Yesterday, I completed a very rough first draft of a short story. I was intrigued by the “Dream by the Fire: Winter Magic” anthology submission call announced by Freya’s Bower.
I made the mistake of plotting the story late Sunday night before bed. I was kept up most of the night and ended up getting up around 6:30 A.M. to work on it. I spent two days writing about 6k words and I handed it over to DH to look at last night.
It was full of problems as I expected. I now have some red flags to look for before handing the next project to him. What really surprised me was his comment that he liked the dialogue, saying it felt really natural. *faint* Ok. Wow. Cause I think I SUCK at dialogue.
However, this story was completely different from anything else I’ve attempted to write. It came out contemporary. I’ve never even thought about contemporary before. I think it’s also why I was so vague on many of the plots and themes in it in this first draft.
The results? I didn’t take the criticism personally, although I think he’s still bemused by the whole thing. DH also handed me a copy of John Gardener’s The Art of Fiction to read. Ok, next craft book on the list… maybe after the dishes are done I can start that.