Discussion Q4 Volume 38

There's a youtuber that I follow called "Quotidian Writer". She's made a video about titles. I think it's worth checking it out. 

I'm not sure about the lenght of the title, but I think that a good title has to draw attention. Longer titles are more keen to do that, sure, but it's not the only way. I wrote a novellete called "MONSTER!!!" (yeah, capitalized and with three exclamation marks), and then I subbed it for critique. A lot of people started their critiques saying things like, "How could I not read a story with a title like this?!".

@alexvss That was an interesting video on titles. Gave me something to think about. Thanks for sharing!

Story about the story.

Four years ago I wrote a vignette in a world l'd developed as a base for stories having to do with magic. I loved this vignette and read it several times a year. But that's where it stopped. No matter how many times I tried to develop it into a complete story, I failed.

So, it went into a limbo of nice ideas that haven't worked out.  

Last month I reread it and decided to play. There were two main protagonists,so I decided to use the second one as the POV character. I'd done this before but had always started where and when the original had begun. 

This time I wanted to know how the second protagonist had arrived at that place and time. The quest for a good inception took me days back before the vignette began.

Seventeen pages later, I think I have a story to tell. Don't give up on those nice ideas that seem to go nowhere.

Since I think it is very unlikely I will ever try to submit it to the contest again I just want to brag about a title I particularly liked for one of mine.

Barbarian Bikini(TM)

It was under 1000 words and netted me a silver honorable mention and I like to think the title had something to do with it.

Titles are usually one of the easier things for me to come up with - whether they are always great is a whole other issue. But often the harder time I'm having with the title the more likely it is that I'm having trouble with the story too.

@czing 

ha! I love that title  

@czing 

Nice! Have you tried submitting it elsewhere yet?

Posted by: @czing

Since I think it is very unlikely I will ever try to submit it to the contest again I just want to brag about a title I particularly liked for one of mine.

Barbarian Bikini(TM)

It was under 1000 words and netted me a silver honorable mention and I like to think the title had something to do with it.

Titles are usually one of the easier things for me to come up with - whether they are always great is a whole other issue. But often the harder time I'm having with the title the more likely it is that I'm having trouble with the story too.

I read that one!

I got one month left to finish a draft, do some major editing, get some critiques, do more major editing, argh. Too much to do and not enough time.

Posted by: @lost_bard

@czing 

Nice! Have you tried submitting it elsewhere yet?

I have submitted it to several places but no bites yet. I'm getting pretty close to having hit all the professional rate markets that take that length of story and that seem like a match at all. I'm a very roller coaster style submitter - I will get in the mood to send stuff out and get 2 or 3 or even 4 of the sitting ones out there but then I'll go a long time without sending anything else out. At my normal rate it could be a while until I find it a home or give up and self publish some of my stuff.

@axeminister - you did indeed read that one and I very much appreciate the feedback you gave me on it!!!

After finishing the first draft of a story at the beginning of the month, I just couldn't get into revising it. It'd taken so long to write and I could see that it needed some pretty aggressive restructuring in order to work, so I decided to take advantage of my head start by setting it aside and coming back later with fresh eyes.

And then another story hit me like lightning and has been outlined, written, and almost fully edited within a couple of weeks. ...what?!

Honestly, writing this month has been super fun. I've gotten back into the groove of writing a little bit every morning and am determined to stick with it even as things are getting busier. Next, I want to revise one of my SHMs and send it out to a different market, which I've never done before. I'm feeling both a little intimidated and very excited.

@penmark I finally sent my previous SHM out to another market and much to my shock, it's being held for consideration!  So definitely worth sending out, in my opinion.  Best of luck!

Congrats, @ccrawford! Fingers crossed for you. And thanks for the encouragement.

Phew...I finally feel like I'm back in the driving seat again, and I completed the one, largest revision that's remaining for my Q4 entry today. I still have some polish to apply, and some pattern-fixing, but overall I'm happy with where it's ended up, though it has come out of the process so far a little longer than it went in. So I think I'll need to revisit again, and try to tighten up the pacing and timing of some of the pieces.

But I think its worst failings are corrected now. I'm looking forward to giving it a couple of final sweeping run-throughs before I hand it off to the contest, and trying now to decide if I should just bite the bullet and submit it early once it's done, or let it rest a week or two and then give it one last read before I punt it. More often than not, I give into being impulsive and submit--and many more times than once, I've regretted doing that. So we shall see.

