In which she unwrites
Dec. 13th, 2010 02:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zeborahSo over the weekend I finally finished drafting the short story I've been nominally working on since before the earthquake. Unfortunately it came to 7300 words so I'm now trying to trim it back to something more reasonable like 4000. (Way more markets accept 4000, but I'll probably settle for 5000.) The way I write, this will also make it a much better story, because it involves trimming out all the times when something happens three times just to ram home that Stuff is Creepy, before we even reach the plot twist; and all the subplots that don't actually drive the story forward. Short stories shouldn't have subplots. <sigh>
So during lunch today I unwrote 420 words.
Um, and also. The story is set in what I'm temporarily calling "pseudo-Persia", which is analogous to pseudo-Europe except with more auctorial ignorance; and it has a transgender protag; and it has rape (on-screen, no less, though not graphic); which seems to me to be a lot of Potential Fail to pack into one story. Now that I'm writing again I'll try to write less potential-faily stories, promise.... But in the meantime, if anyone were interested in beta-ing and feels they have a better perspective than I on such things and would be able and willing to clobber me (who am quite willing to be so clobbered) as appropriate then I'd be bunches of grateful - you could leave a comment here or email me.
So during lunch today I unwrote 420 words.
Um, and also. The story is set in what I'm temporarily calling "pseudo-Persia", which is analogous to pseudo-Europe except with more auctorial ignorance; and it has a transgender protag; and it has rape (on-screen, no less, though not graphic); which seems to me to be a lot of Potential Fail to pack into one story. Now that I'm writing again I'll try to write less potential-faily stories, promise.... But in the meantime, if anyone were interested in beta-ing and feels they have a better perspective than I on such things and would be able and willing to clobber me (who am quite willing to be so clobbered) as appropriate then I'd be bunches of grateful - you could leave a comment here or email me.
