I have now finished the first drafts to "Death and White Satin," and "Remember Me." The first is 8,100 words long, and the second contains 6,500. Those actually count as short stories, but definitely of the beefier variety. I'm pretty happy with both of them, although I'm not to sure about the title "Remember Me." That could still be changed.
Now it's time to hunt new inspiration.
I was originally going to put in a story I had already written, and got the rights back for, called "Storm Chase." It sort of fits the theme I wanted for "4," in that it features a female ghost. I decided not to because it weighs in at only four thousand words, and has a completely different pacing than these two stories. I'll keep it in the bullpen, so to speak, just in case I do need it...but I'm seriously considering submitting it to a free ezine in the hopes of getting it out there about the same time as "4" becomes available. I think it would make good advertising.
Anyways, despite my doom and gloom of yesterday (breaking a tooth can do that to you) I have a small sense of accomplishment in reaching the halfway point in my anthology. Now to come up with two more of the same quality. I want this thing to be scary...kind of like the expression on "miss kitty's" face in the following video.
Having different pacing and story-length in the collection might not be bad.
ReplyDeleteWould the e-zine object to publishing it if it were included in the book? If not, that could be really good advertising, to give an excerpt of 4.
You have a very good point. And there is a strong temptation to use that story since it would mean I would only have one more to write.
ReplyDeleteThere is one more thing that causes me to hesitate on it, and that is the fact that the ghost in Storm Chase and the one in Death and White Satin both wear wedding dresses...although in the case of storm chase it's not that integral to the story. It seems like there would be a danger of a redundancy there...although it would fit in the theme of the cover.
Hmmm....