I finished a second revision (rewrite is more accurate) of The River Lords last night. I’m pleased with the effort. I went from 10k+ to under half that at 4848 words. I’ll give it the once over to cut a little more fat and tighten up story elements. After that, I’ll begin to submit it. We’ll see how it goes.
This story has been a great exercise for me for three reasons:
- I had to home in on the crux of the first draft and trim away much of it;
- I changed the whole flavor of the story, discarding the original arc; and
- I tend towards wordiness, so I focused on writing lean and truthful.
It’s fun to see the fruits of this exercise. Whether it gets accepted or not is another story. At the very least, I’m a better writer for it.
Once the final revisions are done, I’ll probably do a podcast of it just for fun. I’ll post it here.
Where are you planning on submitting it, Jonathan?
I’m targeting online publications like Electric Velocipede or Strange Horizons or the like. I’m still searching to find what might be the best fit in order to increase my chances of publication. My goal is to have it polished this week and get it submitted by week’s end or first of next week.