Short Fiction

I have been slow on the second draft of The Indebted and have asked myself why? Outside of the normal answers any part-time writer would give, there has been one inescapable response: What do I do with a Novella? Scarily, an article in the most recent Poet & Writers magazine echoed my same question.

Before I go into the whole problem of what do to with my novella, let me explain for those who do not believe they have encountered such a strange beast. What is a novella? This is the question that plagues writers and publishers, and there is no real simple answer to this. The dictionary describes a novella as a short novel. Others define it as a long short story. Both descriptions are true and yet as useful as the appendix in your body.

You probably have read novellas and not known it. Have you read Ethan Frome, Old Man from the Sea, Heart of Darkness, The Awakening? If you have said yes, you have read a novella. If you said no, don’t worry…you have read one somewhere. These are just a few examples. (Ian Fleming even wrote at least one James Bond novella that was made into a movie, I am just not sure which of the three stories in my mind was the novella.)

The problem with novellas is that publishers do not believe that readers read them. In honesty, I can see their point. They spend a lot of money publishing them, they get on the shelves at your bookstore. The reader comes into buy a book. They can choose to buy a novel of 200 or more pages or a novella that is 50 to 150 pages (rough estimate, the page count for a novella is even in controversy). Usually the novel will win out.

So that leaves me with a dilemma: Do I try to get this published as a novella? If so, where? (Yes, there are a few publishers that will touch them and some contests) If not, then what? Rewrite it as a short story or a novel?

For now, I am putting it in the tomb (my drawer where I keep stories and let them sit until I come back to them to rewrite) and move on to another story. Please know, I am open to suggestions.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for the latest on the blogs, non-fiction, novels, poetry, and short fiction that I write.

After a heavy project at my “bill paying job” and my laptop breaking when the project ends, it feels great to get back my passion of writing. Those who may ask “couldn’t you write with a pen and paper” have never seen my handwriting.

Now that I am finally back to writing, I have started to redraft the novella The Indebted. When I finished the first draft I thought I would have to completely rewrite the story. As I have re-read it and started on the second draft, I am happy to have discovered that I do not need to do a complete rewrite. There are scenes that need to be redrafted, but not an entire re-write.

I hope to have this story out the door after it goes through my normal multi-draft rewriting process to make it a stronger story. Then it will be on to more poetry and more stories.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates on the blogs, short stories, novellas, novels, and poems that I write.

My apologies to my readers. This has been a super busy week and I am putting some finial touches on a self-defense presentation that will occur June 6. Please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for more information.

You may have read in one of my “Coffee with David” blogs that I have been studying a new process of plotting and how I have been reevaluating my goals. While it can be argued that what I am about to say is “author’s prejudice,” I see a lot of potential in this dystopian tale and yet see where I have missed the mark. Reading it at open mic nights is exposing some of the flaws in the character development that I would like to fix. The plot is generally strong—but it is not strong enough. Knowing this, I am placing the novelette into the tomb—taking it out for open mic nights—until I finish my redrafting of the novel Dark Medicine.

I want to go back through the plot and strengthen up those areas I have missed. It is still early days in my work on the new version of Dark Medicine, and I am making changes to the plot method as I go, but I already see how this will improve it.

Some months from now, you will see a new blog on The Indebted. It will come back from the tomb and be rewritten stronger than before.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates to blogs, novels, and short stories that I am working on.

I have recently received “The Last Friend” back from my editor. After twenty-one drafts, I rolled my eyes at a comment. I didn’t roll my eyes in a “oh, they have no idea” kind of way, but in a “oh, why didn’t I catch this and how do I fix it?”

The reason I send my stories out to be read by others and then to an editor before I submit something to try to have it published is to find out what I didn’t catch. Some writers do not like using editors. Maybe they don’t need them. Perhaps they have a mental copy of Strunk and White in their minds—or maybe they are too sensitive to possible criticism. All I know is that I want to produce quality stories. The slush piles in publishing houses are filled with submissions from the highly talented and professional to the guy who thought writing was easy. The number one way to stand out is to make the story’s quality stand out. That means trusting your editor.

So, back to work on “The Last Friend” I go. The problem is minor, but should be interesting to see how I fix it.

Thank you for reading. Please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates on the blogs, novels and short stories that I write.