Writing Report January 26, 2019

My first completed story of the year (see previous post) is not yet ready to go out.

“Completed” means the basic spine and musculature is in place, and there will be no significant alterations to that, but the back story of my two main characters needs fleshing out, and the dialog needs toning up and polishing (a lot!), and certain details need to be reframed and reemphasized.

So, hopefully, it will be out and about making the literary rounds before January 31 but maybe later, depending on circumstances.

As a writer, you get a feeling for the particular strengths and values of a story.  Sometimes you know straight out of the gate where a strong story is going to land. You hope / shoot for the best with everything you do (because, dammit, that’s what a professional does!), but sometimes the fire is there, and sometimes it’s just embers, and sometimes it’s just smoke and hot ash.

So you try to stoke it up to a flame but if after all your efforts you can’t, into the drawer / trunk / file / queue.

My first story of the year is solid, it’ll be fun, it raises a few interesting points, and as pulp-style stories go, it will be entertaining.

But it’s going to be…well, not “light” because that carries a different connotation, not “flimsy” or “hollow” because those aren’t quite right, let’s just say “non-substantial” and let it go at that.

That happens sometimes.

They can’t all be winners, but they can all get in the race.

And don’t get the idea it’s substandard work, ‘cause it ain’t -- I wouldn’t allow it out into the wild if it was -- but it ain’t gonna be primo.

(The astute among you will notice I’m giving away absolutely no details of the story, especially the title. That’s because publishing being what it is, this might sell next week, next month, next year, or five years from now, and when it does I’ll be damned if I’m going to let its chances be tainted by being labeled a red-haired stepchild.)

Conversely, the second story I’ve completed so far this way is much lighter in tone, shorter in length, but more substantial in theme and lands with a much sharper impact.

Bigger is not always better, and sometimes short-short stories can score a more decisive hit than lengthier ones.

That one is pretty much ready to go and may already be making the rounds by the time you read this.

Story #3 is done but not yet complete.

That means I have the story blocked out in me widdle head, the opening already written, know the give and take, ebb and flow of the tale to come, but haven’t written it…yet.

This post is going up Saturday night; hopefully by Sunday the story will be done.

And then I can start on the next one…

© Buzz Dixon