A Discovery Draft Example with No Outline of the Opening of Learn the Lingo

Writing is something that takes a lot of time out of our days. When you fill your days with work, fiction writing is something to look forward to. It might be the same thing for some of us, but it’s an escape and outlet into the higher realms of the Muses.

Writing is hard, but it is also the most fun one can have alone that leads to productivity in my estimation.

I’m putting together some essays and some short fiction works for others, and improving my portfolio for Q3 and Q4 2026 to give it some variety, but I think specializing is the best way to go, even if AI wasn’t causing its small ripple. The AI panic that had taken over the writing world is rightfully over, at least for those of us who see opportunity in everything.

But this post isn’t about that, though it is about a book that shows the contrast between professional writing and professional fiction writing, against the backdrop of a story about a cult that provides you with substitutions and secret oaths.

I’ve spoken about this book here before, but I’ve changed some things from the initial concept.

What I am posting here is the first draft of the opening chapter of a story that will be shadow-dropped in the next half-year span.

This first draft doesn’t have the sensory details that I’d like and is barebones in some ways, but it is the skeletal structure with which to build the ultimate form of the story. This is a book I’m discovery writing with no outline, as sometimes that is the best way to write a story, and some books will tell you to write them this way.

Other writers will know what I mean. It’s like improvising a song without sheet music. The final draft will come in the next months.

But the story is about a writer who comes to find that the world of “making it” comes with a cost that might be a bit different than what you might think.

Crown of the Orphic Queen will also be out this month. I know there are people out there who know that delaying is better than rushing if you want things to be perfect (a fact I wholeheartedly agree with), and that story has far more lyrical prose than this one, so it needed to be a slow-cooker story versus the pressure-cooker story that is Learn the Lingo.

A writer with artisanal aspirations and plans doesn’t want to force things before they’re ready. In the meantime, here is the opening of Learn the Lingo, which drops some mystery and contrast on a rainy New York day during a time of upheaval, as Ricky has just buried his father.

Happy writing, reading, and all the things!