![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
May. 14th, 2003 08:47 pmWelp, as anyone who reads elissa_carey's LJ comments knows, I didn't make the cut for Path of the Just. I had pretty big hopes that the story would, as I believe from writing it that I did some very good stuff with it. I also was pretty disheartened that I got rejected, though I have hopes that I at least made it past the first round of "nope, ain't /no/ way we're puttin' this in" elimination.
The thing is, though, that James Lowder's commentson my story were on the money. It was too long for what it was. It was a somewhat predictable ending -- I'm still not entirely sure predictable endings are bad, mind you, as there can be a powerful statement in knowing something's coming... unless you're trying to have there be a twist, of course, and I made the mistake of doing the patented Silver Age "Mwah-hah!!!" ending with a homily and everything. My bad.
Still, the problem I face is that those two issues are what I always face in writing fiction. I'm either writing really short vignette/stories, without anything that could really be called a plot or development, or I'm writing things that are far too long and wordy for what they're intended to be. I haven't mastered the art of "just get to the damn good part already!!!!!" yet. Sigh.
The other problem with that story in particular is that I finished it at the last possible moment and sent it off. I didn't finish it a week early to give it time to percolate and see where I needed to cut it. That was my own fault, though. I will not make that mistake again.
The upside of all this is that it's made me dust off other stories of mine and consider revising them, rewriting them, and generally writing new ones to send out into the world and see if someone wants to take them home. I don't have nearly enough time to devote to my own writing, unfortunately... just see how neglected this poor LJ is. I'm supporting a family with this, so if it don't pay, I can't play. I'm scheduling time, though, to take in a couple of plotting-related workshops at GenCon, and I'm going to start early on my submission for Path of the Bold. I got both praise and light censure, and I am nothing if not able to take direction. I'm shooting for nothing but net now.
The thing is, though, that James Lowder's commentson my story were on the money. It was too long for what it was. It was a somewhat predictable ending -- I'm still not entirely sure predictable endings are bad, mind you, as there can be a powerful statement in knowing something's coming... unless you're trying to have there be a twist, of course, and I made the mistake of doing the patented Silver Age "Mwah-hah!!!" ending with a homily and everything. My bad.
Still, the problem I face is that those two issues are what I always face in writing fiction. I'm either writing really short vignette/stories, without anything that could really be called a plot or development, or I'm writing things that are far too long and wordy for what they're intended to be. I haven't mastered the art of "just get to the damn good part already!!!!!" yet. Sigh.
The other problem with that story in particular is that I finished it at the last possible moment and sent it off. I didn't finish it a week early to give it time to percolate and see where I needed to cut it. That was my own fault, though. I will not make that mistake again.
The upside of all this is that it's made me dust off other stories of mine and consider revising them, rewriting them, and generally writing new ones to send out into the world and see if someone wants to take them home. I don't have nearly enough time to devote to my own writing, unfortunately... just see how neglected this poor LJ is. I'm supporting a family with this, so if it don't pay, I can't play. I'm scheduling time, though, to take in a couple of plotting-related workshops at GenCon, and I'm going to start early on my submission for Path of the Bold. I got both praise and light censure, and I am nothing if not able to take direction. I'm shooting for nothing but net now.
