The Princess and the Nocturnal Enuresis Part IV

Good Evening!

I've been reading On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction 30th Anniversary Edition by William Zinsser. It's a great book, and I'm feeling fired up to write right now. It might seem funny to read a book about writing nonfiction while writing a piece of fiction, but there are some universal concepts in that book. There are also some things that I realize are different, because I'm writing fiction.
I was hoping to find some paper so that I could work on brainstorming some ideas, hash out more details on The Princess and the Nocturnal Enuresis. I have paper at home, but not here in the office. A paperless office...I know. (It's not mine...yes, I'm allowed to be in here.)
I was wanting to add more to the last paragraph that I have written in my story so far, but I'm starting to think that it's finished. This would also explain why I struggled to write anything the other night.

Stealing is a daily affair in the life of a peasant. You don't steal, you don't eat. That's just how it is. Sure, some will beg, but it's much easier to steal. It's easier to take something that never belonged to you than to rely hopelessly on the kindness of strangers, even if that something is a life.
Death is never a first resort. Death is complicated. You take a life, you risk losing your own. You risk your family, possibly your friends. The problem is sometimes you forget those risks. All you can think about is eating, how sick and hungry you are. You remember your family. They need to eat too. Sometimes death seems worth it to keep yourself alive, to keep your family alive. It's a lofty wager, though. Death never leaves you. You take a life, you must be prepared to take another.

I think that might be all I have in me for tonight. I guess that I'm putting my own writing process on display. One of the things mentioned in On Writing Well, is that you write like the authors that you read. So, one tip that Zinsser gives is if you like a certain author's writing style, then read a lot of their stuff. You'll pick up on their style. During the course of writing this story, I've read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I'm currently reading Dune by Frank Herbert, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, and On Writing Well. Before starting on this story, I also read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so I am definitely getting a feel for her style most of all. In fact, my wife and I are planning on reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban next. We're in the middle of a Harry Potter read-a-thon. I'd actually never read any of the Harry Potter books until now, but my wife and I are hooked. Rowling is a great writer and story-teller.

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