This may be the most description I've ever given of my novel online
Okay, I'm not done on the writing subject. Different aspect of it though. Mainly, I've got sorta-writer's block.
After glancing over my one finished novel, I've made the horrifying discovery that, not only does it need severe editing, it might as well go through another major rewrite. I mean, I did write this draft in 2008, but still. I was hoping it wouldn't have aged that badly. The writing is just awful though.
The thing is, I've been working on this project for so many years (started in 2003, wrote bits of it off and on since then) that the usual string of events is boring me. I'm biased, so I can't tell if things really would be better if I changed up the scenes, or if I'm just wanting to write something new to keep up my interest.
I decided to try it anyway, after settling on the direction I wanted to take it. I've always liked it trying to masquerade as a cute little fantasy story about a young boy and his friend having stupid adventures, then cue kidnapping and lots of Break The Cutie. On the other hand, I've realized I'd also like a bit of a warning about the very violent content contained in the story, so no one gets into it and is disappointed to have to stop due to the gory descriptions.
So! I decided to start with Cute Little Fantasy Adventure fake-out as usual, but start it with the protagonist learning how to gut rabbits. It also shows his take on life in general before the big bloodshed starts, which is a character development plus.
Then I realized that this scene provides absolutely nothing towards the "plot." He's not going to use this knowledge later, if he even recalls the scene at all. All it's doing is warning the reader of squick and showing them that the protagonist has issues with blood. It's a few too many paragraphs just for that.
I'd just delete and start over without thinking too hard on it, but that's how half my novels start. Every time I try to rewrite them. I just can't seem to balance character introduction with action, it comes off as very clumsy to me. How do I keep things short and concise when my characters won't shut up? How do I introduce things without interrupting the action, while at the same time including action during the introductory scenes?
And how did I spend two years taking creative writing classes with no teacher even noticing I had this issue, let alone guiding me in how to possibly fix it?
After glancing over my one finished novel, I've made the horrifying discovery that, not only does it need severe editing, it might as well go through another major rewrite. I mean, I did write this draft in 2008, but still. I was hoping it wouldn't have aged that badly. The writing is just awful though.
The thing is, I've been working on this project for so many years (started in 2003, wrote bits of it off and on since then) that the usual string of events is boring me. I'm biased, so I can't tell if things really would be better if I changed up the scenes, or if I'm just wanting to write something new to keep up my interest.
I decided to try it anyway, after settling on the direction I wanted to take it. I've always liked it trying to masquerade as a cute little fantasy story about a young boy and his friend having stupid adventures, then cue kidnapping and lots of Break The Cutie. On the other hand, I've realized I'd also like a bit of a warning about the very violent content contained in the story, so no one gets into it and is disappointed to have to stop due to the gory descriptions.
So! I decided to start with Cute Little Fantasy Adventure fake-out as usual, but start it with the protagonist learning how to gut rabbits. It also shows his take on life in general before the big bloodshed starts, which is a character development plus.
Then I realized that this scene provides absolutely nothing towards the "plot." He's not going to use this knowledge later, if he even recalls the scene at all. All it's doing is warning the reader of squick and showing them that the protagonist has issues with blood. It's a few too many paragraphs just for that.
I'd just delete and start over without thinking too hard on it, but that's how half my novels start. Every time I try to rewrite them. I just can't seem to balance character introduction with action, it comes off as very clumsy to me. How do I keep things short and concise when my characters won't shut up? How do I introduce things without interrupting the action, while at the same time including action during the introductory scenes?
And how did I spend two years taking creative writing classes with no teacher even noticing I had this issue, let alone guiding me in how to possibly fix it?