Friday 9 April 2010

"Huxton" 2nd draft complete

The second draft of “Huxton” is now done and off to a handful of pre-readers and so I await their feedback. I’ll read the draft to Alison over the weekend, so I can get a feel for the story-told, as opposed to the story-written and I’ll combine my thoughts, with those of the pre-readers, to come up with the third draft.

It’s weird - after years of not writing a short, to have now created one to 2nd draft in less than a week is quite astounding!

I still don’t know about the ending though and that’s one of the strange things about writing, especially if you work in a genre that requires reaction - shock, for horror; surprise, for a mystery; a good laugh for a comedy. As the writer, you get the initial idea, then you write the first draft, which you read, then you write the 2nd draft, which you read, then you write the 3rd draft. By that time, the story has gone through the mill six times and you don’t really see the words any more, you certainly don’t get a lot of sense from them. So what was shocking as an idea, by the 3rd draft is “ho hum, now we’ll kill them with the steak knife and a warmed spoon”. That’s why the first-readers are essential.

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