It’s at that awkward in-between length (#SFWApro)

But the latest Southern Discomfort draft (the third, I think) is done. As I was pretty sluggish this week, I devoted a couple of hours this morning to wrapping it up.
The length? 45,600 words, so it’s too long for novella, too short for a novel. I know I can expand it a lot in the next go-round, but I’m not sure I can expand it enough. Still, there’s lots I can do without padding it: longer action scenes, maybe more action scenes, character bits, more setting detail, more courtroom drama—so we’ll see.
Overall, the draft looks very good for a third-draft long-form work. It’s reasonably coherent, the characters are largely reasonably fleshed out, the plot holds up. Two things do need work:
•Maria’s arc has a workable ending (it didn’t last draft), but it’s still not strong enough. Her conflict over using violence needs to be consistent and come to a head at the climax. And her way out of the emotional mess she’s in needs more foreshadowing. But those are doable.
•I’m pretty much making up the magic as I go along. I can get away with a lot of that, as Gwalchmai’s supposed to be dabbling in weird and wild magery, but can I get away with it enough? Do I need to set more limits? Or at least make it feel like there’s some underlying logic? And again, once I know how everything works, I have to foreshadow it properly.
I’ll review it probably in January and see what I think then.
Other than that, it was a satisfactory week. I finished that Raleigh Public Record story, sent off a new query, submitted Atlas Shagged to a new market. And had a delicious time at Cafe Parizade yesterday. It’s a local restaurant that does a vegan Thanksgiving dinner, which TYG and I attend along with some friends. Great food, good company and TYG won an orchid and a lunchbox in the raffle.
Anyway, finishing the story was my last bit of actual work this weekend, though I’ll be blogging more off and on.