Another Revision?
So the submission process is on hold for the moment. If anyone who has a query of mine responds back, great, but I'm not sending any more out for now.
Why? I wanted to experiment with my book some more. Simply put, I have a feeling that the first half of the book is too long and too slow. It was always a concern of mine, but my adult readers didn't really feel that way. I got some great feedback on how to speed it up some, but mostly regarding sentence composition, not plot lines. I cut down the first part of the story, sentence-wise, before I submitted, but I find myself going back to my initial concern that the first half is too slow.
Percy Jackson confirmed it. If you haven't read about him yet, I suggest you look up Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. It's a middle grade fantasy novel with a target audience of 10 year olds... the same audience I'm going after. All I can say is, wow! The writing is quick and snappy, but provides great characterization and precise descriptions where needed. I don't intend to mimic Riordan's writing style (he writes in first person - which I didn't think I'd like at first, but loved later!), but he did show me how a story can be quick, yet detailed.
I would say that his writing is the opposite of J.K. Rowling, but just as good and, to be honest, I was drawn in by Percy Jackson in a way that I never was with Harry. Sorry!
So, I've gone back over my book and realized it was about 30,000 words too long. I don't say that so I can copy Percy Jackson's style and length, but because I realized the story didn't NEED to be as long as it is. I saw almost right away where I could cut; how to make the story flow quicker and the writing snappier.
Right in the middle of my story was a 6 chapter spread that introduced a lot of characters, clever exchanges of dialog, and really developed some internal conflicts for the characters. Unfortunately, the external conflict ground to a crawl during that same time. Now the same conflict, internal and external, takes place over just 2 chapters. Zzzzzziiip! We're moving right along!
The beginning suffered much of the same and, I believe, was a little too heavy handed with the theme. Cut Cut Snip Snip. I'm still working on this part, but the first 4 chapters have been merged into 2 chapters, getting to the main conflict much quicker. I still have some more cropping to do and I just keep getting more excited as I go along. I really think this will make my story more accessable and, to be honest, an easier sell.
I've cut 25,000 words so far and have a few thousand more to go. I am going to go line-by-line again and work on sentence composition, weeding out access description and dialog. I want less stage direction and more fun. Anyone interested in reading the latest edit, let me know!
Why? I wanted to experiment with my book some more. Simply put, I have a feeling that the first half of the book is too long and too slow. It was always a concern of mine, but my adult readers didn't really feel that way. I got some great feedback on how to speed it up some, but mostly regarding sentence composition, not plot lines. I cut down the first part of the story, sentence-wise, before I submitted, but I find myself going back to my initial concern that the first half is too slow.
Percy Jackson confirmed it. If you haven't read about him yet, I suggest you look up Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. It's a middle grade fantasy novel with a target audience of 10 year olds... the same audience I'm going after. All I can say is, wow! The writing is quick and snappy, but provides great characterization and precise descriptions where needed. I don't intend to mimic Riordan's writing style (he writes in first person - which I didn't think I'd like at first, but loved later!), but he did show me how a story can be quick, yet detailed.
I would say that his writing is the opposite of J.K. Rowling, but just as good and, to be honest, I was drawn in by Percy Jackson in a way that I never was with Harry. Sorry!
So, I've gone back over my book and realized it was about 30,000 words too long. I don't say that so I can copy Percy Jackson's style and length, but because I realized the story didn't NEED to be as long as it is. I saw almost right away where I could cut; how to make the story flow quicker and the writing snappier.
Right in the middle of my story was a 6 chapter spread that introduced a lot of characters, clever exchanges of dialog, and really developed some internal conflicts for the characters. Unfortunately, the external conflict ground to a crawl during that same time. Now the same conflict, internal and external, takes place over just 2 chapters. Zzzzzziiip! We're moving right along!
The beginning suffered much of the same and, I believe, was a little too heavy handed with the theme. Cut Cut Snip Snip. I'm still working on this part, but the first 4 chapters have been merged into 2 chapters, getting to the main conflict much quicker. I still have some more cropping to do and I just keep getting more excited as I go along. I really think this will make my story more accessable and, to be honest, an easier sell.
I've cut 25,000 words so far and have a few thousand more to go. I am going to go line-by-line again and work on sentence composition, weeding out access description and dialog. I want less stage direction and more fun. Anyone interested in reading the latest edit, let me know!
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