November Third - My Commentary

I suppose this is some horrible cliche of a story, but I don't know anything about these virtual reality stories, so I don't know what the cliches are. It's also a very sad story, which, I think, is out of character for me. I don't normally even like to read sad stories.

Honestly, I hadn't planned to write anything for this Celestial competition. I was really busy at the time with work, love, and home, so much so that I wasn't even reading very much. But I sat down for an hour and managed to crank out most of the story, then returned from a trip and managed to finish the first draft very quickly.

For the most part, I wrote this story backwards. I knew how the ending was supposed to work, but I had a hard time making the ending sound right. So I sort of massaged words into the story from back to front, slowly kneading in until I thought I had something that flowed OK.

For a short story, I ended up screwing around with it an awful lot. I figure that means it doesn't work very well, or at least it's not the kind of story that I write naturally.

Some reader reaction to this story surprised me. I think the main character in this story is almost pathetic, and that this is a very sad story about a guy who can't deal with the reality of his situation and move on. But many readers did not take this to be a sad story. They saw it as a couple who really, truly loved one another, and that the sadness could only come from joy. I suppose I can understand that reaction, but I think I disagree with it. In the alt.sex.stories.d group, one reader said "is there anything love ISN'T worth?" I think my sentiments were summed up perfectly when another reader responded: "Your own self worth, maybe?"

I was also a little surprised by Celeste's review of this story. I think this is a far better story than "I Wonder", for example, yet Celeste gave "I Wonder" a 10-10-10, while "November Third" only received a 10-9-9. The plot and character ratings are the most puzzling, since "I Wonder" has neither a plot nor any characters to speak of, and I think "November Third" has both.

Maybe if I knew the first thing about science fiction, the answer would be obvious. In any case, this genre is obviously not my forte, since I managed to submit the fourth worst story in the contest.

On the other hand, the two stories I liked best both received 10-9-9, so maybe it's Celeste who is messed up on this one!