The story I’m revising now is so close, though, that I think it would be counterproductive to pause. I’ll finish it–this week, I think–before I do anything else. But before I start to revise anything else, I need to create something new.

The cuts I’ve made so far were mostly scenery and description–two items I usually have too little of, not too much. In trying to improve my narration skills, I went too far and included so much detail that it read like blocking notes in a stage script: “Pat moves down left, then crosses to center.” Worse, I describe everything Pat touches or looks at while he moves. Too much detail. Part of learning to include description will be learning what I can leave out.

Like the other two stories I’ve recently written (this one is in the same project), it takes place in the past instead of the generic “now.” This one is set in 1969. The others were in 1976 and 1985. Writing fiction set in a specific time in the past has a unique challenge: I’m fascinated by history and it’s easy to get distracted by research. For the 1985 story, I needed a fact about the Sunshine Skyway bridge—and went on to read articles about the 1980 disaster, the Blackthorn tragedy that occurred near the bridge five months earlier, how the new bridge was designed, and how the remains of the old bridge were finally destroyed in 1992. Was any of this information necessary to the story? No. It was simply interesting—and I ultimately shifted the story inland and have the characters driving down Highway 301 instead.

“Substance” is about how the protagonist reacts to the birth of his daughter, which I had arbitrarily set on July 24, 1969. I didn’t realize the significance of that date when I chose it. When I skimmed a 1969 timeline I discovered that it the Apollo 11 crew returned to Earth on that date. I had to work that into the story. So I went on a search to discover what time splashdown had occurred and spent an entire morning reading interviews with the astronauts and the Navy diver who was first onto the raft, the specifications for the command module, and other completely irrelevant facts.

Most of the stories in this project will take place from 1969 through 1999, so I’ll face this problem again. Research can be fun, but I have to make sure that it doesn’t keep me from writing.

Usually, whatever triggered the idea for the story also supplies a title. For example, “Big Little Blonde” came from a passage in a Ross MacDonald novel that I had jotted in my notebook. The line suggested a character, the character suggested the story. For “Untitled,” though, the original idea was too diffuse to provide a working title. I’m actually surprised that I finished it so quickly–a good working title often serves as  the spine of the story and can keep it focused.Without one, it’s easy to ramble. On the other hand, I had a good working title in “Blonde” but had so much trouble with focus that it spun off an entirely new story and I very nearly let the whole idea wither and die.

“Untitled” will have to find a title in revision. Meanwhile, I completed a second story about the same protagonist this morning–more of a vignette than a story–with the working title “Losing Faith.” It has been a good week. I wish I knew what I’m going to work on tomorrow.