A large part of honing my craft as a storyteller is talking
with readers and listening to what they have to say. Last week a group of readers were discussing their
latest reads and giving feedback as to what they liked and didn’t like about
the books they were currently reading or have recently finished. This is a perfect place to mention that none
of them where discussing my two books or my writing. I can’t wait until I get some candid live feedback
from readers who have actually read my books.
Anyway.
Somebody mentioned something about the Fiction Action Adventure Genre,
of which I am a big fan of and kind of place my books into that category, so it
piqued my interest. They said it seems
as if the authors are speeding things up and making the books too intense in
efforts to make their books better than the previous ones. When I heard this I remembered how I had
described one of my favorite authors, not long ago, about how you hadn’t fully
ingested the current catastrophe before they characters were thrown into the
next disaster.
What the readers had discussed amongst themselves was they
wished the authors would slow the stories down and let them enjoy the suspense
before bombarding them again with something new. As I considered this I realized the truth in
their words. I don’t mind reading some
buildup or reaction and regrouping of the characters for a slower book as long
as the story is still good. Each
successive book doesn’t need to be over the top better than the last book only
fresh and original. It goes back to the
take me somewhere I haven’t been before.
Throw in a twist or turn through the book – not two or three in every
chapter! The way the readers actually described
it was, “Let us catch our breath before the next climatic situation.”
I feel where authors lose their touch is when the books
become predictable, or you can blatantly see a pattern between the last three
or four books like the author is working off of the same outline for each story
just the action is in a different place.
The characters do the same things over and over again, no growth or
maturing of the characters.
I started this blog to chronicle my writing adventures,
discoveries, and share what I learn along the way for the other aspiring Indie
Authors out there to frequently check in and make notes on pertinent
information to hopefully help them along their journey. I hope that slowly over time my posts accomplish
that mission. Again over time I plan to change
the focus to more of an exchange between myself and my ever growing following
of readers. That’s hard to do at this point
with only two books available.
I also know that the sequel to “Whisper” is finished, as far as a rough
draft, and at the editors getting cleared of my horrid English and many bad
habits. Also I know my fourth book, the
sequel to “No Rules Of Engagement,” has already been said to have surpassed the
first book by chapter 10 (From one of my Beta Readers). I am at chapter 19 of that book with not much
farther to go before it heads to the editors.
So I am very excited as I know there will be twice as much to talk concerning
my books before Christmas gets here.
So in summary the advice of the day is to slow it down and
let the reader enjoy and relish in your work.
Don’t force them on a non-stop roller coaster of action as it may be
exhausting for them to read instead of a relaxing exciting adventure. If you want to “Wow” your readers do it with finesse,
a good plot, and how you tell the story. More or non-stop action doesn’t always
translate to a better story. I don’t
want readers feeling like they just finished a marathon as they finished my
books. I do want them to feel a need to
get the next one in the series to find out what happens. I want them to feel that welcome back feeling
as they reconnect with the characters from the previous books.
Class Dismissed, get back to work on your novel.
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1 comments:
Great advice!
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