I just submitted a story that absolutely had to be under a 3,000 word-count, so I wasn’t able to include everything that I wanted to.
As miffed as I am by all that I had to trim in order to fit the story to the right specs, I know it’ll all go in the pile for future ideas.
Here are some of the items I wasn’t able to fit in:
- A lecture on String Theory
- A brief biography of Alexander von Humboldt
- The geologic history of the Hawaiian islands
- The importance of offering the volcano goddess Tūtū Pele her favorite gin
- How volcanic soil can make some of the best wines
- volcanic lightning
- oxygen candles
- The best candy used by mountain climbers for sugar boosts
- A phone call to Tengboche Monastery
- #TeamTopOfTheWorlds going viral
- 12 drones named for the 12 main gods of Greek mythology
- Krakatoa’s 1883 eruption
- Titan’s cryovolcanoes
- kimberlite eruptions – when volcanoes spit out diamonds!
Of course I wanted to show off all these and more, but I understand the importance of tightening a story so there is no sloppy looseness to the plotlines.
Everything on the page is all clay for molding, and what doesn’t make it to the kiln for the final firing can be slapped back down on the wheel to be reshaped into something new.