[Placeholders]

In attempt to streamline the process of writing my space opera adventure story novel... thing (it's changing while I write it and I don't know where it's going), I'm not researching or coming up with new technology or culture as I write. That doesn't mean I don't research the mechanics of space travel or designing the intricacies of my planets, but if I don't know something offhand, I leave myself a placeholder note [in brackets]. Sometimes it's [minor planet name] or [word for ship underside].

And then sometimes it's things like this:

[space pingpong table]

[space newspapers]

[a six pack of space beer] (I like adding "space" to things)

[maybe do foreshadowing here?]

[fancities shop] (no, I don't know what fancities are, but I know where you can buy some)

[I ran to her, except with feelings and suspense and stuff]

[list of irritating things]

[deliveries, but a trucking term] (I might mean "cargo"; possibly "space cargo")

[ominous phrase that will mean something later]

Oh, this thing is going to be a nightmare to edit. Luckily, the words between these notes seem... less awful. But these always give me a giggle when I read through my first drafts. I found these in a different novella I'm finishing up:

Yet danger and fear hung in the air like an invisible [thing that hangs in the air].

[It's not like I don't know what happens next. Things go all screamy-swervey and they end up crashing into like a pole or something and Petra goes running off into the field. Now let's continue as if I wrote that eloquently.]

Her volume increased [in an inverse ratio of correlation with her feels].