Back into the Writing Groove

And no, I don't mean the blogging groove, although clearly I dip back into that more often than I used to. :) I mean the real, true I'm-writing-a-story writing groove. And I'd forgotten how much I love it. I just need a little encouragement and something good to work with, and I have a lot of fun writing.

My roommate Savannah sent me an email a week or so ago containing a brief story written from the point of view of her fictitious alter-ego, the Nefarious Lady Deathmoon. It also contained a challenge to my fictitious alter-ego, the Ubiquitous Pink Ninja, wondering what she would do next. There's a long and amusing history to how my best friend and I ended up with alter-egos that are mortal enemies and got their identities, and I'm working on composing a few pieces of that history to share with my other friends. Unfortunately, right now most of the appeal of the two characters is in the fact that it's an inside joke between me and Savannah. However, as we continue the saga of our two characters, they'll become a little more well-defined and hopefully be able to stand on their own as interesting characters.

This writing situation presents a unique challenge that I've never faced before, since I've never been restricted from writing about a significant character before. Because the Nefarious Lady Deathmoon is the exclusive property of Savannah, I can't write about any of her actions or characteristics without risking violating some part of her character that I don't know about. The only things I can work with are the things that Savannah has already revealed. On the flip side, Savannah has the same problem when it comes to dealing with my character.

It's fun, though. Kind of like a cross between writing a story and playing one of those intense strategy games, since you have to prepare contingency plans and plot elements flexible enough to bend around what the other person writes. And we'll find out who wins. Which makes it more fun, since neither of us have any idea. Kind of like real life, except that this plot progresses much more quickly.

You know, I've given up my plans for writing a book, and I never thought I'd co-author something. Ever. But if this story turns out well, Savannah and I are thinking about polishing it up and maybe publishing it. It would be fun to do together, and it definitely has the potential to be much more original than normal if we write it this way.

Long story short, I caught the writing bug again, and it made me happy. I've forgotten how much I really do enjoy writing.