aimless, I can start commenting on the story.
It's a futuristic story. I considered having it take place now, but the "collar" technology just isn't there yet. So I had to create my own fictional futuristic universe with holos (holographic entertainment), comms and portacomms (the successor to our current smart phones), and the insidious "collar" technology.
For me, it's one of the darker chapter stories I've ever published. After all, it is clear that Jess, our protagonist in this story, is not very happy with her situation. I've also written this with a female point of view, which is also a first for my chapter stories as well. This is how the original Tickets story was to have been written (from the point of view of Merry, of all characters!), and I didn't think I could pull it off at the time. Tickets did much better the way I wrote it. Now, a lot of years and stories have passed since then, and at no point during the writing of this story did I regret putting this into Jess' point of view. For me, it makes the entire story more believable.
For those of you that are thinking that the darkness and despair of this story is heralding some "new" JiMC type story, don't forget that I wrote the Don't Talk to Strangers series, which can be thought of as even darker than this story. Don't worry, though... the usual "JiMC schmaltz" will appear here and there even in Aimless.
If you're enjoying the story, please drop me a line. Even if you're not enjoying it, let me know and tell me what you think is disappointing. Ever since I wrote the final chapter of Dreamless, I found that I could handle disappointed readers. I just like to hear from my readers.
Anyway, there's quite a few chapters for this story to go, so there will be more to enjoy (or be disappointed in).
Peace!
JiMC