FICTION-NESS: Novelist Krubner asks, “When you mention your fiction on your weblog you often introduce it by saying that it is still a little rough. I’m curious if you go back and edit your fiction, and if so, are the edited versions published somewhere else, or do you keep them offline (perhaps for copyright reasons)? I’ve enjoyed reading the somewhat early drafts of your fiction, though I’m wondering when we’ll get to see what you yourself consider a finely polished and well-edited version of some of your stories. And given how much a work can change from first to last draft, it would be interesting to go back and re-read one of your stories again when it’s done.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the long range plan as regards your fiction? Are you in a mental space right now where you find it easier to create rough drafts than to edit final drafts, or have you been putting out final drafts and I just missed the announcements?”

Well, my ego has been stroked today! Anyway… I often do a bit of spot-check editing soon after I post fiction segments. For example, if you read the last section of “I Count Only Sunny Hours” (the story at the top of my storyblog right now) when I posted it, you should know that I cleared out some of the overwriting and fixed an egregious pediatric/podiatric error. (I am so smart, S-M-R-T.)

More serious revision is coming later. My current plan is to do rough drafts until November 1. At that point I will start serious revisions, getting stories ready for real publication–and no, I won’t be posting the revised versions online prior to publication. (Sorry, blogosphere, you are not as real as paper and ink.) I plan to start sending revised stories out for publication after the New Year. This admittedly odd and obsessive schedule is the result of my personal wigness, as well as the fact that my reinvigorated ability to write snuck up on me last year; it took me a while to adjust to the fact that, yes, I was writing again.

Some stories won’t change much, I think–“Better At It,” for example (the one with the aliens)–whereas elegant messes like “Getting Fired,” “Kissable Pictures,” and “Ship Comes In” will definitely be getting a full makeover. “GF” has an entire subplot you guys haven’t seen yet, as well as many dropped narrative threads and continuity errors that will be dealt with in the revised version. “KP” needs many small-to-medium changes, as well as one major one–a whole new scene. “SCI” just needs a fixin’, and I am still working out what to do with it, though I am confident it will be good eventually. I should note that readers’ comments have been incredibly helpful as I work out how to revise stories, so I’d love it if you kept ’em coming!

While I’m revising, I will be posting fun little snippets from a deeply strange and cool writing exercise I found online. Won’t tell you what it is yet! But be assured that there will still be original Eve fiction posted from November through January, even though it will be much shorter than usual, and decidedly bizarre.

So that’s the plan. In case you cared.