Last night, I completed my solid draft of, "Petty Theft," one of the overhaul / major revision stories I was talking about in the last post. I'll edit it today and, if generally satisfied, let Rose hack away at it, and then hopefully have it prepped for submission as a 2500 - 3000 word crime story on Monday.
It's been an interesting experience working on this. It's partly editing for style and content, of course. It's partly proofing my high school grammar (which wasn't bad). But a lot of it is writing from scratch. I think on pure word count I went from 1700 in the original to 2500 at the end of last night's draft. Way more than 800 of the words are brand new, though.
I found myself using the original version of the story almost as a narrative outline. "Okay, here's plot point one, here's plot point two, here's the crescendo..." I kept most of the original dialogue -- which was sparse in this story, anyway. I kept a few particularly clever turns of phrase (LOL!). But mostly it's a whole new story.
The original story was part of a group of stories that were quite literally my attempt to answer a self-administered writing challenge, "How can you write a short story that reads like watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents?" That will largely be true still when they have all been redone, but there's a difference. What originally interested me about those stories were the twists and turns of the plot itself. At this point in my life and in my development as a writer, I am far more interested in the main character's psychology as it is twisted and turned by the plot.
To accomplish this shift in focus for "Petty Theft," I shifted the POV from third-person to first. This allowed me not only to introduce more interesting internal monologue, but also to present the psychosis of the MC more coherently. When you're stuck with describing an unbalanced person from the outside, you run the risk of brushing unintentionally up against humor and satire. When you can show it from the inside, it seems more natural to the character and the balance shifts a little more toward disturbing, away from comic.
The real challenge was, of course, maintaining the original essence or soul of the story. I want to make sure I didn't only maintain the plot, but a lot of the spirit. I want a new angle on the original story, not an entirely different piece. That's what I'll be looking for when I edit today!
.Nevets.
Okay, do you sleep?? You get so much done, I'm envious! And you post on Flashy Fiction too!!
ReplyDeleteYour wip's sound great. Good luck!
Btw, I really like the new blog look.
Deb,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback on the new look. (Thanks, Heather, too, for your earlier feedback.) As far as sleep, I usually get five to six hours a night but they're pretty crappy. hahaha
Mostly I get a lot done right now because I've been going through an early thirties mid-life crisis and realized that I need to come out on the other end as a professional writer. That means getting good, fast, and trying to build up a platform, fast. And both of those mean lots and lots of writing.
It's too bad that the pay for short stories has gotten so chinsy these days. More places pay in copies than in cents-per-word. Pfft. Those bums.
Here's to a future without a straight job. lol
.Nevets.
I like the new look, too.
ReplyDeleteIt can be fun to pull up old writing and revamp it. I have some great ideas (I think) buried in beginner writing. I might salvage some of those ideas someday.
Good luck on submitting "Petty Theft" once it's all shined up.
Thanks, Casey.
ReplyDeleteI would encourage you to drag out some old stuff and try to revamp it. Even if you don't plan on doing anything with it, I find I learn alot about writing during that process.
And good luck on your deadline, what with the cocoa and grey skies day. I'm sure you can do it!