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I've cooled off after yesterday's tirade. I guess I'm just a little tired of all the flag waving. The image above is from a cover of The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. One of the key scenes involves several standard bearers falling in battle until Henry, the protagonist, picks up the flag and leads his unit to victory. So much death just to keep a flag flying.
Sigh.
I'm a writer. Writers write. When stereotypes are tossed around (self-published writers are __________; literary agents are __________), no one wins. Writers write.
I've almost finished the extended "Spider and I". At around 16,000 words, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'll make it available in e-format for free. Maybe I'll do my own art and try to sell a limited number of hand-made chapbooks. Maybe I'll send it to a dozen markets and receive a dozen rejection letters. I don't know. Yet. But I wrote it because it was a story I wanted to tell.
I do know (from "Spider and I"):
Night was coming, and Jack was afraid.
I'm off the soapbox and in the trenches. Writers write. Period.
I recommend you market "Spider and I" and see what happens. Of course, I know only too well what an awkward length 16,000 words is. But if you can't find a market for it, there's always DIY. Good luck, either way.
Very best of luck with this - no matter what you decide to do... I know how difficult it is in this day and age to corner a market - especially when it's a betweeny length. But as you say it was something you really wanted to write and sometimes maybe that has to be enough??
You got that write, dude.
We do indeed write...because we love it, because it's part of who we are, no different to breathing or eating.
So perfectly true! I write because I have no more choice in doing it than I do sleeping. I can put it off but eventually I have to give in or suffer.
Love Spider.
By the way, I'm about halfway through The House Eaters and I'm lovin' it.