Zeb_Carter
.-- - ..-.
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2006
- Posts
- 20,573
I just had that struggle for a short story submission of off LIT. Word limit 8-10k. I ended up at 26k and I was still writing, realized I was waaaaay to long, cut it in half at an obvious dividing line and ended up submitting a 16k story which I may or may not have to chop back if it's accepted. I am hopeless at cutting. I always end up rewriting and adding more. And more. And....
I knew the story. And the start, a concrete end and the steps in between, but keeping the words tight is always a struggle.
I have that trouble also. I start out trying to do a short flash story and wind up having a novella length piece at the end. Characters having big mouths with too much to say and doing things I hadn't thought of them doing, right there on the page in front of me. Sometime I get so embarrassed.