by OL » Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:25 pm
Just finished the first legitimate story I've ever written all the way through. Good learning experience, actually sitting down to plot something out, figure out all the important details, then actually connect and implement it all cohesively. I've always felt like I have really good ideas (and an above-average sense for language, so I know how to make prose sound good), but actually structuring them as a final narrative, I think, is harder than most people imagine.
Only problem is, I'm not sure how publishable it really is. It reads well and all that, but it certainly doesn't fit into a truly discernible genre necessarily, and it turned out quite a bit longer than most places will accept for short fiction (just over 14000 words). I think if I actually want it published I may have to go a bit gimmicky with it and perhaps illustrate it, turn it into a sort of "adult" storybook. Might be an interesting sell if I make a series of watercolor-over-ink images for it, make it a full package like that.
Either way, I'm now moving on to my next story, which I'm actually planning as a full novel (and I have ideas for two sequels already). Mostly just planning at the moment, but the planning is going really well. Kind of an industrial fantasy sort of thing (not steampunk though; god, I hate that overexposed crap). I have all the most important characters, locations, and plot points worked out, but I want to make sure the world is really fleshed out, so I'm trying to create a bit of a bible for it right now. This story is much more fun than the last one though, so I'm enjoying it a lot. Lots of skull-cracking and wise-cracking. All kinds of cracking, really.