Muse and I have been on a tear the past two weeks. First, she delivered on Moi Neuroses and I have a solid rough draft, and she's been pushing forward on Wishing Well: Homecoming, a kind-of wrap-up where Wish assembles all the thoughts she had during her trip out to llerkin and comes to some important conclusions. We've been in a relentless "Finish it or Kill it" mood, which brings us down to the question of when should a story be abandoned.
Cybernetic Control Authority started life as a role-playing game scene, and I thought I could adapt it to a Journal Entry. As it stands, it's not too bad: "Cheyenne versus the Terminator," ending up as a huge diplomatic brouhahah.
The problem is that there's no sex scene, and no real justification for one. Muse's response is that I should try making the story bigger. "You need a reason for Cheyenne's behavior in Robots of the Deep Versus the Vampire Girl of Fallow Five; maybe this is the chance The Deep takes, here and now, to seed the universe with Encompassment Enforcers, and Cheyenne becomes programmed, unknown even to her, to be one of them." Grief, I'm not sure I want to write another novel, though. I've got too many already.
Still, looking through the catalog of unfinished works, it seems that I'll be finishing quite a number sometime soon. And the queue will get deeper.
Oh, but Muse has more for me. Last night she said, "You complained that the family reunions in the Honesty and Heroine arcs are too similar. Okay, let's play with Heroine, since the backstory in Honesty is too solid. Does Dove have a sister?"
Wretched girl.