Mentally constipated
| Yes, you read that one right. I'm suffering from mental constipation. Today I've been working on editing Enduring Promise (title will be changed at the moment of submission to protect the innocent - me). Since the original story was around 7,400 words, and Cobblestone Press doesn't accept anything under 10K, I've been trying to increase the word count. For those who have been following that thingy on the right side of my blog showing my progress, yesterday I had 8K in total. This morning words seemed to flow from my brain to my fingers, and I managed to add 1,227 words for a total of 9,227. But now I'm mentally constipated. I look and look, but I can't seem to find the right place to add more words, a scene to expand. I feel like all scenes have been well developed. But I'm still 800 words short (make it more 'coz I'm sure that Clara Verone and Cassandra Curtis are gonna ask me to tighten it up, which means cut, cut, cut, once they read it). Argh! I keep pushing but nothing comes out of brain. Gosh, I need like an inspiration laxative! Any suggestions? |
posted by Silma at 4:04 PM
Comments on "Mentally constipated"
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Faith Bicknell said ... (9:41 PM) :
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Cora Zane said ... (9:09 AM) :
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K.A.S. said ... (10:26 AM) :
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Loribelle Hunt said ... (1:42 AM) :
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Anonymous said ... (2:01 AM) :
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Shelli Stevens said ... (2:54 AM) :
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Shelley Munro said ... (3:41 AM) :
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Jodie said ... (6:51 AM) :
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Silma said ... (9:09 AM) :
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Silma said ... (9:30 AM) :
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Silma said ... (9:31 AM) :
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Silma said ... (9:32 AM) :
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Silma said ... (9:42 AM) :
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Jordan Summers said ... (5:02 PM) :
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Silma said ... (5:29 PM) :
post a commentI've got an old short story that I'm revising and expanding into an erotic romance. It should be around 15K when I'm done.
Don't force it, Silma. Step away from it a while and come back to it. If you still can't get the word count, don't overpad the story. Editors will catch that fast, and likely cut big chunks out.
You know, I think it's Venus Press that accepts 5k-10k submissions. Or it might be Changeling Press. Anyway, one of the two accepts shorts. Have you thought about targeting them?
Those bars look like they're moving to me... keep it up, they'll get there!
Good luck, Silma. Maybe you need a little break. {{{hugs}}}
Maybe indeed try another publisher? Also, sometimes it helps to beef up descriptions and details. Best of luck!
I had to do the same thing for the one I sold to them. I knew that before I subbed it I was a few thousand short. I added more sex, expanded on some scenes, added a key scene. See the problem with a short story is there's bound to be rough transitional areas. The extra word count I needed gave me room to improve my story. It was so much better in the end!! YOU CAN DO IT!! Also think of the five senses, you can always add that throughout. And the wordcount is the button word count, not the page!! LOL, long enough post for ya?
I have the exact opposite problem. I have the hardest time writing anything shorter than 15,000 words. I put too much plot in my stuff. I think everyone has given you great advice - get another opinion or let it sit for a while if you can. Even a few days can make all the difference.
Step away for a few days then read it with a cold eye - although I would find I need the help of someone to pin point what is wrong with the scene
Very nice blog..
Did you visit my blog??
Have a nice day
Faith - Good luck with your story! *g*
Vivienne - Thanks for the offer, sweetie! *wg* I sent it to you yesterday. I hope you didn't suffer a heart attack while reading it. Just kidding! I really appreciate you giving me the pair of extra eyes. Can't wait to get back your critique!
Cora - True, some editors will catch the excesses. Although many of the great classic novels are full of it, just like Hemingways. Oh well...
Thanks for the suggestions. The vampire story isn't racy enough for Challenging Press. I've got a few stories that I might submit to them which are both racy and totally whack (in terms of the characters). As for Venus Press, they take too long to answer back, and I want a quick answer here.
Karen - Thanks for the encouragement!
Laine - At this point I'd rather have my tooth pull without anesthetic. It'd be less painful. *sighs*
Loribelle - What I need is 600 words. Agh! *bangs her head against the desk*
Olga - Yeah, descriptions...oh phooey! I hate those. I swear I always skip those parts when I'm reading romance novels. Those descriptive paragraphs bore me to death. If the characters are in the kitchen just say so, don't go on telling what it looks like in details. But it seems like that will be only to add some extra words. *sighs* Thanks for the suggestion though! *s*
Shelli - Girl, I only use the word count button, never the page thingy since I can't understand the page count thing. *lol*
I have expanded the scenes. I think I've stretched them as much as I could. I think.
Shelley - I'm like you, I can't write a story under 15K. So this story was a challenge from the beginning. It started out as a 6K one for the Vamprotica contest. Trying to tell a story in 6K or less was a true challenge for me! When it didn't win, I expanded it some for the AQP contest. Now I'm trying to expand it to 10K so I can submit it to Cobblestone. There's a part of me that wants to add more characters and subplots. But I know that if I do, it'll end up in 50K easy. *sighs*
Jodici - Yep. I've finally come to the same conclusion. I need an extra pair of eyes to tell me where needs beefing up.
Hobici - Thanks!
You aren't the only one. It seems to be going around. :( This too shall pass. Pun intended. :)
Jordan - Okay, if you find some mental laxatives for this, let me know. *lol*