Wednesday, December 15, 2010

WIP Wednesday Has a Crush

I'm doing a good bit of editing this week, both the dark, weird novella How We Die in a Hungry Town and a humorous (I hope) short monster tale, "The Monster, the Lake, and Megan Manning".

Some of you may have seen my first line of the later as I tweeted on Friday:

There was a time, many summers ago, when a beautiful seventeen-year-old interrupted my quest to pull the Sleeper from the murky depths of Lake Lotawana.

Pretty clear the narrator had a crush, no?

And then...later in the story:

The Sleeper yanked hard, and the stern rose above the water. Megan clasped the gunwales on either side, her ruby-red fingernails garish against the moon-glow of the whitewashed boat.

“What the hell was that for?”

“I didn’t do it. Bass,” I said.

She turned on me, glaring. Her eyes flicked to the rod and taut line, then back to my face. “Are you…fishing?”

I might as well have been masturbating, the way she spat the word “fishing.” The line jerked back and forth.

“Um…”

“Are you?”


Funny...both the novella and story feature a young woman named Megan. I think Fred (my subconscious) and I need to have a talk. (Did I mention I have two stories due for publication in January with Megans at center stage? Yikes. Somebody get me a baby-name book...)

11 comments:

Fox Lee said...

I see nothing wrong with men playing with their rods.

Aaron Polson said...

I knew you'd appreciate it, Natalie.

Ricky Bush said...

Maybe I better investigate since I have a daughter named Megan. By the way, when is THE HOUSE EATERS due out? (fellow VT author's curious about the scheduling there).

Lee Thompson/Thomas Morgan/James Logan/Julian Vaughn said...

Very cool, Aaron. Have a blast with the editing and the Megans! :D

Michael Stone said...

Gak, recurring names are the bane of my existence. I've had to rename half of the characters of my current WIP after I noticed nearly all of 'em begin with C.

Celia, Colin, Charlie... To compound matters their surnames ere Challinor and Cotterill. What is all that about?

Love the boat extract btw.

Danielle Birch said...

My characters tend to have names with four letters. It's not deliberate, just odd.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Interesting, this Megan obsession thing...

K M Kelly said...

So waht would Freud make of this I wonder?

Aaron Polson said...

Ricky...no fear, really. I think The House Eaters is slated for February. That's the latest, anyway...

Lee - I'll be good. Promise.

Mike - I have a short coming out with two main male characters named Brad and Brian. What was I smoking?

Danielle - easier for the reader to remember, maybe?

Alan - Isn't it?

Kate - Poor Freud...I wouldn't want him to have to read anything I've read.

K.C. Shaw said...

Are you sure they're not all the same Megan in different incarnations? Sometimes when I'm thinking up new characters it feels like I'm casting for a movie. :)

Katey said...

But Megan's such a good name!

Love that excerpt. Definitely a crush. Oh, the awkwardness.