Self Doubts and Thoughts

I'm reading a book recommended to me by my friend Susan called "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition, How to Edit Yourself Into Print" by Renni Brown. I've got this loaded onto my phone for reading, and Sharon Kay Penman's "Here Be Dragons" loaded onto my Nook. I was reading through the basics on showing instead of telling, character voice and action, etc., and of course I was mentally revising what I have recently written because that's what I do when I read editing books like this.

Yes, I could revise the story I was thinking about, which happened to be "Dragon Seeks a Wife", the o-fic that I turned in for possible publication. I could rewrite it, make it more show and less tell and strengthen the character voice. I was deeply in thought about how I would approach the revision and how those changes would alter the tone of the story and then I stopped short and realized that this is one time when telling instead of showing was appropriate.

I wanted the story to be in the format of an old-fashioned fairy tale, the story as told by a storyteller around a fire at night or at the kitchen table while cutting vegetables. It was an important that it be formatted from that distance, that "Once upon a time..." distance. When you read about Hanzel and Gretl, you don't read about their personal reactions as they enter the woods or try to find their way out except in basic dialog. You do find the invisible narrator discussing the tall trees and the fact that the bread crumbs are eaten behind the children. Suddenly I felt better.

The entire thought of Kermit and Miss Piggy as Hansel and Gretl makes me smile.

I liked my story and still do. I may be revising it for a long time to come, but the basic format and focus of the tale is one that I'm comfortable with. It may strike the publisher as undeniably amateur, but that's OK. I didn't learn to write technical articles overnight either. I can learn to write compelling fiction and I have a lifetime to polish, learn and relearn, and find my voice. I'll continue to write and, just for today, I'll stop second-guessing myself because I can be my own worst enemy when I critique my own pieces of prose or art.