Marketing, New Stuff, and Overdoing It

So, I have turned in the updated version of my short story. It was a herculean effort to add anything to it, as I was so detached from the project, but when I finally sat down and did it, I got all wrapped up in it again. Let that be a message to myself: just suck it up and do it. It will be enjoyable once you get a little way into it.

Now I have to move on to my least favorite part of the publishing process — the dreaded marketing form. Thankfully, it���s an anthology, so I won���t have to do the whole back of the book blurb, which can be daunting. However, I do have to do the smaller one, which is to discuss my story with a hook in two lines. I have to write a synopsis, which I already do when I send the story in, and that is taken from the prep materials I write before starting the story. There are other parts to fill out, and it���s cumbersome. But, I���ve been down this road before, so it shouldn���t be too terrible. Just irritating.

I���ve been working on the new stuff, but I realized that if I wanted part of the plot to really be relevant, I needed to attach it to something. Without going too into depth, it involves making up a few noble families to flesh out this kingdom, and giving one of them a reason to start some shit.

Have I mentioned that I tend to overdo some stuff like this?

I might mention that I am interested in history, specifically the Tudor dynasty and some outliers around that time frame. So, I know how overly convoluted these family trees can get, and I also get that very few people care. I���m geeking out as I make these charts for my own stuff, realizing that this person was a crazy, powerful bitch and so was murdered in a battle she brought on herself. I���m having fun tracing the villain���s seedy, horrific family background which makes him both disdain and strive for the nobility. It has been an exercise in world building and character development like I have rarely experienced. All I have to do is write a relationship on the chart, and I know the main, overriding part of that person���s history. It���s kinda scary. I usually don���t create that fast.

But all this doesn���t matter to the story. In some cases, it only bogs it down. While it will be important to know that the prince���s grandfather (or grandmother) killed the Mad Queen and took her power, it won���t matter to the story that the usurper���s daughter got pregnant out of wedlock with a commoner and both the baby and the father were discreetly killed, burned, and scattered at sea. Yet, that is in my head, and I���m writing it all out. In case.

So, I think I���m overdoing it. I said to myself, ���Calm down, dude! You���re not writing Game of Thrones.��� Assuming I have that much talent (ha!), the evil part of my brain said, ���Well���why not?���

I don���t know the answer to that. I really don���t. A convoluted and messy family tree and the history to go with it do not make a story. The story makes the story. Family trees and history can be a draping behind the plot. It can illuminate character interactions and motivations. Stephen King said that the story is the driving force, that story should be (if you���ll pardon me) the king. But what if it grows? Am I curtailing my own ambition and talent? Or am I being practical?

So, since it���s so much fun (and for me, it really, really is), I will continue to write it. (That Mad Queen wants my attention, let me tell you.) What makes it into the story remains to be seen. If it serves a purpose and the story supports it, it goes in. If not���well, at least it got me in the mood to write. And it might make something cool to eventually put on my (woefully out of date) web site.

I have to remember that writer’s bane — just because you like it doesn’t mean it belongs in the story.