Weekly Writing Status Update: Feeling Flaky

May 14, 2019 at 5:00 am (Writing Mechanics)

Weekly Writing Update

I submitted the first 500 words of a sci-fi story in response to a call for submissions last week and got a nice surprise two days later. They wrote back and said, “Your writing caught our attention and we would like to read your entire story.” Such a nice way to put it, very affirming. I’d keep my fingers crossed but who knows how long that will take? It’s also a bit difficult to drink coffee, or write, with your fingers crossed.

I’m working on editing my horror story based on the old phone box. Edited on paper, just putting the changes into the document then I’ll find a place to submit it. There seem to be a LOT of markets for horror stories but one that wants the TYPE of story this is, that’s a different matter. It’s a little bit ghost story, a little bit psychological horror. Hrm . . . .

I’m also pondering what form of outline process I want to use for my next novel, FIREBOUND. I had the workbook for “Writing the Breakout Novel” by Donald Maass so I grabbed that and started reading through it but it seems to assume you already have a draft. I want something to work with from the start.

I’ve used scenes and sequels in the past and liked that. I’ve also used the Snowflake for short story and might give that a try to begin then move into scenes and sequels to flesh out. This method also gives you some good tools for marketing, like a synopsis of the story and a log line. Here’s where to find an explanation, if you’re interested. https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/

I do worry about stifling the creativity but I am moving toward more outlining and it does seem to make the writing go a LOT faster. A trade off? Perhaps.