Thursday 18 August 2011

Fragments, a.k.a. Henry

I wrote 'Fragments' back in 2008, shortly after writing for the Doctor Who Anthology, 'How the Doctor Saved my Life.'  I was on something of a roll back then and the story, which was called 'Henry' at the time, was accepted for a short story print anthology that was to be published by a Science Fiction website.

Alas, it was not to be.  The website encountered some difficulties and eventually closed, my hopes dying with it.  Looking back it was probably a blessing in cruel disguise.  The shape that 'Henry' was in at the time I would probably have cringed to see it in print.

Anyway it was duly filed away in my documents and all but forgotten about.  Then a year later I stumbled across it, gave it a dust down, tidied up a few passages and sent it off to a couple of online magazines and print magazines.  They all rejected it.  Ouch.  So away it went again, into the folder of broken dreams.

It wasn't until I'd released 'Rose' on the Kindle that I started to think about 'Henry' again.  I knew there was a good story in there, it just needed to be carved out from that rough draft.

I edited without mercy.  I cut the dead wood, the pretty but meaningless passages, trimmed away the fat until it was two thirds the original word count.  Nice and tight.   Then I edited it again, and from the smoking embers 'Fragments' emerged.

The cover image for 'Fragments' is something I'm rather proud of - a Heath Robinson moment, if you like.  I was scratching my head trying to add text to a photograph when it struck me - why not re-shoot the image with the text in it?  That cover is made up of three elements; A4 paper, a blue paperweight and a torch.  Simple but effective.  Okay so my name's a bit wonky, but I think perfection is overrated.

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