The Vivisections
Episode 1: Thicker than Water
This story’s not a corpse yet. Where it dangles, hung by its neck on public display—it’s still thrashing. Kicking its tired little legs, drawing crowds. Let’s lower this baby on down to the ground while it still screams.
We gotta cut into it a bit. Gotta count her rings.
What This Is:
These vivisections are full, live dissections of a published story. This isn’t going to be a tidy retelling. This is a slice-by-slice exposure of my professional creative process.
What You Get:
Full story cycle: concept - drafts - editing - rejections - acceptance - finalization - publication - final thoughts
Raw documents: drafts, revisions, published story
Screenshots of cover letters, editorial feedback, correspondence
Footnoted draft progression: what changed, why, thoughts
Commentary that’s not bullshit. I’m not glorifying this or trashing it.
Welcome to the Knife
Pull up a chair and be careful not to scratch the floor. At your desk you will find some tools you’ll need post-demonstration if you’re to continue work in this filed.
Project Word Count Tracker - Instructions included in link
Submission Tracker - Very self-explanatory
Standard Manuscript Format (SHUNN) - Memorize
“Here.”
*hands you a blood-smeared tape recorderPress record
Let’s write up the report.
THICKER THAN WATER
Vitals and PHI:
Concept: Roe v Wade was overturned and I seethed with hatred. It rippled through me like deepwater currents, raking, bending my hands into violent claws. I was hot with some sort of vibrating thing that was about to spill over into something mean, so instead, my wife and I were ranting together about the bullshittedness of [see all], and I brought up Andrea Yates.
She brought up Susan Smith
Mothers who drowned their kids.
Nightmares of backalley abortifacients, and a line I wrote when I was in a metal band 15 years before, "She puts rocks in their little pockets..." spawned an opening paragraph about being post-term aborted.
Remove the sheet.