E.S. Raye

This week, I am embarking on a couple of firsts for my writing career. The first “first” came earlier this month when I was invited to contribute a story to an upcoming anthology. I’ve never been asked to submit anything, so that’s exciting!

The topic for the anthology is “tales of the forbidden, the rare, the hidden, and other rare secrets…” And as it turns out, I have a story that fits the bill perfectly, with a tiny caveat:

It’s way too long.

This publisher is looking for stories in the 3,000 to 8,000-word range, ideally closer to 5,000. The story I have in mind tops out at a whopping 11,000.

Which brings me to my second “first.” I need to rewrite this story from beginning to end to fit the required word count. It may seem odd, but I’ve never wholly rewritten one of my stories from scratch outside of a screenplay. But I think it will be a fun exercise.

The story itself is the first short story I ever wrote after deciding I wanted to be an author (I actually wrote Gas Giant Gambit first), so it definitely needs some love. I’ve learned so much since writing it. But at the same time, I love the complexity it currently has in character, setting, and story. Cutting it down to around half its original length while maintaining that complexity will be difficult.

On top of all that, there’s never a guarantee it will be accepted by the publisher and added to the anthology. I could be doing all that work with no immediate reward. And while that may be true, even if they decide to pass on the story, I think it will be stronger than it is now and more likely to be published somewhere than it is in its current form.

So, with that, I’ll cut this blog a little short. I’ve got a lot of work to do!

P.S. The inaugural issue of Perseid Prophecies comes out on April 1st! Each issue will be free to download from the website, but you can also subscribe via Patreon for added perks, like early peeks at covers and tables of contents, discord server access, and early downloads of the entire issue!