Doc,

If you don't rewrite the entire story three times, well then you're just not...

No, that's me.

Carry on with your submission. ? 

Good luck to everyone pushing up to the deadline! I am available for crits/swaps - just shoot me a DM!

Posted by: @rschibler

Good luck to everyone pushing up to the deadline! I am available for crits/swaps - just shoot me a DM!

Yep. If I have a deadline, I'll milk every last drop outta that sucker right up until the end. Most of the time. Some stories have been shorter and faster than others, so I guess I don't always wait until the last second. This one though...uh huh; it's a whopper.

Good luck everyone! Oh...and HAVE FUN!

@axeminister I hear you on that one! The story you just critiqued for me was the fourth full rewrite before I finally figured out what it was trying to say and do. 

I'll second @RETreasure's offer for critiques. Shockingly, I'm ahead this quarter, my story is ready to hit submit (but I'm waiting, letting it rest), so I have time in September as I tinker with other stories and do KYDs. Just send me a DM.

Write on!

I'm almost ready to submit.

After receiving feedback from my beta readers, I will give it one more round of edits to make it shine. It would have been done sooner since I completed the story back in June, but between a copy editing course and trying to complete my manuscript before I reach the one year mark, I've had little time for anything else.

Good luck to everyone!

I'm done with drafting and am on to final edits and clean up for my Q4 - yay!

I'm also going to take 2 weeks or so to let it rest. I always find something to tweak for the better, or clean up, when I can come back to a story with fresh eyes.

I completely rewrote the ending. You know how you can have the story end with either A or B, but we should try to choose C? It took some doing to come up with C, but I did it Also upped that moral conflict/impossible choice (per forum advice) -- eek! Am excitements!

I love this story, ya'll. it's one of my favorites. I think I wrote it for my Dad as he would have adored the subject matter 😉

Good luck everyone! ♥

~A

Still going over my Q4. It's a 2nd major re-write (technically 3rd) of a previous story. Gonna let it rest, come back for a final polish in a couple of weeks.

Best of luck to all!

I got my Q4 story written, several revisions finished. It's horror & maybe too dark for WOTF. Then again, that's what I thought with my one story that earned a SHM. Let Dave be the judge of that, I guess. I sometimes tend to self-reject. It's a nasty, biting habit of mine. 

That's so cool, @AliciaCay! It's an awesome feeling when you do a story justice! DM me if you'd like a critique any time soon, before or after you let the story rest.

Way to finish a major rewrite, @Scott_M_Sands! Let me know if you'd like another set of eyes on it. 

Posted by: @ccrawford

@penmark I finally sent my previous SHM out to another market and much to my shock, it's being held for consideration!  So definitely worth sending out, in my opinion.  Best of luck!

May the writing gods be in your favor, @ccrawford! Keep us posted! 

Heads up: I'll be creating the Q1, V. 39 forum tomorrow!

Posted by: @axeminister

Heads up: I'll be creating the Q1, V. 39 forum tomorrow!

Ah, good! I was needing something else to worry about. I'll look forward to hopping over there! I think I have a start on a possible new entry for that quarter, but it's going to need severe beating with hammers to get it into shape.

@axeminister AH! I'm not ready!

@jeschleicher 

I feel ya' on the self-rejection thing.
There are def some darker stories in the WotF anthologies--depending on how dark you meant, LOL, so don't reject just yet!

If this story isn't your winning WotF story, let me know, I can recommend some markets that love dark stories. I've sent them some stuff before.

Good luck!

~A.

Posted by: @jeschleicher

That's so cool, @AliciaCay! It's an awesome feeling when you do a story justice! DM me if you'd like a critique any time soon, before or after you let the story rest.

 

I may just take you on that offer! Probably before I let it rest. And of course I'm happy to swap with you if you want new eyes on your story

~A.

Right on! @AliciaCay. Shoot me a DM whenever you're ready! & yeah, my stories tend the lean that way, to the dark side, that is, most often by design. The funny thing is this story started basking in the happy sun, shades on, whistling that song from Monty Python's Meaning of Life about looking on the bright side of life....and it then it went: nah..this is the actual story you're meaning to tell. 

@jeschleicher 

Lol ... love the analogy.

Will DM you when the story is in good enough shape to be seen by others.

Also, PseudoPod is currently open for general submissions, from Sept 1-Sept 13. They do horror/darker stories and read them on their podcast.

~A.