Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

Well not much of one. I had ideas but then my sugar fell into the double digits and I was so out of it I could barely figure out how to suck on my sugar pill. Now I'm just zoned out letting my pain unit electrocute my shoulder in hopes of it helping.

I did talk about reviews Here after noticing how pitifully few reviews I have. It made me sad.

What I wanted to talk about here was pacing and how I need to learn it better. I think in some places it's far too slow. The one review I did get recently, while positive read "While the mystery was interesting,a and the occasional bedroom activities hot, this is not an action-packed story. The pace is slow and leisurely, gradually revealing more of the background and the prophecy, and if that is your kind of thing, you will probably like this free novella"

This is not a bad thing but I didn't think it was that slow. I mean there were demons and battles and and and....it was a freebie short story that ballooned into a novella so yeah there were probably pacing problems that didn't get fixed when I had paying gigs to deal with. Oddly this freebie didn't work as well for me as I had hoped. I thought it was good. Hell I was downright proud of the story but it didn't get all that many readers (though the star reviewers have mostly been 4-5 stars so that's good) and I feel a little like I do in fandom sometimes; 'why is that completely OOC epic than never ends has 502 reviews and mine has 1?

But back to pacing. I think part of my problem is that while I have always loved fantasy/urban fantasy I'm still mostly a mystery reader. A lot of mystery is a bit more leisurely, talking to people, poking around etc. That might not work as well for fantasy/urban fantasy.

I know that Soldiers of the Sun has pacing issues. I'm cutting some sex scenes. That'll help. I've tossed in a couple more battle scenes.

Then there's the opposite side of the coin. Jim Butcher's works fall into this category. Harry Dresden never has a moment to spare to catch his breath and neither does the reader. Occasionally it's almost too much (and yes, occasionally there isn't as much character development as I might like.

I'm trying get somewhere between stagnant and Harry's rocket ride. I think part of the problem is I just like the character interactions so much but they can be static. I haven't worked out yet just what to do to fix some of my problems.

And apropos of nothing here's something of a cool take on Guardians of the Galaxy

Yearly word count -

Once again I edited Soldiers to the exclusion of all else.

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I didn't think the threesome story was leisurely...?

Dresden does go at a full-out gallop.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Personally I didn't either, except maybe she's considering the time in the bar discussing options and the scene in the sacred grove. So that part left me a tad confused but at least she liked it (she's a major reviewer and I'm not sure how she has this much time to read and still write)

Yes, almost too much of a gallop. Oddly enough just after I blogged this, I got to a slow down spot in Skin Game with him and Michael and realized I had somehow missed a major injury and had to go back and reread

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Oops to Skin Game.

That is a tad confusing, though.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Glad I'm not alone in that. I thought it was just me but it's someone's opinion so it is what it is

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Saggy middles are a hazard in any kind of storytelling, but they don't piss me off as badly as the story galloping along only to crumble into a limp, soggy mess at the end. The current trend for action-packed opening chapters kind of sets the middle part up to fail, in my opinion. Either you keep up the ridiculous pace (Harry Dresden), or you settle into a comfortable jog that looks slow by comparison. At least mysteries have a built-in structure that dictates the pace. Much easier to write than the more free-form literary styles.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

You are so right about that and any more American mysteries are expected to start with a huge bunch of action (as opposed to British ones which can take 100 pages before something even happens).

Saggy middles are definitely a problem a lot of times

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

I am about 1/4 of the way through Kept Tears and I will review on Goodreads and on my 'author blog' I didn't check to see if it is on Amazon or Barns and Noble. I know how hard it is to get reviews *sigh*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I still need to do the same for you (it is on Amazon)

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

Hey, unlike a lot of books I am supposed to review, I'm actually enjoying the book!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

well that's great to hear!