Thieves' Honor, Episode 7 -- "Leaping the Circle" -- is now in the hands of the Overlords at Ray Gun Revival magazine. At a little over 4,000 words, it felt short, incomplete, so I expanded a couple of ideas and inserted two extra scenes at the end of the episode, making it well over 6,000 words but also making it complete. There's more connection to the overarching storyline, as well as the answer (sort of) to a question that I've been following since the second episode: Who has the IntuiCom implant, and why? The answer isn't entire, but it's beginning.
As for the fantasy novels, those are still in the works. I really want to wrap up the story in the second manuscript, rather than dragging it out over a third book. Then again, I'd rather the whole story would fit into one book, but it'd be a long read, and who's gonna take a chance on publishing such a lengthy manuscript by an unknown?
On the other hand, maybe I'm rushing things, and I need to let the story play out at its own pace. The characters still surprise me, and things have happened that don't follow the formula for tales like this i.e. the hero doesn't kill the villain. There's gonna be a grand showdown, but the baddest dude has already been taken out, by another villain. There's a villainess, though, and she just might be the worst baddie of them all.
I already know the last scene of the story -- that's been written for years -- but I just may need a longer story and that third manuscript, thus creating the stereotypical fantasy trilogy. Ugh. But if the story demands it, the story demands it. There comes a point when the story no longer serves the author, but the author serves the story.
2 comments:
Good stuff to wrestle with Keanan. I would write the story and if it ends up being too long, that can be taken care of after the first draft, right? Get it on paper and revise it later if necessary. I am wrestling with some of the same questions, espcially about the length of a reasonable first fantasy novel. My recent post on that is very similar to yours. Looking forward to reading the new story! : )
Yeah, I shouldn't be so impatient. I've been living with the kernel of this story for almost twenty years, and this current form/plot for about five. I'm ready to be done with it, but I also want it to be good.
I don't recall the word count for the first manuscript, but it's well over 100k. My father, not the world's fastest reader, consumed the story in a weekend, which is quite a feat for him, and he was ready for more. Though relatives and friends aren't the most unbiased of readers, the fact that the story captures my father's interest is an accolade I'm proud to accept.
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