I am now in the middle of my THIRD editing pass.

[agilebrit]

I've managed to whack it down to under 19,000 words. Barely. I do not see how I chainsaw 2,000 words out of this. I really don't.

But. Once I finish this pass, then I'll print it out and go over it with red pen on paper, the old-fashioned way. Hopefully get at least part of it done before the Super Bowl.

And, you know, it is what it is. If I can't get it down to the 17K that's the upper limit for WotF, then I'll send it to the markets that take stuff longer than that. This one is just as problematic a sell as my "guy sells soul to devil" story, if not more so, because we have angels (who are good guys), demons (who are actual bad guys and not misunderstood woobies, although one is sympathetic), and a serial killer (who is a real asshole). So, yeah. I realize that about this, and I'm okay with it. I love this story and whacking stuff out of it wholesale is not the way to go here, I don't think.

Also, I'm planning on posting it here for the Usual Suspects. If you click that link and nothing comes up, you're not on the list. If you'd like to be on the list, or would like to be taken off it, shoot me a note. :) This one will probably take three posts, because, you know, long story is long.

All right. *girds loins* Back to it.

Comments

[honorh.livejournal.com]

Because your icon reminded me: In my reread of the Dresden Files, RDJ is playing the part of Marcone. The eyes are wrong, but he could act the hell out of the part.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Oooo, yes, he could. Gangster Downey, I can see that.

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

Oh, good - I AM a Usual Suspect. I'd have made an unpleasant face and emitted a piercing, fingernail-meets-blackboard sound if I weren't.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Of course you are.

I just haven't posted anything lately because I haven't written anything lately, other than the steampunk werewolf western, and that... would've been a hassle, honestly, so I didn't do it.

But I'll be posting most if not all of the stories I wrote for the project here, so, be warned.

Disclaimer: Being on the list obligates you to nothing. You don't have to read it, or give me crit if you do. But I hope you enjoy them, at least. :)

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

Just don't gut the story to fit it into a box. If the concept itself cannot be told in so small a space, then don't - but bear in mind that many, many good stories are told by leaving out what might be thought essentials.

A Clarke's “If I Forget Thee, O Earth” has not a word of dialogue in it; we don't even learn the boy's last name. The entire story consists of his Dad taking him outside of their lunar base home and driving him over onto Nearside, where for the first time he sees Earth, population zero, to which humans may return once the radiation wears away. His father tells him of how the little base scrabbled for survival and won - we know, because Clarke says so in so many words. They drive back to Farside, where the boy will now live out his own exile as his father has. The End.

Backstory is irrelevant, his father's name is irrelevant, dialogue is irrelevant - it's a 'concept' story, and its vivid descriptions of what the boy sees merely set the scene.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I've pretty much become reconciled to the length of this one, at this point. And, you know what, it's okay. It doesn't fit into anyone's box--it's probably too Christian for the secular market, and too secular for the Christian market, so. This may be the one I put up on Amazon and charge a buck for, you know?

But first, of course, I'll send it out, because I love it and it would be stupid not to.