Sunday, October 9, 2011

Double Up

So I've been working pretty hard, trying to get that next bit and that next bit out! "Youth" is coming along very nicely, it's a very clean story. There isn't a lot to bog me down - the story doesn't take weird turns, it's this, then this, then that! As a result, the length has doubled in the past few days, pushing past 7k already.

I'm still amazed at the power this story has over me. It's not just how I get so immersed in that world, it's how I see things and my heart is wringing just to try and describe them. This story feels very real to me, more like I witnessed it happening then made it up off the top of my head.

I originally pictured it as a short about 10k, but Andy said, "You shouldn't waste this on a short - you should make a novel out of this." I can't guarantee a length, in my opinion, a story is told when it's finished. Whether that be a 2k slice of life, or a 574k doorstop (coughAtlasShruggedcough), a story is a story when it's finished.

"Youth" isn't finished yet, and there are a number of checkpoints it has to pass before it's "told". With that in mind, I've bumped the length-o-meter up to 20k, to give me some more progress/breathing room.

And for all those waiting for it:

KRAKAKOW!

2 comments:

  1. Funny. I just read a post on another blog entitled "This Should Be a Novel." I enclose it here in case you'd like to read it. (No, I'm not the author of it.)

    http://www.genreality.net/this-should-be-a-novel?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Genreality+%28GENREALITY%29

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay, D'Agnese, I read the article! I only have one other novel in the works (By one I mean two... okay, three...).

    By that article it's saying, "Are you trying to say too much?" The fact is, "Youth" starts from a point in time and involves a lot of decisions. There isn't a ton of back story to cut, or extraneous characters... everything happens for a reason.

    I like to write to the point, so the reader can follow along exactly what I'm trying to say. "Youth" WOULD be wasted on a short, because it's just too BIG for a short :)

    I -can- write shorts (which the article was mentioning, some people aren't cut out for short moments in time). My shorts generally fall under 3k, at least all I wrote this year, have!

    Thanks for the article, it was interesting!

    ReplyDelete