“Becoming Lioness” is set in the same world, and uses some of the same characters as THE SHAMAN’S CURSE and THE IGNORED PROPHECY. In fact, it’s based on an event that should happen in the fourth book of the series, if it ever gets that far.
The last set of revisions (which I finished this morning) were prompted by a couple of critiques and one comment. It made me aware of just what a delicate dance it is to provide enough information, but not too much in a short story. There are both benefits and drawbacks to using the milieu from two of my novels for a short story.
On the positive side, all the world building was already done. I know this world and these characters intimately. That part was easy. From at least one comment, I think the world came through as being much richer than my other short stories, probably because it is.
On the negative side, I know this world and these characters intimately, meaning I know way too much about them to fit into a short story.
This last revision was mostly cuts, removing places where I had too much detail or backstory. It might enrich the story, but it was killing the pacing. Asking the question: does the reader really need to know that for this story to work? I don’t know yet if I cut enough or too much. In some places, I had to combine characters or even slightly alter events from the way they will be in the novel in order to make the short story better.
The next short story that I’m considering is also set in this world, based on an event from THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. So the take-away lesson is: to really think carefully about what I put in. Some hints at the backstory may serve to enrich the world. Too much just bogs things down. And I can’t let myself get too tied down to the way it happened in the novel. I have to do what works best for the short story, first.
Meredith Mansfield, Author 
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