"The Innocent's Progress" is finished
Today I emailed in the last story that will go into the Innocent's Progress collection, "The Spirit of the Future." It's an indirect sequel to "The Pretty Horsebreaker," already published in Circlet's Like a Corset Undone. I had already breached the minimum word count, but I really wanted a story that would be a capstone and answer the question of what became of some of the characters. The Alan Moore influence is rather strong here, with a lot of emphasis on the passage of time and big historical themes reflected in individual actions.
This is the biggest creative project I've ever worked on, or at least the biggest one with deadlines and a publisher. It exercised different creative muscles. Even though it wasn't a complete novel, it still took me a lot longer than I thought. I'm not sure if it had been one book instead of a set of stories it would have been easier. At any right, this really highlights what I need to work on: my productivity habits.
Right now I'm in the, "Oh god, this sucks!" phase. Some of the stories I'm quite pleased with, others I wish I could have a chance to edit, or even do a thorough rewrite. Perhaps my biggest fear is the "Is this erotica?" question. Did I write steampunk erotica or just a steampunk book that had slightly more sex than usual?
I recently had a story rejected from an erotica publisher because, in part, there wasn't enough sex in it, and what there was, wasn't sexy enough. While it was the editor's prerogative to reject it on those grounds for that market, the point of the story was that even sex that isn't great or even good has value. But, does erotica necessarily require that the sex be great, or does non-great sex make it something else?
it's a relief to have it over, at any rate. Now I can work on my essay for the SmartPop book on the late, lamented Dollhouse TV series. After that, there's a few other stories I would like to finish, but I also want to get back into non-fiction writing. Though time may be too short, I have some ideas for a story about the moral panic over the alleged threat of human trafficking for the Olympics.
This is the biggest creative project I've ever worked on, or at least the biggest one with deadlines and a publisher. It exercised different creative muscles. Even though it wasn't a complete novel, it still took me a lot longer than I thought. I'm not sure if it had been one book instead of a set of stories it would have been easier. At any right, this really highlights what I need to work on: my productivity habits.
Right now I'm in the, "Oh god, this sucks!" phase. Some of the stories I'm quite pleased with, others I wish I could have a chance to edit, or even do a thorough rewrite. Perhaps my biggest fear is the "Is this erotica?" question. Did I write steampunk erotica or just a steampunk book that had slightly more sex than usual?
I recently had a story rejected from an erotica publisher because, in part, there wasn't enough sex in it, and what there was, wasn't sexy enough. While it was the editor's prerogative to reject it on those grounds for that market, the point of the story was that even sex that isn't great or even good has value. But, does erotica necessarily require that the sex be great, or does non-great sex make it something else?
it's a relief to have it over, at any rate. Now I can work on my essay for the SmartPop book on the late, lamented Dollhouse TV series. After that, there's a few other stories I would like to finish, but I also want to get back into non-fiction writing. Though time may be too short, I have some ideas for a story about the moral panic over the alleged threat of human trafficking for the Olympics.