First Steps & Last Steps

During a power outage, I decided it was the perfect time to start figuring out my two newest short stories. Which is really cool, by the way, because I don't think I've ever had two simultaneous stories in the forge before. The trick will be to keep them distinct from one another. And I'm not sure if I will bounce back and forth between the two, or if one will overwhelm my brain more than the other. In either case, I hashed out a few new ideas and did some character development. No more words on them yet. But it's coming.

The real story here is how well "Broken Gold" turned out. "Broken Gold" is a trial run for (potentially) my next novel about a treasure hunter whisked into a world-ending conspiracy. Its prequel, "Broken Gold," has significantly lower stakes and takes place on Cuba. After cracking the story and pounding out almost 3,000 words the other weekend, I let the story stew a little. I also asked myself "What's the point of the story?" Lo and behold, I needed to add one line at the end to tie everything together and the meaning of the story popped out, hidden in plain sight. I've realized subtlety is sometimes lost on readers who are pushing through dozens if not hundreds of potential stories to publish, so I figure the hit-the-nail-on-the-head technique is what I will do until someone calls me out on it. 

Anyhow, first draft is officially ready. I'd like to send it out next week since a few markets are opening up for August, but it might be premature. I did two reads and gave myself two sets of notes. I'm sure next weekend I will have more changes too. Since its only got a hint of horror/fantasy and isn't really a traditional treasure hunting story, it might be difficult to find a home for it, so when an appropriate market opens, I may have to just slam it out there.

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