September 21, 2003
Weekly progress report
This week was a little scary. One short story rewrite, one brand new short story, and the single most intense chapter of The Exile's Daughter to date. Whew.
Weekly word count: 11,579
Last week: 7231
Highest day: 4071 (Friday)
Okay, the numbers are a little skewed because of the rewrite--those weren't all brand new words, strictly speaking, but they were carefully considered words nonetheless.
"One Song Before I Go"
Jesus Christ. I hope it's as good as I think it is right now. If it's even half as good as I think it is right now, it's saleable.
I don't usually do this. I don't usually finish a story and go, "Wow." I'm afraid to go reread it. I think I'm going to hide the file away until I've come down from the high, then think about reading it. Maybe.
Ah irony, my dear old friend...
No sooner had I bemoaned my lack of story ideas and given up writing for the day, than a story rose up and smacked me between the eyes while I was reading and listening to the Rent cast album.
I'm afraid to write it. In my head, it's a perfect, stunning idea. It even came with its own title.
So here I sit in front of a shiny new word document, and try to decide whether to take a deep breath and jump, or whether to sit on the edge and think for a little bit longer.
Another rejection this morning in
Another rejection this morning in my email ("The Girl Behind the Counter"). This is the first time a rejection has caused me to not write. I managed to set up my scene order for the next chapter of The Exile's Daughter (five chapters left, whee!), but that's it. I just didn't have the heart to dive into the chapter.
It's not self-doubt, exactly. I'm getting a clearer picture of what my strengths and weaknesses are, I'm just still at that stage of not knowing how to fix them. Or if I can consciously fix them. Grar.
Short stories are harder to
Short stories are harder to write than novels. I've reached this conclusion. Never mind that I reached this conclusion after a fairly stinging rejection, and that I've yet to actually submit a novel anywhere. Allow me my wallowing.
I rewrote "The Girl Behind the Counter" for the Minions, and then, being me, couldn't resist sending it off again, to somewhere with a fast response time. Honestly, I knew it would come back, but NFG tends to give pretty good comments with their remarkably fast rejections, so I thought it would be worth it.
It was, in that "here are all the major flaws in your story" sort of way. Here are the opening words:
This is a pleasant tale, but perhaps rather unexciting. There's an old saying that goes something like 'if your character is a writer, kill them off on the first page; then burn that page'.
It went downhill from there. She liked my main character (in spite of the fact that he was a writer, apparently), but thought his actions were driven by the plot rather than by his character. The bitch of it is, I think she's right. And I'm tempted to say screw the whole thing, because even if I rewrite it UTTERLY and make his actions more character-driven, there's still the whole "oh, we never buy stories about writers" stonewall--which I've heard in nearly every rejection that wasn't a form.
Part of me wants to email the Minions and tell them not to bother with critiquing it, but on the other hand, what if I'm wrong? What if the first reader at NFG is wrong? Gah. I haven't been this bothered by a rejection in a long time.
So yeah. Short stories are harder to write than novels. With a novel, you've got room to take an idea and expand on it, add detail that makes it less predictable, less 'overdone'. With a short story, there's more focus on the idea. There's no room for a weak idea, no room for something that might be even a touch cliche, things you can get away with in a novel to some extent.
Finding solid ideas is my weak point. I think, honestly, "Rhythm of the Tides" is the most original, fresh twist on an idea I've had. And golly, that's the one I sold. I know I can write. I'm a damned good writer. I just can't come up with a short, pithy, brilliantly new idea often enough to be much of a short story writer. So I turn out stories that come back with comments like, "There's some lovely writing here, but..."
If I get comments like that on The Exile's Daughter, I think I'll cry.
