I hate comic ideas

My first drafts contain a lot of typographical errors, and sometimes these are a source of some fun. The one that happened today was quite entertaining: Daniel said, "I never expected to reach the director's office, Caprice. Or chairmanship." But my fumbling thumbs hit the spacebar and that last came out "Orc hairmanship."

Orc hairman. "Hairman" sounds so much more orcish, if you will, than "barber" or, Ea forbid, "stylist."

I'm probably wandering into Mary Gentle territory with just the idea. And I don't have time to write it. But I amused myself this morning with images of the Orc hairman and his collection of tools, the settings in which he works, and the risks and rewards of his profession.

Unfortunately, I have little flair myself for comedy beyond the one-shot grins and giggles of storytelling meant to keep the reader reading. Actual comedy is, as Jerry Seinfeld will tell you, relentlessly hard to write.

The book review

Consider for a moment the fact that no sane parents would give their children books which portrayed a set of "good" pimps and prostitutes valiantly fighting a set of "bad" pimps and prostitutes, and using the sexual acts of prostitution as the thrilling dynamic of the story.

While amythis wins the award for the coffee-through-the-nose response, the real answer is, of course, the Harry Potter series.

And I can't see any problem with the writer's logic. The Biblical injunctions against sorcery and witchcraft are much more serious and dire than the ones against sexual immorality; you can occasionally get away with the latter. Nothing Jesus said invalidates those injunctions: they remain in play. The only difference is that when Jesus spoke them the Jewish nation was under Roman occupation, so his words are tempered the knowledge of what his followers actually have the means to accomplish.

[Edit: Found Harry Potter and the Death of God. Warning: It's the Freepers. "Expect sickness."]

Play!

So far, so good. It's September 4th and I've written 4,021 words of Caprice Starr. The plot seems to be bumping along, not at warp speed but decently enough. The three critical moments in chapter one have been set: Daniel, Mila, and the Bureau have all laid their traps for her, ready to go off all in good time. (Well, the Bureau's goes off at the end of chapter one, but I need a crisis to keep the reader going, don't I?)