It’s out, it’s gone, it’s in the email, no taking it back now. Revision wasn’t too bad, but took about three hours and a cupcake’s worth of sugar. Here’s thinking good thoughts.
Final fixes for Hunter, cutting some wordage… tonight is it. Still love the story, and I think it’s better than ever. Submission email goes out *tonight*.
Revision was a blast. My dear sweet hubby took over kid duty at 6:30pm and I had all night to write instead of my usual hour and a half. I spent four and a half hours on the revision yesterday, and gave it a quick proofing today, and implemented the final changes. I think it’s good. I think it’s ready. 
It’s awesome when things work.
Reworking Hunter. I received a few crits back and it was rejected from the first market I submitted it to (with some interesting comments), so I figure, why not, let’s make it better.
That pesky first scene a few someone’s commented on, turns out didn’t live up to its potential because the finale didn’t really zing. I’m adding zing. And my hero, Daymar, misses a huge opportunity to confront his commanding officer who is essentially his role model. Adding that. Then there’s a mysterious chameleon that was neat in the first version, but should’ve gone by the wayside when the griffon did about four revisions ago.
I’ll find another home for the lizard; this just isn’t it.
Black violas edit is underway; the new opening rocks.
Received Hunter back from a submission, no luck there. I want to revise it again before I send it out, but I need to finish Black Violas first.
It’s done. Done and posted for crit. The brain is dead, the fingers exhausted. The eyes? Quite bleary. But the story is great. I hope it reads as smoothly as I think it does, and I hope I solved all the story issues. We’ll see what my critiquers and time have to say.
On that note, I’m taking the day off writing tomorrow. I might do some market research for Hunter. Oh yes, and the beast clocked in at 4650 words.
Tagged Hunter's Honor
Last night I was hesitant to say the revision was complete, and I was correct. I tied up loose ends, adjusted some writing, and retitled it to “Hunter’s Honor” over lunch today. I’ll read it one last time this evening then post it up for critique. The story has seriously grown: the batch of revisions took it from a 2500 word story to 4500 words.
I think I’ve been really hard on myself lately in regard to my writing quality. I reread Violas today, and while the writing is fairly plain, it’s not the horrible disaster I thought it was. The ending will need tweaking for sure, but the story seems solid. Same situation with Hunter. I thought it was a complete rewrite, but after analyzing it tonight, that’s an extreme option that I don’t think the story needs to deal with.
The focus has changed, and Daymar is no longer the “Hunter, Hunted” but he’s still a hunter, and while the tables have turned on him, his role, his task has become much more complicated than simply capturing an evil witch. Scenes need to be added, other bits need to be removed, and then everything smoothed and edited. I have faith in this story. I can’t believe I wrote this over five years ago. I need to give it some life already.
Fading Light has been posted for my crit group. I’m eager for some feedback and a little fearful as well. I’m always fearful on crits. Occupational hazzard I guess.
A full day with the kids is exhausting, yet I still pushed this evening. Did some science research for Black Violas, tried working on the first draft a bit, but failed at that. Science fiction is difficult for me, not impossible, just very difficult. It requires a lot of effort to understand concepts that do not come naturally to me, but yet I have the need to understand them to represent them properly in the story. I don’t always understand the science I read in science fiction either, but I try. And for some reason I love reading it. Figure that one out.
I’m giving my brain some time to adjust to the science and am going to spend the rest of my writing time tonight review Hunter for those changes. I originally decided it would be a rewrite. I need to skim through the manuscript and select which passages will remain.
Posted in Writing
Tagged Editing, Hunter's Honor, Short Stories, Watering the Black Violas
Hunter isn’t an edit, it’s a rewrite. The new ending I have in mind is good, and it ties together the story threads quite nicely. I want to salvage a few parts of the original story, I worked in a lot of imagery that adds to the ghostly feel of the story and I want to keep that. The main character is still the hunter, but he’s not so much hunted as he’s caught between a rock and a hard place. He becomes judge jury and executioner.
As for the parsec story, I’ve jotted down about a dozen ideas I could write. I’m going to pick my favorite and run with it. The contest allows up to four entries per writer, so I’ll take it one story at a time, and just try to vary the use of the theme and genre to make them as different as possible. I started the first story over lunch, and it’s a little creepy. I wrote the ending first actually, which is unusual for me, and the fate of these characters is kind of sickening but fascinating at least to me. I just need to keep writing it and see what it turns into or rather, starts with.
I really like the theme — Color of Silence — and I swear they must’ve picked it for me this year. Last year’s theme was Dark Glass and I almost had a story for it, but just didn’t commit to it. The prior year just stumped me (Metallic Feathers). I know I can write to a theme, and finally I’ve got one that just sings to me. I can’t waste the opportunity. Hopefully the story will sing too.
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