Scorpio's Computers

          I’ve finished the first draft of this short story. I doubt that it’s come in at ten thousand words, although I took as long as I could over it. I’m determined that there will be a second draft, and determined that before I start writing that I shall write full biographies for the characters. Perhaps even scenes such as the protagonist and his girlfriend arguing over breakfast, scenes which would have no bearing on the the story itself, which I might not even put into the story, but which will help bring the characters into focus. There are also certain facts which, if I researched them, could allow me to make the story more authentic. Such as how to drive a motorcycle, and what driving a motorcycle is like.

          After I put the first draft away, I began musing on another project- actually a project which I was trying to get off the ground a little while ago. Remember me telling you about a horror-film-for-radio? I bought myself a box of index cards and on each one I wrote no more than a sentence, sometimes only a word. Each new thought that came up I wrote on a new index card, or maybe up to five. I saw something like this in an episode of Blake’s 7 (I think it was called Sand). In that episode, Scorpio’s computers had broken down, so the character Avon was trying to solve the problem himself, writing down on each piece of paper either a fact or a thought. Working the way a computer does.