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The Big Word-count Blow-out
Dec. 2nd, 2007 06:29 pmI mentioned to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mikandra the other day that I always find writing for a specifically for an anthology quite challenging. I might not actually get what I'm writing finished before the deadline, but what interests me more is the processes that my mind starts up once I have an idea in place. Anthology guidelines seem a great way for me to generate the seed of any idea, and the deadline is (generally) a good way to keep me working at it.
My problem always seems to be word-count though, and this is a BIG problem when you are trying to write for a specific anthology.
My current 'in-progress' is 'Daivadana' (a Persian term meaning 'House of the Daevas'). It was meant for In Bad Dreams 2 (http://www.eneitpress.com/index.php?page=8) and the idea was very much formed by those guidelines - ... [Supernatural] stories set in cities least used (from a literary sense).
The end is a little way off yet, although I can see it poking over the story's current horizon like a fuzzy mirage. I know where I'm heading now, and (probably more importantly) I know WHY. I'm probably 3/4 of the way there.
The problem is, the story is already at 6,400 words! And the guidelines suggest up to 5,000 words!
This story is going to end up between 8,500 words and 10,000... almost double the requested word-count :(
Another blood short novella! (although I've been lucky so far in sellling both my previous 10,000 worders without any problems).
I don't think I've overwritten too much. I know I always do to some extent, but nowhere near the point where I'll be able to just cut half the tale.
It is just that, this story turned out to have a lot more to tell than I first thought it did.
Maybe In Bad Dreams 2 will still be interested, despite the size, but it would be highly unlikely they'd accept something double the word-count. This is forcing me to rethink the markets that are available to me. The only mags likely to accept pieces of such a size today are the big o'seas magazines. That's a scary prospect for me to be thinking, for me to look at entering that market. But maybe it is time. I'll never know unless I try I suppose.
mikandra the other day that I always find writing for a specifically for an anthology quite challenging. I might not actually get what I'm writing finished before the deadline, but what interests me more is the processes that my mind starts up once I have an idea in place. Anthology guidelines seem a great way for me to generate the seed of any idea, and the deadline is (generally) a good way to keep me working at it.My problem always seems to be word-count though, and this is a BIG problem when you are trying to write for a specific anthology.
My current 'in-progress' is 'Daivadana' (a Persian term meaning 'House of the Daevas'). It was meant for In Bad Dreams 2 (http://www.eneitpress.com/index.php?page=8) and the idea was very much formed by those guidelines - ... [Supernatural] stories set in cities least used (from a literary sense).
The end is a little way off yet, although I can see it poking over the story's current horizon like a fuzzy mirage. I know where I'm heading now, and (probably more importantly) I know WHY. I'm probably 3/4 of the way there.
The problem is, the story is already at 6,400 words! And the guidelines suggest up to 5,000 words!
This story is going to end up between 8,500 words and 10,000... almost double the requested word-count :(
Another blood short novella! (although I've been lucky so far in sellling both my previous 10,000 worders without any problems).
I don't think I've overwritten too much. I know I always do to some extent, but nowhere near the point where I'll be able to just cut half the tale.
It is just that, this story turned out to have a lot more to tell than I first thought it did.
Maybe In Bad Dreams 2 will still be interested, despite the size, but it would be highly unlikely they'd accept something double the word-count. This is forcing me to rethink the markets that are available to me. The only mags likely to accept pieces of such a size today are the big o'seas magazines. That's a scary prospect for me to be thinking, for me to look at entering that market. But maybe it is time. I'll never know unless I try I suppose.
