Saturday, March 19, 2011
4th draft
Completed the 4th draft of Wish You Were Here which is now called Amidst Shadows They Wait, Amongst Us They Play. The 4th draft also saw the word count grow to around 7200, which I think is right about where it'll stay. Just have the final draft to go, checking for straggling errors, before I format it and send it away.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
3rd draft
The 3rd draft of Wish You Were Here sees me dip below 7000 words, finally coming to rest at around 6950. I'm really pleased with how streamlined the whole thing has become. Still need one more draft which will see this number go either up or down by up to 100 words or so.
I'll definitely be changing the title, but I'm not yet sure to what. While working on the last two drafts, a previously hidden theme popped up and I'd like the title to reflect this. I'll have to think on it.
I'll definitely be changing the title, but I'm not yet sure to what. While working on the last two drafts, a previously hidden theme popped up and I'd like the title to reflect this. I'll have to think on it.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
2nd draft
Put in 3 more hours last night, and finished a 2nd draft of Wish You Were Here, paring it down to just under 7500 words. Feeling a lot better about that number, and I'm fairly certain I should be able to get it closer to 7000 in subsequent drafts.
long short stories
I have a problem. It's incredibly hard for me to keep my short stories short. I had every intention of keeping this new one (Wish You Were Here) to 5500 words maximum, and now here it is sitting at a bloated 8000. That's such an undesirable length for a short story. Unsaleable really. I've tried selling pieces of similar length in the past, and typically get, "good, but too long, sorry."
Blah.
And so, now I have a few of these short stories of awkward length sitting on my hard drive. One piece of advice was to make them even longer, turning them into novellas. I tried that with one of them, blowing it up to 18000 words. In the end, it felt a little watered down.
I dunno. This one is the shortest of my awkwardly long short stories. I'll see what I can do to shave it down a little. At least get it down to the low 7000s.
Here's a screen capture of the completed first draft:
Blah.
And so, now I have a few of these short stories of awkward length sitting on my hard drive. One piece of advice was to make them even longer, turning them into novellas. I tried that with one of them, blowing it up to 18000 words. In the end, it felt a little watered down.
I dunno. This one is the shortest of my awkwardly long short stories. I'll see what I can do to shave it down a little. At least get it down to the low 7000s.
Here's a screen capture of the completed first draft:
Monday, March 7, 2011
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