An update on the latest short story. I'm approaching the 10,000 word mark, although some of that total is about to get cut permanently from the first draft. Originally I was thinking of making this story dovetail much more closely with an extended arc of recurring characters, but as the plot took off and developed a life of its own, its connection to the larger whole I had conceived started to feel forced. I'm still thinking of having some common elements from story to story, but it just feels more honest to have them in the form of little nods and in-jokes, and not a bunch of blatant references. Maybe if I have a whole collection of these stories, the connections will feel a little less fake. Or perhaps someday someone will ask me to help create a T.V. show (*cough cough* Mutant Enemy *cough cough*), where the serial short story format is celebrated as "rich continuity" by the critics. I wonder if there are any pulp magazines that still support this type of storytelling?

Speaking of Mutant Enemy - the production company of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and the sadly short-lived science fiction series Firefly - you may or may not have noticed that the dialogue of Fox's hit new show "The O.C." has a distinctly Whedonesque feel to it. That's not mere coincidence: Jane Espenson, an ME alum, is part of The O.C.'s writing team. It is not clear whether this is just a short-term gig (she took on the job in between her committments for Buffy and Gilmore Girls, another critics' fave), or whether the new series' success will parlay itself into a bigger role for her in the long run. But a large part of the The O.C.'s trashy fun has been its dialogue, especially the Xander-like role of Seth Cohen, and it would be a real shame to lose any of that magic now.