Oh, god, she won’t shut up…
My books have a tendency to be really long. Like, smother-a-hippo big. My first attempt at a full length book turned into a fantasy saga over six hundred pages long. My plots are simple (she insists, hands on hips) with several tendrils, offshoots, and bylines. In the end, the mess all feeds together at a rolling pace, but it’s long.
The same trend hit this book. Bits and pieces stir my mind, and I think: ooh, a book could rise from this sentence. Oh, and this explains why X does this, and oh, naturally Y needs a scene to facilitate Z. And this sentiment leads to this while that action causes that and then the villain had to go and say that…
I truly, deeply admire the writers who begin with an outline and don’t deviate. I’m an “action speaks louder than words” writer and therefore, my books feature a great deal of action. After trimming the fat, the plot pushes forward at a movie pace.
Still, I’m worrying they are too long. Especially this one, Muttopia #3. I feel that too much happens off screen, but how do I involve my protagonist without making the book even longer? Yikes. Surely, the answer has something to do with vision and focus.
Right now, I lack both.
Harried by work, harassed by a potential mid-life crisis, I am rather out of sorts.
So I will be taking a weekend trip out of town with my dog, hoping to rediscover the epicenter of my head.
***
The trip led to more questions.
I resolved to break the book into tiny pieces and merge a few scenes.
Ultimately, I remind myself to stay focused and not run off into a wondrous writer’s playground of endless possibility.
One at a time.