I’ve decided to share my adventures in writing with a not quite day-by-day blogging of my newest fiction project, which I shall call Project X. I can’t reveal all the details behind it, so I’ll give you what I can and hope that will suffice.
First, a quick warning. I am working several different projects all at the same time. I have 2 articles to write, a newsletter to pull together, a short story, and an RPG project all due “yesterday.” And that doesn’t include my novel rewrite and the other book project I’m working. This means I am a very busy author. Hence I will not be posting every day, and I will be working all projects at the same time, as much as I can. So, what you will be seeing in this particular blog series is only a fraction of what is going through my head.
I’ve known about this anthology for a while, since late February in fact. But I wasn’t sure if I had anything to contribute. It’s a closed antho, meaning invite only. But a few weeks ago, I heard the editor might still need stories, and two days ago, inspiration struck. So I contacted the editor and asked if I might still be able to get in. I got the go-ahead, so started brainstorming.
Here’s what I call “The Nitty-Gritty” of Project X.
Word Count: 4k – 6k. Query for longer stories.
Theme: Specific McGuffin (defined by editor) causes really bad luck to anyone who possesses it. Good goes to bad really fast. Does not have to involve death of main character, but these are not going to be HEA stories (Happily Ever After). Protagonist victories will be meaningless.
Due Date: Three weeks.
Things I already know: The editor likes dark fiction and has said so multiple times in public. Research is easy enough in this case as I know the editor’s real name. Using that to find the editor’s previous anthologies and written work, dark and tragic stories (and monsters) are a reoccurring theme. Kind of Mary Shelly meets Bram Stoker. (BTW, doing research on your prospective editor’s tastes is probably a good idea. It doesn’t guarantee publication, but it helps you avoid stupid mistakes, like submitting regency romances to someone who prefers erotica or vice-versa.)
What the Nitty-Gritty tells me:
1) I have to work fast. I waited too long, so if I’m going to get this story done, I can’t waste time watching television.
2) My story will not, cannot, have a HEA. It will be tragedy, if not out-right horror. There is a difference between the two genres, though often they get mixed together.
3) My story needs to come to the point very quickly. 4000 words is not much. And I know this editor will not accept over 6000 unless I write something so golden it will outsell Billboard Chart singles.
4) I have a lot of research to do about the McGuffin.
So, here’s what I did on Day One:
Research McGuffin in question. Get an idea of what they looked like, what the history was, what the culture behind them was like. There isn’t a lot of info on what people actually did with the McGuffins (i.e., trade them, sell them, pass them as coded messages).
Sketch out a few notes on story ideas. Write some research notes into a separate document (with URLs) for later reference. These research notes will not get shared or posted anywhere. (I may link to the sites that provided the ideas, once I’m allowed to go public with inspirational comments.)
Write some initial story notes. So I did. The next three paragraphs is me talking to myself.
The specific McGuffin is a way to get into something “special” and life-changing. It has to be good (which means you have to know how to create it it) or it has to be a specific McGuffin gotten from someone.
Think Monkey’s Paw kind of thing. Only a very few specific people know what it is. It has to be a “specific McGuffin,” which means that not just any old similar McGuffin will do for this story. The characters can’t just make up a forgery as that won’t work for the anthology’s theme. This means someone is selling the real deal on the street.
Haven’t decided if my protagonist is male or female. Don’t know what she/he wants from life, or the character’s name.
And that’s all I accomplished on Day One. I let my research and notes percolate in the back of my brain while I moved on to other projects.
Stay Tuned! The next project post (later this week) will actually contain some of the writing I did on Day Two.
