Writing update
I had a good writing day yesterday and finally wrote another draft of the third (and final) chapter of my novelette, For the Love of Trees. I still want to do another round of polishing before I send it off to TNEO, but I think I've got most of what I need in there. I was tempted to add even more, reintroduce a minor character who would be able to shed some light on Dryad behavior to the protagonist. But I decided it would make the story too denouement-heavy. I have to fight the need to tie up every single loose end to make sure the reader won't miss anything.
I did manage to avoid that to an extent in this story by purposefully leaving a few loose ends and unknowns at the end. The main thing I added was an argument the protagonist has with his father that shatters some illusions. I still want to play up the Dryad's loneliness in chapter 1 and have her tell what happened to the other Dryads from her point of view, at least in brief. I'm not sure the pacing is right. Really, I think pacing is something I have the most trouble with as a writer. I am sure the critiquers at TNEO will point out lots of other things that need fixing that I haven't even thought of.
The novelette is about 13,000 words and 60 pages now. The climactic scene ends on p. 52, which means I have about 8 pages of denouement. Hmm, I suppose for a 60 page story that's not too bad. It seems an awkward length, but I think if anything, it will likely get slightly longer in a post-TNEO draft. I've pretty much given up on trying to make a short story out of it.
My novel group is critiquing chapter 2 today. I've made lots of changes due to their suggestions about a previous draft.
I did manage to avoid that to an extent in this story by purposefully leaving a few loose ends and unknowns at the end. The main thing I added was an argument the protagonist has with his father that shatters some illusions. I still want to play up the Dryad's loneliness in chapter 1 and have her tell what happened to the other Dryads from her point of view, at least in brief. I'm not sure the pacing is right. Really, I think pacing is something I have the most trouble with as a writer. I am sure the critiquers at TNEO will point out lots of other things that need fixing that I haven't even thought of.
The novelette is about 13,000 words and 60 pages now. The climactic scene ends on p. 52, which means I have about 8 pages of denouement. Hmm, I suppose for a 60 page story that's not too bad. It seems an awkward length, but I think if anything, it will likely get slightly longer in a post-TNEO draft. I've pretty much given up on trying to make a short story out of it.
My novel group is critiquing chapter 2 today. I've made lots of changes due to their suggestions about a previous draft.