When you get advice from someone who knows their stuff better than you know yours, listen. I showed an early version of my short piece "Geistergarten" to a fellow author who I believe can generally write circles around me. She said something to the effect of, "I like it, but…"
Lots of people say things to that effect. (Dispirited sigh.) But her advice hit home. She proposed that I experiment with the form of the piece as a way of trying to put across what I meant to say with it.
The form. I hadn't thought enough about that. And as for what I meant to say, well… it turns out I hadn't thought enough about that either.
So I tied on my hachimaki and got to work, and the piece, though it didn't change radically, did change in a way that feels meaningful. Experiments with form can be like taking apart a machine to see how it works. In this case, it was only after doing so that I decided the story might be good.
The first 27 short fiction markets I sent it to decided it wasn't.
But I am pleased to say that the poetry and short fiction site Bluepepper was kind enough to publish the piece today. You can read it here.