The Beast groweth

It’s officially a novelette now. 9600 words at end-of-day yesterday (Ack! That’s 11,000 by manuscript count.) and still going strong. It does indeed look likely that I’m going to hit “novella” with this one. But I sincerely doubt there’s enough story to make it to bona fide novel.

Fuck.

I did decide to introduce a new POV character. I think I can get away with it in a work of this length, although all my short story instincts are railing at me. I’ll assess how successful and necessary the POV switch is when the thing’s done.

I find it interesting that once I decided (with resignation) that this work was going to be a novella, I didn’t balk the way I usually do when I neared the 7.5K mark. I just kept plunking along. There’s a barrier in the writing part of my brain that disheartens me when I start creeping into the “longer than a short story” range. It’s just that it’s so hard to sell longer works. Hell, bucketfuls of markets dry up at the greater-than-5K-marker, much less the novelette/novella range.

But with this one, I don’t care. I want to write this story to completion, dammit.

I’m almost over the climax, soon to be edging into the denouement. Wonder how far I’ll get this weekend.

Not that I’ll have all that much free time between the Dragon*Con staff meeting and the Fantasm shindig . . .

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One Response to The Beast groweth

  1. oracne says:

    You go, girl! Make it long! Whee!

    yes, I’m enjoying vicarious thrills…

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