z

Young Writers Society


Writing Longer/Slower



User avatar
63 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 17
Reviews: 63
Thu May 05, 2016 4:47 am
Werthan says...



I need to figure out how to write longer/slower. I keep making all the things in my stories happen too fast. I seem to always get to what the story is about within a page. There's no way I'm going to be able to write a book this way.
Und so lang du das nicht hast
Dieses: Stirb und Werde!
Bist du nur ein trüber Gast
Auf der dunklen Erde

(And as long as you don't have
This: Die and become!
You are only a gloomy guest
On the dark Earth)

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  





User avatar
212 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Female
Points: 12011
Reviews: 212
Thu May 05, 2016 10:06 am
ScarlettFire says...



Hi, @Wunderbar! I think you're talking about pacing and chapter length here? Please correct me if I'm wrong! Bear with me as I try to give you some advice, and please feel free to ask questions and clarify anything if I have missed it or have it wrong.

First off, chapter length isn't that big an issue. I tend to try and aim for chapters between 2,000 and 3,000 words long as a minimum. Sometimes, I write chapters up to 6,000 words long. But that's just me! Of course, length is all up to the individual person and sometimes the type of novel. This would mean that's all up to what you want to do with the length.

Secondly, pacing. I have issues with this as well. Sometimes, it takes some fiddling and editing to fix. Sometimes you need to completely rewrite the novel. I think the best advice I can give you is to write the story and fix the pacing later? I usually do that by editing in a new chapter or two, or something. Perhaps that's something you could consider?

I seem to always get to what the story is about within a page.


I would call this a summary! From there you can break it down into chapters or major plot points. Then you can write an entire section, chapter or a bunch of chapters based on that plot point? I hope this makes sense. It can be really helpful if you're forgetful like me and need notes to remember what happens in each chapter over, like, thirty chapters. XD

I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful, but I hope I gave you at least an idea of how to fix it? Good luck with the writing!
"With friends like you, who needs a medical license?" - Paimon, Aether's Heart


“It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.” - Grace Hopper.
  





User avatar
472 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 25
Reviews: 472
Thu May 12, 2016 4:40 pm
Lightsong says...



As long as there are many events occurring in your story, you would be fine. There are things that need to be included in the events, so you need to focus on that. I would give two of them.

Voice

The voice of the protagonist (or anyone's PoV, if you're using multiple PoVs) needs to be there and clear. It has to be transparent in first PoV, of course, but the same goes to third PoV, although it's not as much as first PoV. An observation of a certain event would have lack of emotion if it's entirely objective, so insert some reaction from the protagonist to certain events, and his view in others. You have to show us how he views the world, and what's surrounding him.

Setting

An important aspect in a story, setting is also annoying and hard to do for those who don't give it just as much as attention to the plot. Perhaps you need to give a better input in this area? Like I said, events push the plot forward, and they inevitably happen in certain locations, and said locations need to be described as to assist readers in imagining them. So don't just focus on getting the actions and plot done; keep in mind that a scene is more complete if there's a background we can conjure in our mind. Locations can affect the mood of the story too, depending on how you depict them.

And that is all! Hope this help. :)
"Writing, though, belongs first to the writer, and then to the reader, to the world.

The subject is a catalyst, a character, but our responsibility is, has to be, to the work."

- David L. Ulin
  





User avatar
382 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 15691
Reviews: 382
Thu May 12, 2016 7:23 pm
Dreamy says...



I've had this problem of ending my stories right in the next page because I was either too excited to let the people know the "grand ending" or I didn't pay much attention to others surrounding the MC. By others I mean the possible characters that would up the game plan of the story.

The passing clouds:Have you seen those TV serials where sometimes for no apparent reason they'd introduce a character only to kill them in the next episode or when a character is introduced solely to disrupt the beautiful love story and then drop them off with a tag, "she moves away for college" or "she was a bad person so she is in rehab now." I call these characters the passing clouds, because they have their moment, and unlike the real clouds in the sky, we can decide their moment. These characters are majorly introduced to keep up with the episode count the creators have signed for. But some rare and smart writers out there would use these characters in molding the personality of their MC. The usage depends according to the writers, of course. Some make use of them to make the bad MC look badder, the desperate more desperate, the bad boy turn good, and so on and so forth.

So don't be hesitant in roping in some characters. You could also tackle the show versus tell problems by introducing these characters, don't tell that your MC is a good boy, show us that he is. Give us a memory by introducing an elderly lady who's in needs help picking her bags, and this person walks in, while everyone else is just looking this guy bends down and picks up the bag of this said lady and walks her up to her, uh, I don't know, taxi? And while walking up to the taxi they converse about the weather.

Like, who talks about weather to an elderly lady, this guy does! But why? Because he's a good one! :P

Hope this was helpful!
If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life, both as the head of the Government and from outside- Jawaharlal Nehru.
  








The important thing is never to stop questioning.
— Albert Einstein