Four Steampunk Stories
Three Co-zies
Two Fabul-Agents
And the notice of a best selling book!
You heard me... this is about my subbing process. I think last I reported, I'd gotten four back, so this isn't a tsunami of news... but the number still out there is dwindling...
This fifth rejection was fairly nice... liked the premise and the voice, but just thought it wasn't the pageturner she was looking for. I need to speed things up...
Speed it up, huh? This is something I struggle to control. When I write, some is too fast, some too slow. Slowing it down, though, is a lot easier than speeding it up. My THINKING, (and PLEASE, give me a reality check if this is delusion) is that it ISN'T necessarily that I need to cut fluff, but that I need to make people CARE MORE so they are pageturning to find out... I think I could add more specifics of Helen's story... give some insight into why she is frantic in the here and now to make sure history doesn't repeat itself.)
I would LOVE to hear how you speed things up...
12 comments:
Oh Tart!! I am so sorry BUT!! The last rejection sounds so hopeful - you obviously have a GREAT voice and a FABULOUS premise!! Yay!!!!! Now I have no idea how to make stories a page turner - but I KNOW you have the talent and most NAKED oomph to delve deep and to discover how!! Yay for you! Big hugs! take care
x
*HUGS HUGS HUGS*
1. This needs to be said straight away--you are amazing. If you weren't, you wouldn't have gotten as far as you already have. Right? Of course right.
2. Read comic books! Believe it or not, I'm really kinda serious about this -- read 'em. Or at least talk to closet geeks *cough*LikeMe*cough* who grew up reading X-Men and Teen Titans. Each month I nearly exploded in anticipation to get the latest edition--or "chapter" in the story arc--because everything had been left hanging the month before. Now, I know you don't have Jean Grey turning into Dark Phoenix in your story; it's the writing STYLE I'm talking about. As a reader, I love it when a chapter ends in such a way I feel like I'll DIE if I don't find out what happens next.
Last thing--don't forget there were also GREAT things said about Kahlotus, so you've got the hard part down! Don't you worry, it WILL find a home, I'm sure of it!
Smoochies, Your Tartness <3
Comic books! Now that's a unique idea.
Sorry, not had a problem speeding things up. I usually need to slow down instead.
It's not necessarily about action/speed but rather about what I don't know. That's what keeps me turning a page, to find out what happens next. I don't know your story but I think giving insight (telling/showing us why to care)into why the mc is frantic and what the stakes are sounds like a good idea.
Thank you so much, gang! I will have to look at my chapter endings. When it was written, it changed PoV, so chapters went with that, but it doesn't anymore, so I could move those to end on tension and 'wait... keep going...' And very good point about what we don't know... so I need more HINTS of big stuff, but the payoff later... will definitely have to think on that...
I don't know, but please let us know if you figure it out. I like the comic book comment - it would be interesting to see what does make you crave the next one.
Big hugs, Hart. Hope you have better news soon.
I think cliff hanger is good. I post my stories online on weekly or fortnightly basis. Having a cliff hanger is important to keep the readers coming back.
And when I read, I hate authors writing in too much detail, especially about description of environment, weather etc. I prefer more dialogues. But it may be my own preference only.
My Darcy Vibrates…
Pacing is tough. I'm bogged down in my wip right now too. I need to do a read through to figure out where to pick up the pace :)
I speed things up (or slow down) using punctuation. Full sentences and periods and colons make it slow. Partial sentences and commas and semi-colons make speed. That's the only trick I know.
Cold As Heaven
Hang in there, my friend. You only have nine more to go to match me! As for speeding things up... hmm. Maybe more action verbs? Maybe go through and make sure every scene counts?
It's a tough one, but you can do it! :o) <3
hmm speeding up, eh? I mean, overall, here's two ideas i use:
Making sure each chapter and scene end on a cliffhanger. That will for sure keep them turning the page.
Action and dialogue. Both of these are speedy anyway, so throwing some more in will make the novel feel speedier.
But i know how it is. One of my novels definitely has a more sedate pace than the other. I love them both, though. It's rough when everything needs to be fast fast fast! Sometimes, there's nothing wrong with a slow build/burn
The comic books idea is interesting.
When I went to a writers' conference, they mentioned asking yourself what do you learn about each page of your work. If you can't answer that question, then that page is lacking pace.
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