A Week of Writing: 10/15/18 to 10/21/18
Happy Monday, all. Here’s anther week of writing that was.
Words to Write By
This week’s quote comes from fantasy author Scott Lynch.
“I think it’s fairly common for writers to be afflicted with two simultaneous yet contradictory delusions; the burning certainty that we’re unique geniuses and the constant fear that we are witless frauds speeding towards epic failure.”
—Scott Lynch
It’s rare a quote sums up my state of mind the way this one does, especially lately. As I power through revisions on the novel, I go back and forth between thinking “I’ve really got something here” and “I’ve really written a terrible, unpublishable mess.” Like Scott Lynch says, both of these statements are delusional, which leads me to believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. That truth might look something like this” “I might have something here if I can rescue this novel from its current state as an unpublishable mess.” I think that’s pretty close to where I’m at and what I’m working toward. We’ll see in a couple of weeks. 🙂
The Novel
I’m exactly one-third of the way through the current revisions of Late Risers. Here are the big issues I addressed last week.
- Added new chapters to the beginning of the book that clarify the stakes in the first act and add some depth to certain character relationships.
- I had a few characters that were pretty samey and doing basically the same jobs, so on the advice of my critique partners I’ve ditched one and combined two others into a single character. This helps the pacing in the first act, as I lose some unneeded scenes around the excised characters.
- Fixed a slew of small continuity issues caught by my critique partners. These were easy to fix, but they’re the kind of thing that can pull a reader right out of the story.
This week I’ll continue through the manuscript working off the notes provided by my critique partners. The big goal is to cut or streamline more scenes from the first act that are slowing the pacing. These scenes are largely redundant and exist because I didn’t trust the reader to “get it.” I’ll also continue to fix the small continuity and voice issues throughout the manuscript. I still think I can make my deadline of the end of the month, but if I don’t, that’s okay too. I want to do this right, not just do it quickly.
Short Stories
I finished one new short story, a flash piece I’ll likely start sending out this week. I also have a couple of longer stories I started last week that I might work on when I need a break from novel revisions. As for submissions, here’s how I did.
- Submissions Sent: 3
- Rejections: 3
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 1
- Shortlist: 0
The three submission last week put me at 105 for the year. Two of the rejections were fairly run-of-the-mill, but the third was from Cemetery Dance, and they had held it long enough I allowed myself to hope, just a little. Oh, well, that’s how it goes, and I’ll definitely send them something else when they open for submissions again. As for the publication, more about that in a bit.
The Blog
Two blog posts last week.
10/15/18: A Week of Writing: 10/8/18 to 10/14/18
The usual weekly writing report.
10/19/18: Replying to a Rejection: Dos and (mostly) Don’ts
Returning to a popular subject among writers, I break down the reasons you might (but mostly shouldn’t) reply to a rejection letter.
Goals
Oh, you know, the usual broken record. Keep revising the novel, keep submitting and working on short stories.
Story Spotlight
This week’s story spotlight is my story “When the Lights Go On” which recently took second place in The Arcanist’s ghost story contest. I don’t say this often, but I’m a little proud of this one. It’s one of the rare times when the idea and the story came together easily and completely. Anyway, you can check it out by clicking the title or the photo below.
“When the Lights Go On”
That was my week. How was yours?
3 Comments on “A Week of Writing: 10/15/18 to 10/21/18”
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Effectively Wild – A Baseball Horror Story
Night Walk & Other Dark Paths
Acts of War: Flashpoint
Acts of War: Aftershock
Acts of War: Stormbreak
Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 
How the blazes (pun fully intended) did that story only come second?
Anyway, I notice you call the people who look at your early drafts ‘critique partners’. That seems like a very good title; I’ve been doing that sort of thing (and more) for Thomas Miller’s The Adventurers for a very long time, and I’m wondering if perhaps you would care to write an article on who does what to a manuscript, from your putting finger to keyboard to submission or even publication.
Well, you haven’t read first place yet. 🙂 It’s really good.
Yeah, I’m told critique partners is the correct term for what is currently happening to my novel. I’d been using “beta readers” for the longest time, but that’s actually a different role. I’m honestly not the best person to write an article on this type of thing since I’m fairly new to it (media tie-in novels go through a much different process).
> Well, you haven’t read first place yet. 🙂 It’s really good.
Ghosted? No, it isn’t. Not IMHO anyway.