Monday, November 15, 2010

Nano Day 15 - Don't Rush It!


When I reach an exciting part in a book that I am reading, I am forced to pace myself. Yes, of course I could skip the pages and find out what happens to Character A, or even browse over the pages towards the end to know what the result will be.  If I allowed myself to do this, I would feel cheated. I would feel like I missed out on the experience.

As I near the 50k mark of my book, and begin bringing the dramatic climaxes to a close, I am left hoping that I am not cheating my readers. I need to make sure that I am not rushing the answers to them. I am so excited to see the end result that I feel I might be concluding conflicts a little too quickly. So my advice as we all get closer to our goals is to make sure that we are not rushing our scenes.  It is my goal over the next 14k words to really think out the resolutions to the conflicts that I have presented, and to let them breathe.  I will not cheat the ending for myself or my readers.

Do you find while writing that your own excitement might rush the plot?

4 comments:

brandileigh2003 said...

I have been trying to be careful about that, but I know that if I do rush, then I will fix when I go back and edit.
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog

Erin said...

I LOVE that feeling when you're reading a book that is good enough to want to skip ahead but at the same time want to savor every word! That's the sign of a great book!

As for writing, I do tend to skip over the "boring but necessary" stuff to get to the "exciting" stuff. I need to make the "boring but necessary" stuff less boring so that I can give my readers the information they need without being as bored as I was when I wrote it! That's what revisions in December are for. =)

Kristy Philbrick said...

@Brandi - Exactly, I look forward to being able to revise, and allow myself more breathing room.

@Erin - I know right?? A great book is indeed one that makes you not want to put it down. I have to add more of the boring stuff as well, but in an interesting way.. Bring on December!

Shirley said...

I think you make an excellent point about "rushing the plot". There is nothing worse as a reader than investing so much of yourself in a story line only to end up saying......."is that it???" Oh, the disappointment !

Post a Comment