I think I’ve figured out the culprit behind this week’s mini-block. I’ve fallen into a comfort zone and I’m having trouble pulling out of it.
The best writing I’ve done this month has been stuff I wasn’t sure I could do. It’s only when I get out of my comfort zone as a writer that I’m forced to really stretch and try new things. Up until now, I’ve had Bob Zubrin’s Mars Direct plan to act as a template for my plot. I’ve hung human concerns on it in the foreground, written more about the characters than what they were doing, but that’s because what they were doing was to a certain extent dictated for me. I didn’t have to think that much about it.
Now that they’ve landed on Mars, the situation changes. I have a little more housecleaning to do today as they guide in the ERV and land it near the hab, then unpack the rover from the ERV, but once they’ve got a car to get around, it’s a whole new ballgame. From that point forward I have no map, no template telling me what has to happen next in my plot. From that point forward it’s nothing but blue sky (okay pink sky, it is Mars) imagination.
That’s what has me scared. I’ve reached the point on the map where there’s no more land and just a faint script saying “here be monsters”. From here on out will be very uncomfortable. Which means I may have finally gotten to the good part.
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