I finished writing my story for 12 Days. I should say that I finished the first draft, which I've edited as I went. It came in at 3400 words. There was no hard and fast limit on words, but I was hoping for 3000. I'll re-read it and trim it down to 3200. If I can get it to 3000, that would be great, but I need some space to build up the tension.
My only concern is that this may not be the greatest thing for a Christmas anthology. It ended up being a lot darker than I had expected. Definitely not an eggnog and mistletoe story.
I'll provide links when it becomes available as part of the 12 Days blog anthology.
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Well, mine was my usual 500 words, and it was horror, so don't feel lonely about dark. ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, I feel better about the genre, anyway. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing terribly happy or uplifting about mine. I was tempted to burst into tears as I was doing the final rewrite - only stopped because I was in a public place and sobbing over laptop could get me some strange looks at best... a ride to the mental hospital at worse.
ReplyDeleteSpontaneous public weeping is always risky. Of course, you could try to play it off with, "Th-that man in the y-yellow hat... he j-just loves Curious George SO MUCH!!", with a wave of fresh sobs.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe not.
Mine was more of a feeling of needing to go wash my hands.
I can't wait to read everyone's stories. Your stories sound complicated and interesting. I'm afraid that mine is going to seem silly and simple.
ReplyDeleteTony, Laura, Jodi....You all rock!
Yay! I've got to edit my first draft but it's more or less there. And it's dark, but perhaps less creepy in its darkness than some of my other stories. Don't worry about yours not being festive. Mine is about as festive as a pineapple.
ReplyDeletelol - and here i was thinking that i could go somber because everybody else would have cheery xmas stories! ;-)
ReplyDeleteTony: Spontaneous public weeping (SPW?) - I think you've just coined a new phrase - actually has the risk of happening quite often to me (it seems to want to happen more in public than when I'm at home - so perhaps that is saying something) And I'm a huge fan of Curious George, and yesterday I WAS in an indoor play gyum with a whole heap of kids so it could have been a legitimate excuse.
ReplyDeleteEVEYONE ELSE: Says a lot about us as writesr doesn't it! All this darkness.
When we started doing Chinese Whisperings we had no idea we were creating a novel noir, complete with supernatural spectres and more paranoia than you could poke a stick at.
I can't wait to read everyone's stories as well - though may have to go out and get me some christmas cheer afterwards.
CS: Simple is good! Simple doesn't have you running to 6000 words with an OMG how did I get my word count down happening. Don't let your inner Censor start giving you a hard time (mind you, and Em will appreciate this, I've alread had a run in with mine AFTER I sent my story through!)
Cynthia - I'm really looking forward to it precisely because we're going to see a mix of your silly, my icky, Jodi's heart-wrenching, Emma's pineapple-flavored darkness and PJ's sombrero.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I get kind of tired of themed anthologies where every story strikes the same chord. I'd be disappointed if we got 24 uniformly uplifting Christmas stories, or 24 creepy Christmas stories or 24 distopian/magical realism/erotica/whatever Christmas stories.
Not that I wouldn't read and enjoy them all, but this is going to be like a box of mixed chocolates, only without any of those nasty coconut bonbons.
You guys are funny. Can't wait to read what you wrote. I'm not sure what genre mine would go in. It's cheery.
ReplyDeleteJodi MacArthur: Woo hoo, a cheery piece! Between you and Cynthia, that should leaven the loaf admirably!
ReplyDeleteThis made me smile through the fog this morning. I'm really looking forward to reading them all too, and I feel so happy that so many writers that I follow regularly and think of as friends on this writing path are all involved in the same project. Yay!
ReplyDeleteTony - your comment made me think of a box of chocolates. I have to say this is a really exciting end to my writing year - with so many wonderful new friends who I have only just begun to bond with.
ReplyDeleteAnd pineapple flavoured darkness - love it! Brilliant!!
You guys and gals are the best people and writers I've ever met!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad everyone has jumped on board and taken this thing so serious. . . and believe me, the stories don't disappoint.
Once I get the final story, I'm going to work on the formatting for a book and then see what happens. . .according to what I've looked into so far, we shouldn't have a problem getting this in book form and working. And if all goes to plan, I'll have distribution through Amazon AND once I get the table of contents typed up, I can start designing the t-shirts!
It's going to be a busy BUSY December but TOTALLY worth it!
Jim
We are quite a group, aren't we? I agree with you Tony. A mixed bag of nuts. Our stories and US.
ReplyDeletePracticing for the poetry gig!
HO HO HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKAH, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I love it all!
Jim: I'm looking forward to everything!
ReplyDelete