I decided, part way through the design process of the story, to have instructions on finding the treasure hidden in a poem instead of a conventional map with an ‘X’ on it. It sounded like such a great idea, but now I’m tasked with coming up with poem-like prose (the instructions are in another poem, so, thankfully, don’t have to be perfect). I’ve struggled with coming up with the proper words. It needs to be obscure, but not so obscure that the clues can’t be solved. It’s taken me a while (I’m moving much more slowly than I’d like, I’ve only got around 40 pages (8K words) written so far), but I’m starting to make progress.
Part of that progress has been actually working with a map. With the help I mentioned earlier, I’ve got a map from the era when the land was originally settled (by Europeans, of course). That map, coupled with many discussions with my consultants, has given me enough ideas to get about two thirds the lines I need. I have ideas for the last third, just need to find ways to actually type when I sit in front of the computer with my hands on the keyboard. If I hadn’t already shown that I can write, I’d have a serious crisis of conscious, but, fortunately, my massive ego shields me.
