Stories Out of Control

Now Playing: BULLS ON PARADE by Rage Against the Machine
Just Read: DOCTOR SLEEP--A pretty typical Stephen King book, meaning slow pace and high build, with lots of good twists and turns and a very fleshed out world. Always enjoyable!
Reading Now: ANCILLARY JUSTICE by Ann Leckie

Well, that story I had such high hopes for in the Writers of the Future Contest didn't place. I had been on a streak of Honorable Mentions, but this one didn't even get that far. Too bad--I really thought it was pretty good. And when they published the long, LONG list of people who had won some level of award, it was a bit disheartening.

It's hard for me to tell my own story's quality. I find editing and improving stories very difficult. I never have a very good idea about what changes need to be made, and after making them, I can't usually tell if it really is better or not.

But, on to the next! That's the name of the game.

Lately I've had stories that want to go on and on, out of control. I might come up with a plot like "An unexpected chemical leak leads to violence among an exploration team" and try to sit down ad write a murder mystery. But I'm almost 9000 words into this mystery and it STILL isn't over. It's science fiction, so it might be a good candidate for Writers of the Future, but I didn't expect it to be this long, or take through May to finish.

I was hoping to do one story per month, but the stories for March and April have stretched so long that my word count is high but my story count is low. Now I'm thinking I might let them sit and chill for a while, then spend the rest of May and June editing them. My new words can go toward the novel I started in November, and when that's done, I have a different novel I want to work hard on the rest of the summer.

So. Many. Projects.

Gotta stay disciplined! That's key. I read an article lately about Danielle Steel's discipline, and my mouth fell open. She puts out seven new novels each year--that's the dream! Probably not ever achievable, but the lesson is clear: keep keep keep writing!