Wednesday, December 20, 2006

OH, SO THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!

Thanks to the wonder of G-docs and lunch hours, I've just finished the first draft of In From the Snow, a short story that's been kicking around for far too damn long in my In Progress file. Clocking in at a midgie's willy below 7200 words, it's the first story of decent length I've finished in what feels like forever.

I've set a target of three new stories finished before I leave for Clarion, as well as completing the line-editing of the 6 I have in draft mode. IFTS has been a long process, so I'm pleased to have it under my belt, and happy with the general shape. It's a fairly loose draft, as it's been written in a series of short bursts over a long period, rather than my usual habit of quickly blasting through the 1st draft and taking time over the fix-ups in drafts 2- : there are plenty of POV changes, a few holes here and there, and lot of slippage, but the spine has a good, solid feel, and it'll all come together in the fix up.

Mother rape, fratricide, cannibalism, retro-futurism, the Sawney Bean template.... all good, clean fun fun fun fun :)

Now to turn my attention to Mister Snopes, my attempt at a fairy tale for bad adults. It's nice to feel so invigorated.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Karen,

Call me a crazy old ignoramous, but, errrr, what shortlistings? I haven't seen anything or had any contact from anybody about them.

Do you have a supersekrit identity we should all know about :)

Our email address is llbatt@gmail.com or try leebattersby@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Ohhh, that list......