You know I'll be nagging, lady.

I'm in, too, although be careful what you wish for...my dad called me "deathgrip" once.

Oh, foo, I'm not on LJ so it won't let me see! :(

JZ, I love that first sentence--it's a marvelous hook. That whole sequence is just so vivid and engaging.

I'm feeling like I have too many characters to keep track of, right now. But I think it'd be weird if I try to cut too many out.

Dream last night that might make a good setting for someone. Afterlife called "The Wait" which is not for everyone, but only for those who died before they got all the days they were supposed to have. Time in the "The Wait" does not give you days equal to what you would have had, just the same number. The Wait consists of a long hall, with chambers off to the side. You enter the wait riding a car like a ride in Disneyland. You get off, choosing a chamber at random with no clue as to what makes one chamber better than another. Chambers are just lounges, with chairs and couches, and tables and lamps shared by others. If you choose well you end up with compatible people you have shared conversation and amiable silence with. If you choose moderately badly you end up with bores or boors. If you choose very badly well...

You get a fixed number of days in "The Wait" before moving on to your real afterlife. While you are there you get a pale white tasteless drink called "the Sustenance" that is magically delivered to chamber you choose. If you are deprived of "The Sustenance" you don't die, but you get very very hungry - become a hungry ghost and suffer all pains live people do when starving (but without dying) until your time is up and you can move on. And the reason this is important is that if someone does not want to move on when their time is up, they can stay if they steal someone else's Sustenance. So if you choose the wrong room, you may get hit on the head, stuffed behind a couch and have your Sustenance stolen during your stay.

There is no kind of justice in all this. It is just an accounting procedure to make cosmic books balance. And as long as the right amount of Sustenance is consumed apparently the books balance, and nobody cares by whom.

If you manage to avoid being hit on the head but don't like your chamber, you can open the door walk down the hall and try your luck in another room. But walking down the hall instead being delivered in a ride is a huge risk of being mugged by overstayers.

Also there are doors you don't see during the ride that you see if you walk, but you can't open them. These are offices for Angels, Gods and Monsters from various afterlifes who are too low status to get on office in the various heavens, hells and what have yous they come from. But they completely ignore the dead. They are busy doing their work, and don't care about remedying injustice or causing injustice, or remedying or causing suffering. The dead in "The Wait" to them are just part of the machinery in the place that provides them with overflow office space.

Anyway, if you find that a useful setting for something - you are welcome to use it.

I

That is fascinting, Typo.

Confessions of a Sweet Valley High ghostwriter.

Oh, cool. She was writing them way back, too. I'm bookmarking that to read later. Thanks, Tom.

Thanks Connie. I always worry that sharing dreams is boring. But some of mine really do seem to be plot bunnies, and if I can't use them sharing seems only right.

Talking of stories based on dreams, I could use some advice. My "Deadlands" novel has come to a dead end. I can't do more on it without help. But I think it has potential to be some thing really terrific. So I'm thinking about seeking a partner. But before I do I want to make sure that this is a fair division of labor, that I'm not making an offer that asks too much of the partner.

I have a really great world, horrifying and beautiful. I have a marvelous main character. I know how the story begins and ends. I have some good secondary characters, but not developed. I have about 12,000 words of scenes and subplots. Even knowing the beginning and end, I'm not sure how to get from here to there. Most of the plot and subplot is not developed. There is a major issue that is not dealt with at all and needs to be (Not in the sense of resolving it but in the sense of what is chosen in the way of characters and subplots to portray it.) There are organizational issues.

What it comes down to is that prose is (IMO) first rate. Once I decide on a character I convey that character's personality well. And totally suck at plot. (Maybe that is why I do well at non-fiction. Research and analysis determines the story.) So what I would like from a partner is a chapter by chapter outline - level of detail maybe two pages per chapter. Given that I can do the rest and produce a first draft. After I have a first draft, then the partner could have as much input as they want - whether that is acting as a critic, acting as an editor, or writing a second draft - or some mixture like rewriting or adding chapters while just editing or critiquing others.

So in terms of work, am I asking more work than is fair? Also am I asking the partner to do the dull part and leave all the fun to me? Is this a deal that would be reasonable to offer another writer? Whether they would accept is another matter, but there is a difference in being approached with a fair deal that does not interest you and being approached with a totally one-sided absurd offer. And I really want to avoid being the person who offers the latter.