About a minute ago I posted in another thread on Roundtable, telling an author who was near completing his novel but had stalled that he shouldn't worry. This advice seems logical to me at this time, because I have three short stories that are stalled. Oh, they're all completed--in first-draft rough form. But they all need to be revised, and two of them need to be drastically shortened in order to have any hope of getting published.
The latter problem really pisses me off. I know people's attention spans are short these days, but one would think online readers seeking good fiction would be willing to read through eight to ten thousand words. Yet there are hardly any ezines who will take work over 6K words. Brevity is great, but I think character and plot development suffer unbelievably in the modern short story.
But I digress; I was talking about revisions. I love writing, but revising the first draft has to be the most tedious part of the process. Later revisions, after the piece has been polished, are actually fun to do. Lately, I've only been able to sit on these works. They'll get done, but the procrastination still bothers me. And so I'm wondering how the rest of you handle your revisions and stay motivated through the process.
The latter problem really pisses me off. I know people's attention spans are short these days, but one would think online readers seeking good fiction would be willing to read through eight to ten thousand words. Yet there are hardly any ezines who will take work over 6K words. Brevity is great, but I think character and plot development suffer unbelievably in the modern short story.
But I digress; I was talking about revisions. I love writing, but revising the first draft has to be the most tedious part of the process. Later revisions, after the piece has been polished, are actually fun to do. Lately, I've only been able to sit on these works. They'll get done, but the procrastination still bothers me. And so I'm wondering how the rest of you handle your revisions and stay motivated through the process.
