As I Get Older.....

[Atheist]

... I seem to have more memories than future plans. I dislike memories - I tend to live for what is to be. Is it a sign of impending death?

[carrot99]

Why aren't you making more plans? The weather, lack of funds, health problems? It's probably just the post festivities doldrums. Although if it is a sign of impending death it will give you time to sort your affairs and tick off things left on your bucket list.

[Atheist]

Carrot; Thanks for your advice.
I think it's more to do with me having writer's block. Having galloped through 70k words of decent story, I find myself spending each day editing and refining instead of sprinting towards the exciting/surprising/poignant denouement.
Sigh. I'll get it plotted by the end of the month and polished by the end of the year.
I promise.
Best wishes.

[jno]

acquiring more memories as you grow older, whether you like them or not, is a sign of growing older, that's all. You will die, but there's no reason to suppose it's "impending". As to whether you make fewer plans, that's up to you; I have personally given up on my dreams of visiting Tibet and winning Olympic gold medals, but that's probably just because I am starting to get wise to my limitations, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[rowanwitch]

I know that problem,but not so seriously I currently have the queen of hell, a couple of fallen angels and a flatulent hell hound stuck in mid wales, hunting a wolf/ alpaca type of monster and I just need to get them to somewhere they can cause more mayhem. I like to give myself challenges... Writing a comic novel was a good idea I thought, forgetting comedy is very very difficult. I also am doing some difficult embroidery, and after yesterday think I might work on my drawing... Memories are source material, it's the only way I think they are really useful.

[Atheist]

Thanks, jno. I have never really had plans. The nearest thing I have to a plan now is to finish my story. I never dreamed of visiting or winning (although in my youth I always presumed that I would make something lasting).

[rowanwitch]

Atheist, always nice to think you will leave a work that will ensure you will be remembered, but sometimes it's the little things that may have the biggest impact. The person you gave time to, maybe helping them with am on application, or the child you told was good at something, when everyone else put them down. Those impacts are our legacy, That child may grow up to do the big thing.... We don't know, the thing is you may not have had your impact yet, all you can do is stay alive and involved and open to what may present it self.

[ynnafymmi]

Keep on keeping on,Atheist.Perhaps this year we will get rid of Putin the fascist and Corbyn the anti-semite,Jew hater.

[carrot99]

It sounds like you don't want to finish/end your oeuvre. Is there a chance of a second work in the series? That would spur you on to the exciting/surprising/poignant denouement as you'd have a second story to map out and it would all start again. No impending death at the moment I think.

[MissTerious2]

I think it happens to all of us as we age. But memories can be good things. I know I cannot do much now but thinking back to the amountof things I have done and achieved in my in my life gives me a lot of pleasure and doesn't mean impending death. I am just having to resign myself that I can't do what I used to love. Travel is out of the question, q

[Atheist]

Thanks all.
Carrot. My current story is a sequel to my first, and I feel too old to manage a third. My second needs to be the real deal. I only started writing seriously when I was 70, and there's no chance of learning enough to start churning out a best-selling series. The only impending death at the mo is whether or not the 'hero' dies as part of the story - if he doesn't, I'll need to write a third, and I don't think I could manage a plausible tale without the old b***r being in it. He's the only one I can sort of understand.

[rowanwitch]

Kill him off then.... Protagonists dying isn't that common but if you do find you have another book in you after all you can write about his earlier life...or carry on with another of your main characters

[Atheist]

Thanks, fanny, for not mentioning SNP! Lol.
Rowan; I think you have more imagination than I have. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff. Thanks for your words.
Misst; My memories bring me no happiness; "Chronicles of Wasted Time"! But they don't bring me sadness either - the past is gone and the future is all we have.

[Atheist]

Rowan, the only other character I could write about is very young and very female, and I could never do her justice. I wouldn't actually kill off my protagonist, because he isn't a protagonist, he is me, and he will simply pop off because that's naturally what he would do in the story.

[ynnafymmi]

Thanks,Atheist.Three things i want to disappear from my life this year,the fascism of Putin,the fascism of Corbyn,the fascism of the SNP eejits on this site.I wont hold my breath.

[rowanwitch]

If I get my lot back to civilisation... I might finish. I do like my Queen of hell, I think she could have a few adventures... Upsetting every religion ... Well except Islam, I like living too much.

[ynnafymmi]

Why so,rowan?Isnt Islam the religion of peace and love?

[carrot99]

To get over the writers' block. At the end of book 2 could the hero not go off on a quest/take a job abroad/be put in psychiatric care so he's taken care of but could still return when you are ready to do book 3?

[rowanwitch]

They have this nasty thing called a Fatwah.... Remember Salman Rushdie.

[rowanwitch]

If he is an old codger... How about him entering a care home.... He could get up to all sorts, hunting murdering careworkers. Finding stolen heirlooms..... Trying to escape!!!

[Ken4155]

Atheist, i have penned a yet-to-be-published novel of approx 120,000 words. I have submitted parts of it to publishers over the years - not for some time, though - but if i truly want it 'out there' i may have to go down the route of 'vanity publishing' via Kindle.
While i was writing the novel, i would do so in ink, until i ran out of things to say; then i would type what i had written. I found this to be the best way of moving forward with the novel. Sometimes the characters would take over the story and when i came to type the written work, i was sometimes taken aback by this. I am told this is a good sign.
I suppose the point of my post is that your main character may himself decide whether he lives or dies and how the story ought to end.
Best of luck with it.