Revisions...Urg!

My previous post talked about how good I felt about my story after 5 drafts.  Naturally, the moment I passed copies of the story around, about a gajillion liters of adrenaline flow through my veins and I have thirteen individual panic attacks.

After the short reading I was floored to hear that everyone liked the story!  Except... the setting wasn't established early enough, one of my devices was thought to be the opposite of what it was meant to be, and few other details that seem really easy to hammer out.

All in all, this was one of the first times I came out of that group thinking, "Hey, I could really do this." I might be able to call myself a writer and not feel like a sham.

Now I have to spend a few hours combing through the feedback again and applying the suggested revisions that I think broke the story the most.

Which is why I wrote a blog post about it instead of actually revising.  Have I mentioned how much I hate applying edits?

Fun link of the day supplied via Nathan Bransford's Blog.  Barry Eisler, a writer who turned down a publishing deal because he felt self-publishing offered the best flexibility seems to have changed his tune.  Though not in the way you may think.  He just so happened to accept a publishing deal from Amazon (they are a publisher now, too), who gave him the flexibility he desired, thus proving that sometimes you can have you cake and eat it too.

Lucky Draft #5

Finally after having sat on the short story for a week, and re-editing to my 5th draft, my most recent short story is ready for peer review.  This is such a nerve wracking part.  I feel like the story is great!  The prose looks clean, I have addressed many of the senses, shown instead of told, and paired out most of the passive voice.

Now I'm so nervous that this story that I feel is great is actually crap when read by anyone else.  After all, who wants to think they are actually really good at something, but are then told that, no they actually suck.

Anyways!

Cool link of the day!  I love Agent Kristin from Pub Rants, she is like Miss Snark (may she drink her gin in peace) and always posting super helpful bits for new/aspiring authors.  She is especially helpful about clarifying contracts.  Her most recent post on the subject here illustrates just how long a negotiation may take.  So to those of you with agents, know that the long time it takes them to do things, will sometimes totally be worth the wait!

Because I am in Love with Fantasy

I have linked to Tor.com before but I am going to do it again.  I may not have much of a science fiction reader in me, but once there is an element of magic I must read it.  Hell even technology that moonlights as magic is enough for me to take notice.

And that is what makes this short excerpt from Bordertown (by Holly Black and Ellen Kushner) all sorts of fantastic.  Shannon's Law has almost everything I love.  Fairy tale nod, magic, technology made possible by magic, technology and magic co-existing, and a very slight romantic angle (which isn't over played  in my opinion).

If you haven't yet I strongly suggest you read that excerpt.  The minute I get enough free time, I will get my hands on more of Bordertown. This does sadly mean it goes behind a long list of books that I am still getting around to read but, that list is getting some work done, so maybe not too far down the line I'll be able to indulge my fantasy tooth in this astounding series.

Go read it now if you haven't you won't be able to stop till you reach the end!

Short Story Update Plus Rambling on My Choice for Publishing.

Draft numbers 2 and 3 of a short story were completed this weekend.

The premise deals with a nobleman's treatment of a traitor, and how sometimes the ends, even if they justify the means, don't make those means any less terrible for those who must enforce them.  There is a mild twist that I think is fairly inevitable but help really sell that message.

Now I need to let it sit for another week, before I take a last peek for any over arching flaws.  Once that happens I'll bring my story with me to my writing group, and try to avoid defending my work/throwing up all over the tables.  Frustrating, scary, exhilarating, insane.  And of course fun.

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Fun writing oriented link of the day: An agent-turned-writer, Nathan Bransford, likes to talk out loud to the internet about his feelings on traditional versus self publishing. Today's post from him is just another in a long line of the debate many authors have with themselves and each other these days.

While I am still unpublished an almost every sense of the word, I do still feel that working with a publisher, at least for now, is still the best route for success for most writers.  Given most writers write for extra money rather than making a career out of it, traditional publishers offer the most help in getting their work to the most people with the least amount of sacrifice in time.  Self publishing is incredibly time consuming, and mentally draining by most of the accounts I read.

But what do I know?  Amanda Hocking and J.A. Konrath both spent a great deal of time and energy cultivating their name and craft, and both took very different paths when offered a choice on how to proceed with their career.

Both appear to have made the right choices for them, but I just don't think I have enough time between work and family and writing to effectively market my work without a publisher.  Do you all have any thoughts?

Writing Group

I'm involved in a local writer's group and it is such a blast sometimes.  Holly Lisle, has an excellent posting on the topic of the pro's and con's of a writing group here.    I personally find them satisfying as a new writer and enjoy the energy everyone at my particular group gives off as they are excited to read an author's newest prose.   However, I'm not here to sell you on writers groups.

I'm just here to say I'm a little nervous.  I have a piece of work that I recently finished, and am nervous about presenting it.  Part of that is the normal nerves, but the other part is that it is a short story, almost short enough to be considered flash fiction.  I can manage a beginning, middle, and end yet the feedback I get is there isn't enough description in the story for my group.  Naturally, if my story is nearing flash fiction shortness, I'm worried if I should even bring it or re-edit to flesh it out more.

I will just have to mull it over a little longer.  Likely I'll show up empty handed, but will take another stab at the editing.  Ugh and have to wait another two weeks to put it in front of my group's eyes.

Keep reading, and keep writing everyone!

The Hardest Part

... is editing.  Or rather going through my story (no matter how short it is) and applying the edits I or others have made.

I never thought the re-write would be the hardest thing to me.  The initial idea, and the sprint to the finish are tough but overall fun.  But oh my gosh.  Having to go back through after the red ink has been spilled, is such a daunting task for me.   I always assumed that since the story was basically written, applying edits would be a simple task of fixing typo's, or shifting just a few words around to make grammatical sense.

This is not the case.

I actually have to move entire sections around, and completely re-write those parts so they make sense in their new places.  And then move it again, because that isn't just the right spot really.  And then even after I've moved it twice, re-written it to make sense in each place, I usually condense the section to only one sentence because I honestly think I'm saying too much.

So yeah, this is me complaining.  Sorry!  But if it helps, the story looks marvelous now.

Now to show it to my writing group next week and go through this again, because I actually love it this job.

A Wonderfully Disturbing Tale

Last week, a great short story I read recently was announced as a nominee for a Hugo Award. "Ponies," by Kij Johnson, is a touching glimpse at the life of a little girl who wants desperately to be a part of the in-crowd.

If you haven't read the short story, I definitely think you should now.  The essence of the story that really makes me shudder and feel a mix of anger and sadness, is that the story is exaggerated only a little bit.  For the most part, I have experienced something similar to this story when I was in middle school being second lowest on the totem pole.

Even with the slightly over the top (solely my opinion) labels of the popular group as "TheOtherGirls," the story is sound, and mesmerizing, pulling you alway to the horrific, yet sadly not unexpected end.

I think if you want to read something that rings true and is powerful enough to make you feel real emotions in under 1300 words.  Go and read "Ponies," posted at Tor.com.