A Writing Journey
A few years ago, I started writing a novel. It began as a fairly silly idea about dogs living on a diet of drug-laced "kibble" in an underground city. Somehow, it expanded into more than 60,000 words. I thought it was a good effort, but when I submitted it to a publisher (just for a giggle) some deficiencies in my literary style were pointed out.
I got some help from a professional, and, undaunted, went back and carried out a thorough re-write. As my skill improved, I could see how bad the original version was. However, after a lot more editing, I started to see irreparable deficiencies in the work as a whole. I wrote characters that I liked, but they were very flat and completely lacking in character development. The ending was never very strong, either. I guess that's what happens when you try to expand a short porn story into a novel.
I recently put a metaphorical full stop at the end of it and submitted it to the publisher again - mostly to give myself a sense of completion. They rejected it for the same deficiencies I had already recognised, which at least shows that I am gaining a better understanding of plot and character development.
I'm not sure what to do with it now. I like the characters and the setting, so I could have a go at re-writing it from the beginning. But I am a bit sick of it, really. And maybe the whole scenario is too improbable to use as the basis for a more serious attempt. But then, any "furry" themed fiction is going to be somewhat improbable by definition.
I could just subject the general public to it via SoFurry, etc (hey, they can't complain if it's free right?) but then I'm not sure I want to put out something that's not my best. I could use a different name, I guess.
So it turns out that writing a novel is not as easy as it seems at first! Back to writing short porn stories for now, I guess.
I got some help from a professional, and, undaunted, went back and carried out a thorough re-write. As my skill improved, I could see how bad the original version was. However, after a lot more editing, I started to see irreparable deficiencies in the work as a whole. I wrote characters that I liked, but they were very flat and completely lacking in character development. The ending was never very strong, either. I guess that's what happens when you try to expand a short porn story into a novel.
I recently put a metaphorical full stop at the end of it and submitted it to the publisher again - mostly to give myself a sense of completion. They rejected it for the same deficiencies I had already recognised, which at least shows that I am gaining a better understanding of plot and character development.
I'm not sure what to do with it now. I like the characters and the setting, so I could have a go at re-writing it from the beginning. But I am a bit sick of it, really. And maybe the whole scenario is too improbable to use as the basis for a more serious attempt. But then, any "furry" themed fiction is going to be somewhat improbable by definition.
I could just subject the general public to it via SoFurry, etc (hey, they can't complain if it's free right?) but then I'm not sure I want to put out something that's not my best. I could use a different name, I guess.
So it turns out that writing a novel is not as easy as it seems at first! Back to writing short porn stories for now, I guess.