2026 Writing Challenge Blog: Backtracking to get ahead

 

January 30, 2026

I devoted an hour or so last night to working on this story, but I was still unsure about how to progress. I had an idea for the next scene, but I didn’t have the entry part.

I still didn’t have the flesh of characters developed nor a notion of the upcoming conflict to delve into it.

So, I decided to backtrack into the sections already written and look for places that could be expanded, hoping to find more footholds for my story.

It turned quickly into a productive night where each of my characters started taking more shape.

Here are a couple of the additions:

In the first section, I mention that Peter had a successful first book “Carnival of Screams.” I didn’t have much more detail than that, but I liked that it established that Peter was horror genre writer. Near the end of the section, I have a list of questions bouncing around Peter’s head placed by his agent. One included the latest numbers on his first book. So, I thought I’d shed a bit more light on that.

He barely remembered writing “Carnival of Screams,” the words appeared on his screen like it was a fever dream. As a story, it was a pretty predictable slasher plot, but the character Cleet Tate elevated every word. His stunted vocabulary. His hobbled gait. Those eyes. Green. So green Peter sometimes dreamed about them, just like his readers. He had a stack of letters from fans who had nightmares where a pair of green eyes followed them through a poorly lit carnival midway. The only sound an occasional smack of a hammer banging on the metal of ride frames.

Maybe Peter should fill out some character sheets. Maybe find one that interested him and go from there, worry about story later. He worried though that would just lead to a bastardized version of Cleet Tate. The character that birthed his career and so far, he couldn’t top.

Another part from the section from the point of Peter’s son Cal, I had hinted that Cal’s vocabulary and reading skills were years ahead of his peers. I decide to build on that thought in these couple paragraphs.

“Hypocrites.” He’d learned the word in September, part of Dad’s vocabulary builder lists. Maybe Cal couldn’t do math, but he read at a sophomore level. His spelling and handwriting were impeccable. Impeccable had been a vocab word at least a year ago. Hell, he could rattle off grammatically correct sentences in English in that his peers couldn’t even fathom. Fathom, that was from last week. Yet, his Mom was worried about math and science. What was she, the government?

Well, he liked science, but Mr. Suman hated him. Cal didn’t know why, but Cal could feel it anytime the teacher called his name in class. Elongating the vowel just so, every, single, time. “Caaaal Modjeski.” If Cal answered correctly, Mr. Suman… guffawed (from last March’s vocabulary builder), noticeably. As if a correct answer from Cal was just as likely as hitting the right numbers on the lotto. If Cal’s answer was wrong, Mr. Suman sneered, obviously content all was regular, normal, and as it should be in the world. The sun came up in the east, set in the west, and Caaal Modjeski still didn’t know bupkis about science. There were words that Cal could use to describe Mr. Suman, but they didn’t appear in Dad’s vocabulary builder lists (although some of the words Cal could use did appear in Dad’s book. Cal had read half of “Carnival of Screams” last summer. Halfway was as far as Cal could get through the book, and he didn’t stop because it was overly scary).

Cal was stretched on his bed with the lights out even though he had another hour before his bedtime. His hands were behind his head, the fingers laced together, his eyes focused on the dimpled texture of his ceiling that he could see where the street lights shone through his window.

He often watched his ceiling, imagining it was the dimpled surface of some distant planet. The surface was stark, devoid of things like trees and grass. Rather, it was covered with rocky crags and cracked hardpan soil. A real hellscape, Cal imagined. One where the worst kinds of things could happen, but there was some hope.

2026: Writing Blog Challenge - A blank screen and four characters

 

Last week, I started the story that I mention in the previous post. I was hoping to develop a story based upon some sort of possessed CPAP machine. 

Well, I got about 1,400 words, and I still haven’t introduced the CPAP. LOL. 

When I write, I almost always dig into characters before I worry too much about plot. I always feel like if I find the right characters that conflict and story will follow. Does it always work? No, but that’s the way I do it. 

My first character had to be the CPAP user. My initial thought was to make this a first-person retelling of whatever mischief or mysterious path this CPAP puts him on. Yes, I figured the main character was a male. 

Sadly, the first-person idea left the screen blank for some period. So, lets switch to third-person limited omniscient. 

Thus, was born Peter Modjeski, a published writer who is struggling to write his second novel. Easy enough idea, and almost immediately, I was reminded of “The Shining.” Will this story mimic that, or pay homage? 

I concluded his opening scene – easy enough – here’s a guy in front of a blank screen. I know that feeling. 

Second scene, should I stick with Peter? 

No, who does Peter have around him? 

Well, he mentions a wife named Lana. Let’s go to her. While Peter ponders away in his writing cave, she has two children to wrangle. One’s mad at her for receiving some discipline for school issues, while the younger one screams her head off whenever the conversation of going to bed begins. 

Let’s keep Peter separated. Who else we got? 

Cal, the ten-year-old son, who resents his punishment for bad grades in math and science, is discovering his own place in the world and the powers of his own imagination. 

Finally, I rounded out my opening four parts by briefly getting in the head of four-year old Missy. 

It was her scene that changes the tone, paints it bit darker. That’s the part I will share below: 

Missy

Something lived in the dark. It didn’t like Mommy. It didn’t like Daddy. It didn’t like Cal. It didn’t like her. 

She thought Cal knew about it, or used to know about it, but he couldn’t remember anymore. 

It whispered, and only she could hear it. It stayed in the walls, or something, and it wanted out. 

It just didn’t have a way. Missy was sure of that.

It was trying to find a way. 

Before she fell asleep, she thought she heard it say, “I’ll find a way.” 

2026 Writing Challenge Blog: A New Year, A New Challenge

 Last year, my challenge was to draw inspiration from one song a day and create a blog post. It proved to be a daunting task, but one that forced me to have discipline and focus. I don’t know if I became a better writer because of it, but I did write more.

I didn’t want to continue doing that in 2026. First, while it was interesting to see what I conjured from each song, there were days when inspiration was low or the song choices didn’t strike a nerve. The end results often felt forced. Second, I am not sure any posts spurred me into bigger ideas for longer pieces. Third, I wanted to get back to writing more fiction, so my new challenge needed to either include more fiction writing or editing of existing pieces.

So, after a week away, I’ve decided that I want to write a new piece of fiction, a poem, or an essay each week. Obviously, the lengths will vary, and I don’t doubt that some pieces will start and may never reach a satisfactory end.

My thought is that the blog pieces will either be portions of these creations, or some sort of discussion about the writing process, such as the inspiration, or issues I encounter, or so forth. I hope to post once or twice a week.

What about this week!

Well, I haven’t written anything yet, but I do have a niggling idea. Last week, I started using a CPAP machine, and for the most part, it has been a miserable experience, but it did give me an idea.

What if a character has sleep issues, gets a machine, but the machine is somehow magical or something? What would the magic be? What would the results be?

That’s as far down the rabbit hole that I’ve gone. Most of the time I just need write to get the ideas flowing. Hopefully, I’ll have an update near the end of the week.