My father had a thing for British motorcycles — particularly Triumphs.
In the 70s, he had a Bonneville and a custom Trident. He loved stripping down a factory bike and turning it into a cafe racer. (Okay, so the Trident eventually became a drag bike.)
There was always something neat to me about British bikes. The more riders removed parts to lighten the load, the faster and more practical the bikes became. Not something you’d take on a cross country trek, perhaps, but they definitely served their purpose.
Stripped Down Writing
One of the things I love about ebooks is they make the novella a viable medium once again.
Once common in magazines, novellas became those things only established writers like Stephen King had the pleasure of writing in recent decades. Oh, sure, you could write a novella, but with very few exceptions, you’d have a hard time selling it. Now, though, writers and readers are flying through 25,000 – 50,000-word stories.
Stripped down and serving a purpose, ebooks have made the literary equivalent of a cafe racer appealing again.
Stripping Glimpses
Last week, I almost shelved my second novel, Glimpses, forever. I almost did a U-turn from the writing plan I recently mentioned and rushed straight to my next novel.
Rereading Glimpses during vacation, there was so much I wanted to strip from its frame. All the extra bits weighed things down, like saddle bags, extra chrome, and accessories can weigh down a motorcycle. But beneath all the extraneous prose written 6 or 7 years ago on lunch breaks is the literary equivalent of a Norton Featherbed frame and a Triumph parallel twin engine.
Looking at Glimpses, all it needed to get me excited was to strip things down light and fast and realize there’s a place, now, for a 50K story: ebooks!
Now, instead of fretting over the scenes that don’t totally work for me, I’m cutting things out. If I question the purpose of something, it’s gone! Hell, Glimpses may come in at 40K – 45K words by the time I’m done.
It may not be the kind of ride you’d want for the long haul like my latest novel, but Glimpses will definitely be a lot more fun in the turns.
When it comes to books that are part of a series, I think they’re so fun and comforting that I wouldn’t mind if they were shorter. If it meant that I could have a new story sooner, I’d be willing to have it be a shorter ride as long as it was still fun.
You know I’m a fan of a certain series, and the books are HUGE. I’m not scared of reading such huge books, but I must admit there is a lot that should have been trimmed from it. Also, when I’m waiting for the next book to come out, I tend to forget details (especially when there are a lot of characters and events to remember to “get” the story).
Everyone gets a different feel, and different needs from things, but for me, there isn’t anything wrong with those stripped down, fun, and relatively quick stories. And like I said, if it’s part of a series, how fun to be able to visit that world — something comforting and familiar that you’re in the mood for — without waiting quite as long.
And yeah… Triumphs and BSAs…. niiiiiiice 🙂
Cynthia: Well, you know me…I’ll read comic books I can fly through, and beefy novels that take me awhile to get through. Since Glimpses is a quicker-paced thing than some of the other stuff I write, I know even if it runs longer that it won’t feel like a long read.
But I love the thought of doing a couple stories a year at 40K – 50K than something around 85K every year or so with it, since it will be a series.
The more commercial/upmarket stuff I write…I’ll always let those stories take as long as they need. As long as I’m working on them, that’s what matters.
And yes, Triumphs and BSAs (and Nortons and some others) are very cool. I’ve seen that red Thruxton in the area a couple times…such a neat bike for something new.
Happy Birthday! I have also seen you juggle snowballs in a kilt (you, not the snowballs) and thought I was impressed by that. However, sharp objects take your skill to another level. Have you tried to slice the tomato while juggling the knife? That would be Oscar worthy!