Accomplished Today (So Far): Two pages, longhand, print. I took a notebook along and did some writing at the local McDonald’s. I continued at the local movie theater while waiting to see G.I. Joe: Retaliation. I was on a tear. It annoyed me when the house lights faded and I couldn’t keep filling the pages with ink. Inspiration strikes in the strangest places.

I wrote about Mary Sue, an unassuming comic book super heroine in a story I’m developing. In earlier writings about her exploits, I alluded to how Mary Sue met her current police liaison, Detective Sergeant Roy Thomas, during a previous crisis when a super villain held the city hostage. I realized this morning that I needed to flesh that story out. It was essential to know how Mary Sue got to the place where she is when the later story begins. Everything important about her character – her nasty break-up with her super hero ex-boyfriend, him using his influence to get her thrown off their crime-fighting team, the exposure of her secret identity – everything that makes Mary Sue who she is in the present happens during the stand-off with Lord Stray Cat. And it all started with a throwaway line.

Weird. I can never guess which seemingly trivial details will be so important that they lead to a more interesting story than the one that spawned them.