Bad Romance · 11:55am Jun 24th, 2019
I hate admitting defeat.
If you're curious how much I hate admitting it, go look at To Serve In Hell. There were any number of moments over its three-year gestation when I could've just thrown in the towel and walked away. But I just kept clawing my way toward the finish line, however slowly, and however impossible it seemed to get there at times.
I hate admitting defeat.
I hate it as much as I hate trying to wear high heels in the bathtub. Either I stand and risk slipping, or I sit and end up wishing I had a longer tub. Can anyone tell me why, then, I just keep trying?!
I mention this because I'm almost certainly going to have to resolve my word count issue for my BronyCon collection by tossing Petunia and the Coelacanth in at the end, despite being a little more than ten thousand words deep on the Limestone story I would really like to include. It's a story that I've been trying to write for a long time, and a couple weeks ago it started becoming clear how to actually do it. There's just one problem: it's a romance.
I hate romance.
Actually, I don't hate romance per se. But of all the genres I've worked with, romance seems like it's the most prone to running long and going at its own pace. In this case, even ten thousand words in, the romantic leads have only run into each other a couple of times, and the next scene I neeed to write is the one where they might start seeing each other as a bit more than acquaintances. It's delicious but agonizing, because I know this is gonna be good, but there's no physical way that I can get the rest done in time for inclusion in my BronyCon collection.
As for what it is: imagine Heavy Rock in Equestria, but with machinations of a dubiously-functioning Choosing Stone instead of music. The surface concept is cracky enough to make you smile, but the implications of it go deep enough to let the central characters' struggles hit hard. And where Heavy Rock leaned on an inciting incident to bring the romantic leads together, this feels like much more of a genuine slow burn. It's gonna be fun!
Anyway, there's still always a chance that a miracle will occur and I can fit this in, but I'm running out of time for miracles. Petunia and the Coelacanth absolutely doesn't belong in the collection, but given the choice between publishing or not, I'm publishing!
Ten thousand words and they've barely even met?
You're doin' it right, bro. :')
If anyone asks, Limestone was a coelacanth in a past life.
I realize this might be a naive question, especially considering how fickle the muse's behaviour can get, but: Why not switch targets and write in a different genre instead? You could have a speculative glimpse into an alternate universe, or a family-related drama, or a short horror story she uses to get Marble to behave, or something...?
That said, I sympathize. It's galling to fail an idea because real life, practicality, or motivation is letting your ambitions down. I've had to abandon what feels like hundreds of ideas at this point because I or they don't seem able to do the necessary legwork or aren't working out. That kind of repeated crash really gets a writer down after a while.
Can't help you with Romance, alas. Three out of the four times I've done it, I cheated and used an AU so I could do what I wanted, like having a pre-existing relationship established in the setting. They all waver between 10k and 20k words, too, so I'm not the best person to ask for a concise romantic portrayal.
If I remember correctly, you need roughly 5000 words to meet the minimum words requirement?
Go ahead and cheat! Take what you have, truncate it at a cliffhanger, and include it as a "special sneak preview" or something.
Alternatively, 5079192 works too.
5079266
I like this idea.
You should have taken my advice and gone full bore crack-fic.
5079403
5079266
Okay, real talk here: as long as that kind of teaser wouldn’t drive readers into a book-tossing frenzy, I’d be willing to go with that. It’s obviously not as satisfying as a complete story, but I’m far enough with it that I can leave people with a pretty serious “oh-crap” moment.
5079194
I actually found another ~2500 word short that I’d forgotten about that I was able to work in. So all I need is yet another ~2500 words.
As for a different genre: I agree, it wouldn’t have to be romance. The muses, however, seem to be rather insistent on feeding me nothing but romance.
5079192
Don’t tempt me—there’s probably a story there.
5079190
I sincerely hope so! And the way it’s set up, there’s absolutely no way in Tartarus that they should get together, so it’s gonna be fun tearing down the walls that have been built between them.
5079516
But, see, what is best in life is to crush your crack concepts, see them written before you, and to hear the lamentations of those who wanted pure crack instead of subverted crack.
Ok, I don’t know if we can be friends anymore.
5079578
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5079696
I’ll take a line from Bilbo on this one:
I like how this went from
to 'ok, yeah, that's a surprisingly good point and a reasonable and realistic argument' in the space of three sentences.
I would second nemryn's comment, that it would be better to include what you have of the story so far. However, if you're worried about people being annoyed at it not having the full story there, I'd make very clear from where the story starts that it's only an advanced preview. Like, keep it as the last thing in the book, and preface it with:
5080369
I am coming around to the "sneak preview" option as being good enough. I'll make sure it's labeled prominently as such. Really though, I'm pretty sure that I'm both overthinking and over-worrying about this. The victory is in getting this thing put together and released at all, not necessarily in making it as perfect as I'd like it to be. The strength of the rest of it will carry the thing.