Behind-the-page: To Lose & To Heal · 11:21am Aug 4th, 2023
Hiya, lovely peeps!
Welcome back to Behind-the-page! Been a while since I did one of those.
Today's featured story: To Lose & To Heal.
I'm delivering on my promise to publish a story this July. But enough about that. Let's talk about the story itself.
Plans to write angsty Twilight began all the way to May this year. I wrote the first line and originally planned on exploring Twilight's emotions as she navigates this difficult step in her life. But I didn't know how to proceed, so I let the first few paragraphs sit in my Google Doc for weeks.
And then the Thousand Words contest was launched. And I knew - I just knew - that this had to be my entry. I rerouted. Changed my original design completely.
One kiloword is a lot less that people think it is. I decided to section it off into the five stages of grief, inspired by the Season 5 episode, "Tanks for the Memories". Dunno if y'all have noticed, but each section is exactly 200 words. I wrote the entire thing in a single week.
I recruited JinxJTL in early June. And honestly, without them as my editor, I never would have published it. They dissected my story paragraph-by-paragraph, helped me come up with alternative ways to phrase certain parts and was overall just a really great friend to talk to.
I'm really proud of the story, but thoroughly disappointed with the initial reception. It kinds got buried under a wave of new stories, so it was off the New list less than 24 hours after I published. But here's to hoping it gathers a little more attention in coming weeks.
Thanks to everyone who gave it a chance and fingers crossed for the contest!
Getting attention is BRUTAL on front page. It sucks so bad that... inferior stories clog up a lot of the front page and people who actually try get lost in the shuffle.
D'aw, thanks for the mention, Naimat! It's really heartening to know that I helped the story to see the light of day, however smothered that light may have been in the end. I gave it a mention to my own followers in a blogpost, but I suppose turnabout is predicated on circulation, and my small sphere of influence just wasn't enough to get that going.
Still, as I've said before, I value the experience for just that: the experience. I've had a fair few stories land as duds- some real intense passion projects, too- and it always hurts; you're always left with the most horrible questions in mind that persist beyond any reason. In those cases, and especially in this one, though, I can honestly look back on the time I spent as being wholly worthwhile. I always have fun writing, and oftentimes, I take pure joy in nothing but. Reception be damned!
I had heaps of fun engaging with you and your story in ways that I'd never experienced before, and I can't understate just how much of that was facilitated by your kind, understanding demeanor. However many people end up reading it, or however well it does in the contest, I'm still going to look back on all of this with great fondness.
I hope you do, too.
Wow, I noticed the different 200-words parts while reading, but I didn't think about how it mirrored the stages of grief. I'm definitely going to read the story again with that in mind!
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I don't really understand why it didn't get more attention than it did... Still, though, I hope you do well on the contest and that it'll bring in more people!
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It’s true. But I’ve learned not to let a story’s reception affect how much how proud I am of it.
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Thank you!
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It was great working with you. You’ve been a great friend and a great editor. I won’t need an editor for every story, but when I do, I know who to call.