Novel in disguise as a short story
May. 31st, 2009 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
musingaloud16 day Nope from ASIM. I love how they include reader comments though. My story netted this: This is good, and entertaining, but it's the start of a longer story, not a story in itself.
ARGH! My stories often receive comments like this. I haven't been able to figure out what I'm doing wrong, besides, of course, the simple fact that my stories are often snapshots from novels rather than full story arcs. I have a lot of trouble trying to see just a scene without seeing all the story behind and in front of it. But a comment from the James Gunn in his online workshop has given me a glimmer of insight. He said, in essence, that 2 issues I'd left unresolved in the story (the backgrounds and motives of 2 lesser characters) made the story seem unfinished. And that while some had commented that my story seemed like part of a novel, in actuality, it was that it seemed unfinished because of those two issues. That I could argue that the background and motives were irrelevant, but until I addressed them, the story would seem unresolved.
In this particular rejected story, it's not the background of the characters, or their motives, I don't think, but mainly that I mean the story to be escapist fun, a comedy. But I didn't really give the heroine a problem to solve or overcome. She meets another character and sparkling, witty dialog ensues, but what is the real issue? Nothing. Just a vehicle to bring them together.
So I think I'm seeing that when I want to skip over an issue because I think it's irrelevant or not needed for this particular story, that I'd better stop and think again. Of course one can't include everything. But in the workshopped story, the two characters have pretty important roles and the reason why I didn't give the motives to the one character was because I wasn't sure myself of what his motive was. But since the outcome is affected by his involvement, his role and motive is important. In the rejected story, well, even a frothy slightly comic piece needs something meaty to hang it on.
I hope this is a lesson learned.
ARGH! My stories often receive comments like this. I haven't been able to figure out what I'm doing wrong, besides, of course, the simple fact that my stories are often snapshots from novels rather than full story arcs. I have a lot of trouble trying to see just a scene without seeing all the story behind and in front of it. But a comment from the James Gunn in his online workshop has given me a glimmer of insight. He said, in essence, that 2 issues I'd left unresolved in the story (the backgrounds and motives of 2 lesser characters) made the story seem unfinished. And that while some had commented that my story seemed like part of a novel, in actuality, it was that it seemed unfinished because of those two issues. That I could argue that the background and motives were irrelevant, but until I addressed them, the story would seem unresolved.
In this particular rejected story, it's not the background of the characters, or their motives, I don't think, but mainly that I mean the story to be escapist fun, a comedy. But I didn't really give the heroine a problem to solve or overcome. She meets another character and sparkling, witty dialog ensues, but what is the real issue? Nothing. Just a vehicle to bring them together.
So I think I'm seeing that when I want to skip over an issue because I think it's irrelevant or not needed for this particular story, that I'd better stop and think again. Of course one can't include everything. But in the workshopped story, the two characters have pretty important roles and the reason why I didn't give the motives to the one character was because I wasn't sure myself of what his motive was. But since the outcome is affected by his involvement, his role and motive is important. In the rejected story, well, even a frothy slightly comic piece needs something meaty to hang it on.
I hope this is a lesson learned.
