Okay, so the 2024 edition of the Open Novella Contest has come and gone and, in what is bordering on a tradition, my decision to enter resulted in the complete derailment of the book I was writing at the time. What is less traditional, however, is that this time I actually did manage to write a novella (rather than a fully fledged novel or a sad, little abandoned proto-book). Huzzah? Well, kind of.
You see, I feel like there's the germ of a good story in my novella (eww, germs). But I didn't feel like I'd done it justice. Part of the issue was the constrained nature of the ONC and part was my own lack of clarity as to what I was trying to say. In any case, the characters were a little too thinly sketched for my liking and the plot not as coherent as I wanted it to be.
Anyway, the point is that I have decided to fix it. Whether this is out of a strict adherence to upholding authorial standards or simply a means to dodge restarting my other book, I'm trying hard not to speculate. I have thus far edited probably two-thirds of the thing, adding another 3-4k words (including a new chapter) in the process, and I hope to have it (re-)finished within a couple of weeks. After that, perhaps I will restart my other book. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/362560254-manticore-rampant
