“Your stories always have a hope element to them. Try to write something that is bleaker.”
What? I thought, though my face conveyed my emotions perfected.
“Every story that you have submitted has had a downside, a problem, but there is an undercurrent of hope. Something will happen for the better. There must be a way out of this. And that is fine. There are some great novels out there with a hope undercurrent. But I want you to stretch yourself. Write something dark, and we’ll publish it in time for October.”
Oh brother. Clearly, my editor wasn’t reading my stuff. Didn’t she see what I wrote for Canada Day? it was all bleak. Almost prophetic when you think about it.
But, fine, if she wants dark, I’ll write dark. I’ll write dark and scary, bleak without a hope undercurrent. It will be so dastardly and evil, we’ll have to change the name of the month. It won’t be October. Nah, that’s for kids. This will be Darktober!
Alright. A new, dark, Darktober story….hmmm. Continue reading “Let Darktober Begin…”
