I know, I know, I know. I write too much. Cacoethes scribendi. And sometimes my stuff looks as if I am so keen to get on the table it is half baked. “It reads more like a synopsis” at least makes it sound like I have a recipe!

So where is my novel. Well, I am not ruling anything out, but here are my excuses:

1. This is therapy. I did not start out in this as saying “I want to be writer … a writer of erotic fiction … no, transgender erotic fiction”. I discovered TG fiction by accident and after reading quite a lot, I decided that I would write some, and try to do better. My stories largely revolve around a man who is forced by accident or circumstance to dress as a woman and this leads to a change for life. This removes from the protagonist the blame for becoming the woman “she” really is. It is my way of addressing my dysphoria and my refusal to try transition again. Sad?
2. Short fiction is my preference. I used to like a book of short stories for commuting, alongside a magazine. It is like an issue of Time magazine is a 60min flight, and if you are longer in the air, add a short story or two from a paperback. You end the flight with a conclusion, not hanging in the middle of something. Novels are for deckchairs. I don’t do deckchairs, for the reason that follows.
3. Short is my business. I do not write fiction for a living. I write facts - Business analysis, opinions, proposals, prospectuses. Unkind people might call them “partly fiction”. But brevity is the key. Readers of my material expect it. Clients demand it. Stick to the facts. Keep in snappy. Cut to the chase. Time is the inelastic commodity of business. Don’t waste my time with blah blah.
4. That is just the way they come. Having said points 1 to 3, the stuff that comes into my head is as long or as short as it turns out to be. Sometimes I start with an idea which I think will be at least a novelette and then 4,000 words later, it is over. Sometimes a page becomes two. Go figure. Sometimes I am not in control. I always say it about “Waif” – I started it and then it would not let me go until she was dead. One sitting.

However, they say there is a novel in everyone. In her recent comment Samantha said: “I've read a good number of your stories and felt that there was a lot more that could have been done with the story.” Please let me know what story you think is worthy of this treatment and I might try something – actually write “a fully-fledged story”.

I have another idea to take a story that I have already started but has got a little lost and post the first half to seek “fan guidance”. I accept what Jill said in suggesting that I try serials, in her comment: “A lot of readers post comments to serials because they feel like they're directing the story's future content or shape characters.” I like that idea.

Then I have my Western TG Novella which I suppose is a parody. I have written Chapter 1 and I could post that?

There may be some who simply want Maryanne just to go away “because that bitch is always posting shit!” but because of Excuse 1 above, that may not happen. Plus I am a busy person – some people say manic. So “slowing down a bit and letting a story sit” may not happen. Just warning you.

BTW … they are not all half baked. Some cakes are supposed to be gooey in the middle.

Maryanne