Living the Fictional Dream

My short story, “The Sorcerer’s Wife,” is live at Residential Aliens today. Go check it out! (If you don’t like spoilers, you should definitely go read it before you read the rest of this entry!)

I’m very partial to this story. It started out life as a flash piece (under 1,000 words), but it didn’t have enough meat on its bones. I revised it several times, fleshing it out to its current length of just over 1K. I think the rejections of the flash version were spot on, because this version is much more developed, especially in terms of setting.

Viola has become one of my favorite short story characters from my own stories. When I began writing TSW, she was the evil temptress, nothing more, an obstacle to be overcome in Brand and Amira’s life. But when she strolled into his bedroom and onto the page of this story, she totally took on a life of her own. She became motivated by things other than generic evil and meddling, and she had this incredible presence.

I actually wrote a couple of stories from Viola’s point of view during my writing groups’ Story Every Day contest last summer. When NaNo is over, I might try to get one or both of those into something publishable, because I’m interested in learning more about other aspects of Viola’s life and the Game. Though, part of me doesn’t want to delve into the Game too much… that might take all of the mystery out of it.

If you read TSW, I’d love to know what you think. Leave me a comment and let me know if you have the chance!