--Posted by Amber Angel
When Christine Young asked me if I wanted to contribute a novella as part of a Valentine's Day anthology, I was flattered and delighted. Then thought, What am I going to write?
I poked my writer's muse to see if any ideas surfaced. The muse was silent. Waiting, I think, for me to draw the obvious conclusion: I had drafted a romantic comedy some years earlier but tucked it away when it started to turn into the serious, more dramatic and longer stories I usually write.
But what if this story was shorter? Could I sustain the comedy for 30,000 or 35,000 words? I liked the story enough to give it a try.
My first challenge was trimming the length from nearly 60,000 words down to about 30,000 words. Ever tried to lose weight? What if you had to lose half your weight? Well, at least I had a generous deadline to do this.
I waded into the story with an eye to cutting big chunks of text. Any subplots that weren't necessary to the central story got deleted. If I found a scene that didn't move the story forward, out it went. Two sections that said basically the same thing were combined into one scene.
I was pleased--until I realized I still needed to cut about 15,000 words.
I polished up my delete key and dove into the story once again. In doing so, I discovered how much I had learned about the craft of writing in a few short years. Bouncing points of view, weak motivation, and excessive dialog tags (how many ways can you write "he said"?) became obvious. Cleaning up these writing faux pas brought the word count almost down to my goal.
Another pass through to tighten the dialogue, eliminate excessive phrases, and make sure each word was necessary left the story at a streamlined 34,000 words that sustained the comedy from beginning to The End.
Writing a story as part of an anthology might not have started out as a way to sharpen my writing skills, but that was one bonus. Another bonus was finding an outlet for the romantic comedy side of my writing muse.
Other reasons I like writing for an anthology have to do with Christine Young and C.L. Kraemer (aka Allana Angel and Sable Angel). I love working with two writers I respect and admire. In addition, promotion with other writers is a lot of fun and we can combine resources to reach more readers. For example, our Valentine's Anthology will include "write-in" parts, similar to cameo appearances in movies and TV shows, that were auctioned off as a benefit for the Willamette Humane Society, and our launch party for the anthology will be hosted by WHS.
I have many reasons for participating in an anthology, but what speaks most eloquently is the answer to the question, "Would you do it again?" For me, the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"
As you read this, Rogue's Angels are already planning another anthology for 2011 with more fantasy, more romance, and more fun!
Just a few moments ago I told my critique partner why I like to write short stories for anthologies then I happened upon your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteMy all-time bestseller was an anthology story so that sold me. Before that I participated because it seemed like good promo to be in books with other authors who had a readership that may not be acquainted with me yet.
Now I have several more reasons. Two of my publishers will republish the short stories by themselves. Several months later they usually republish the entire anthology in print. And now, they're starting to republish the same stories in audio.
Also, I like to have several of my stories published annually. My publisher doesn't like to publish more than one story per author per month. However, that rule doesn't apply if the author is in an anthology and also has an individual book scheduled. In addition, even if all the other book slots are filled months in advance, if there are openings in an anthology, I can slip a story into the schedule sooner.
http://www.ashleyladd.blogspot.com