Finally received the promised edits for the short story the editor wanted to see in Jaunary. Time got away from her, I absolutely understand….
At the moment I’m smack-dab in the middle of editing the story per her suggestions (how did we ever efficiently edit without the little bubbles in Word from track changes? Geez) but am taking a quick brain break to share something I just realized.
In her note to me, she said…”The story has nice bones. It just needs a little work.”
I’m not hung up on the “it just needs a little work” part. That much is obvious–it’s my first fiction story in a few years and the first to make it past a slush pile onto an editor’s (real!) desk.
What shocks me is the “nice bones” part. Bones, here, to me, suggests “plot” or “structure”–which is something I’ve never considered myself good at. In fact, it’s the reason I’ve often quit writing stories–because I don’t have the structure to know what comes next. I’ve always fancied myself a character-driven writer (which plays somewhat in a posting I’ve been wanting to do for several weeks on the merits of character vs. plot-driven stories. Sometime…)
Me? A plotter not a pantser? Oh, come on…!
Anyways, all for now. I’ve got edits to finish….
Beth
Comments on this entry are closed.