Semi-Serious Writing Question
Mar. 30th, 2006 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oneirophreniaOK. Witness, homeboys and -grrls:
I've been plotting and, to some degree, working on a story called "Love and the Singular Man" for a transhumanist writing contest. It's a fairly basic "mismatched lovers" kind of love story involving a male lead (Cline) who is slowly upgrading himself into a posthuman and his psychologist girlfriend/partner-of-many-years who is rather unnerved by technology in general and absolutely freaked out by the fact that her lover of 22 years is basically evolving beyond her. It's a fairly simple type of narrative, ultimately, and so far I've written up a fairly straightforward chapter or two of it....
But here's the question:
If I keep doing this for the contest, it has to be pretty short. Under 2K or 3K words. But...if I do that, I'm going to have to cut out almost all the characterization, all the neat scenery and depictions of future technology--including the AWESOME FUCKING ROBOT BODY that Cline gets loaded into at one point. It will still work, but...I like these characters. They're nice people. And...what's a love story if you can't, like, get into the characters and their relationship? If I keep going with this contest thing, I think the story's going to be totally neutered.
So, should I keep it short and sweet and simple? Or should I just go balls-to-the-wall lush and detailed? Short and simple tells the tale and gets to the point, but the other option (I think) will just be more interesting. I also think that, if I make it longer, I might just publish it as a serial on oneirophrenia.net or possibly seek serial publication via the WTA or something like that.
Any thoughts?
I've been plotting and, to some degree, working on a story called "Love and the Singular Man" for a transhumanist writing contest. It's a fairly basic "mismatched lovers" kind of love story involving a male lead (Cline) who is slowly upgrading himself into a posthuman and his psychologist girlfriend/partner-of-many-years who is rather unnerved by technology in general and absolutely freaked out by the fact that her lover of 22 years is basically evolving beyond her. It's a fairly simple type of narrative, ultimately, and so far I've written up a fairly straightforward chapter or two of it....
But here's the question:
If I keep doing this for the contest, it has to be pretty short. Under 2K or 3K words. But...if I do that, I'm going to have to cut out almost all the characterization, all the neat scenery and depictions of future technology--including the AWESOME FUCKING ROBOT BODY that Cline gets loaded into at one point. It will still work, but...I like these characters. They're nice people. And...what's a love story if you can't, like, get into the characters and their relationship? If I keep going with this contest thing, I think the story's going to be totally neutered.
So, should I keep it short and sweet and simple? Or should I just go balls-to-the-wall lush and detailed? Short and simple tells the tale and gets to the point, but the other option (I think) will just be more interesting. I also think that, if I make it longer, I might just publish it as a serial on oneirophrenia.net or possibly seek serial publication via the WTA or something like that.
Any thoughts?
