K. Marvin Bruce

  My second completed novel—never published, of course—is one I still think is pretty good.   A little long, I admit, but well written.   It actually had three readers who agreed with both points: too long but well written.   One of them said I needed a good editor. I’ve read many overly long books.   Just this year alone I’ve read four novels that reached, nearly reached, or went over 500 pages.   One of the standard chestnuts of writing advice is “write short to write long.”   That only applies to some of us. Life has been so busy lately that I haven’t even been able to send in my damaged disc drive with The Space between Atoms on it, let alone try to get some of my completed stories published.   Some of it has to do with Covid-19, which, I think we’re all glad to see, seems to be releasing its grip on the United States. I submitted a book of short stories to a contest with Press 53 late last year.   It didn’t even win honorable mention, a...

One of my friends is an established author.  He has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list multiple times although he isn’t really a household name.  He writes big books.  Some topping a thousand pages.  He won’t compromise. On my nightstand at the moment is a first novel of some four hundred pages.  Prior to it, several of my last bedtime projects involved first books of similar or greater size.  Big books.  Something into which you could sink your teeth. Pardon the cliche. Recently some literate friends were saying how much they love descriptive writing.  Thing is, description takes word counts.  Like most writers struggling to find publishers, one of the first obstacles I face is reflected in the adage “write short to write long.” Implied witticism aside, this can be a problem.  I’m the first to admit that stories of my own that I’ve pruned down often appear better for the effort.  To bring some more comple...