story!

[swan_tower]

It took me substantially longer than expected (the last scene was an absolute bear to write), but I just finished "To Rise No More."

Needs revision, of course, but right now, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I've managed to write a short story! And not even one that was spoken for before I wrote it. The last seven things I wrote sold on their first trip out the door, because they were either solicited by editors or very nearly so, i.e. I knew that if I wrote them, then so-and-so was extremely likely to buy the result. Which isn't a bad position to be in, of course -- but it's less good when you have to use that as a motivation to actually get the thing done. This one, I wrote because I wanted to.

Hopefully somebody will buy the result. :-)

Comments

[kathryn_scannell]

Yay! I sweat blood every time I try to write something under 10K, so I can guess how good it feels. Hope it gets snapped up by some wise editor promptly.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

Yay short story!

[samedietc.livejournal.com]

Congrats on finishing the story!

Actually, I was just about to ask you what your usual process is for writing short stories. Outlines? Giving drafts to friends to read? Writing in Scrivener, Word, Google docs? Etc., etc. If you have time to talk process, I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I'll scribble down something vaguely like an outline if I can see where the story's going, but can't write it that minute (which happened with this story). That way I won't forget it in the interim. But outlining isn't a required step. Then I write, usually straight through -- in Wordperfect, which makes some people go "huh?," some people laugh hysterically, and the few other WP users still out there fist-bump me in solidarity. :-) I generally have friends read and comment on the draft, though if I feel good enough about the result, I sometimes just send it out without critique.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!