3. Pay attention to the pacing of the story. The reader needs to have the feeling that he makes progress while reading.
So yes to this. I can't stand filler chapters there simply because the writer had no idea what to write, or stories that feel like they should have ended thirty chapters ago but just keep going. Then there's the flip side - stories that seem to do a lot more glossing over than actual exploring. There was a published author who I lost patience with because they would build and build all this intrigue and excitement only for nothing to really happen. For example, one book had these two characters plotting to kill another character. All through the book these characters are plotting and plotting, and you think that when the moment of truth comes it's going to be good. What happens? Somehow someone discovers what they're up to, they're arrested, and it's all neat and tidy and quiet. And the only way we know about it is because it's mentioned briefly in a paragraph before the story moves on. I finally gave up on the author all together.
Which I think brings up another good rule - See the story through. Whatever you write you need to be willing to see it to it's proper conclusion. Don't string your readers along only to deny them the payoff of a good confrontation or emotional explosion or what have you, and don't shove your characters into messy situations unless you're willing to deal with the messy aftermath.
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Date: 2011-10-17 08:32 pm (UTC)From:So yes to this. I can't stand filler chapters there simply because the writer had no idea what to write, or stories that feel like they should have ended thirty chapters ago but just keep going. Then there's the flip side - stories that seem to do a lot more glossing over than actual exploring. There was a published author who I lost patience with because they would build and build all this intrigue and excitement only for nothing to really happen. For example, one book had these two characters plotting to kill another character. All through the book these characters are plotting and plotting, and you think that when the moment of truth comes it's going to be good. What happens? Somehow someone discovers what they're up to, they're arrested, and it's all neat and tidy and quiet. And the only way we know about it is because it's mentioned briefly in a paragraph before the story moves on. I finally gave up on the author all together.
Which I think brings up another good rule - See the story through. Whatever you write you need to be willing to see it to it's proper conclusion. Don't string your readers along only to deny them the payoff of a good confrontation or emotional explosion or what have you, and don't shove your characters into messy situations unless you're willing to deal with the messy aftermath.