An Inside Look January 8, 2021
Posted by lawrencemerithew in non-fiction, writing process.add a comment
Most of the last few days were tied up watching the recent political battle in the Capitol, along with the attempted coup. The thing is, I wasn’t really in the mood to discuss politics here. That’s what my Facebook account is for, as the need/mood arises.
I also considered a less serious entry, discussing some of the antics of my feline housemates, but there really isn’t much to report lately on that front.
So, I finally settled on offering a glimpse at a writing issue I’m facing.
I have a project, begun a number of years ago, that I recently returned to with the intent of getting it completed.
When I wrote the first draft, it came in at about 4700 words. A coworker had offered some suggestions. Among those suggestions were to include more detail on the inner life of the protagonist. By time I finished the rewrite following up on his suggestions, the project had grown to around 6500 words. I sent this draft to a couple of other friends.
One, who I have known since my college days (around the time the australopithecines were in charge of the world), identified a potential issue. He realized I meant well, but felt the connection I had made could be expressed better.
I recognized the value of what he said, and removed the reference. In the process, it afforded me the opportunity to include something else that tied in with later events, making the story a bit more cohesive.
The other friend identified still another way that I might want to include more detail in certain areas. I can see that. One of my failings is that I give short shrift to the setting of a scene. The result is what would be called “acting on an empty stage.”
To follow her suggestions would lengthen the story by a few more hundred words, putting me close to the range of 7000+ total. In so doing, I realized I could also include some material that would allow for a literary device that would also tie into the overall theme suggested by the story’s title. Again, making the story that much more cohesive.
Where this becomes a challenge is that most magazines, whether print or online, tend to aim for a sweet spot of around 2000–4000 words. At roughly 7000 words, finding a suitable market is problematic at best.
Through what research I’ve done, I’ve only found maybe a half dozen potential markets for something that long. Even then, some are more literary outlets that base length on the number of manuscript pages, or even the number of printed pages. In the latter case, depending on page size and layout, 7000 words may far exceed their preferences. It definitely exceeds the preferences of those based on the number of manuscript pages.
At the same time, I still see places in the current manuscript that allow for even more detail. The potential exists for this story to grow from just one set of events into a “life study” of the primary character. There are also areas where increased detail into the lives of the prominent secondary characters is possible. All of which, if handled properly, would add tension and additional cohesion.
There’s also room near the current ending that I can detail the main character’s final growth and change. Right now, the story has a simple “jump cut” to a year later, when the main character has finished the growth process, all summarized in a single paragraph. So much potential in that year that has been left out right now.
In other words, what began as a short story now appears to have enough legs to become a small novel. Not likely to be your typical 50K-75K word novel, but more a stand-alone novelette/novella of around 25K-35K words, or about 100–150 pages, depending on internal layout and physical dimensions of the book itself.
Most likely, I would aim at self-publication once I reach the point where feel I’ve said all I can.
At some point, I’ll come back to this and offer more insight. For now, I have a general idea of what direction I’ll head in while I work on other, shorter projects as well.
Lawrence Merithew 