Sunday, August 7, 2011

Idea Garage Sale: So Close, So Far

I took another stab at "Brush Week on Pear Street," the 11,000-word short story, today, and still don't see my way clear. It's a structural problem. But I've realized that it's another stab at an idea I've had for a long time, which I've seen other people do, and am not sure why I can't find my feet in it.

The premise is simple: You take a discrete multi-residence unit - an apartment building, a block, a village - and you tell the story of each resident. The stories intersect and affect and reflect each other. Some of the characters are active figures in each other's stories, others aren't. Even the nosiest character doesn't have all the information. Only the writer - and eventually the reader - has enough information for a god's eye view of the whole picture.

This premise itches my brain enough that I've already talked about it, but there's just so many ways you could do it, if you knuckled down to do it, that I don't mind putting it out there twice.

I think the fact that it itches me so bad means I'm going to get it done sooner or later. Maybe with this story? It's the closest I've gotten so far - it has a final page, anyway.

I'm not the only one with this urge. Sim blogs, like the ones posting to each other over at the Build-a-City Challenge on LiveJournal, are basically the same thing. For free. Not me - I want to have my artistic expression and be able to pay the builders, too!

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