Pacing Stories

Pacing... it's the bane of any writer. I stress out a lot about this issue, and reading the helpful insights on Kristin Nelson's blog doesn't help my nerves.

It does, however, help my writing.

I'm getting a story prepared for submission. I wrote my query letter and sent it to a dozen or so close friends and writer buddies for critiquing. Of those, maybe three know what to look for and will give me the brutal advice I'm looking for, yet vague positive feedback from friends helps too.

So while I wait for feedback (only got two replies so far), I'm spazzing at 4am over the first thirty pages. Ideally, I should wait until I get a positive response, but I'm in a total writer's block, and reading anything besides vapid shojo manga is simply not appealing at the moment. Because I feel like I've wasted a day if I don't do at least something in my manuscripts, I'm thus spazzing.

Over thirty pages.
Condense, condense, condense!!!

I realized in my second draft of this story, I had done the dreaded "info dump." The first chapter was a literal history lesson. The main character sat in a classroom, hardly speaking, while her brother and his ex-wife, her nursemaid, fought over political issues, gender equality, and how to rule a clan.

Problems? 1) The audience had no clue who the main character was. In fact, the nursemaid sounded more like the MC. 2) No hints at what the big issue will be. Politics? Social issues? We learned about a troubled country, not about our beloved characters. 3) History classes are boring. So was this!

That chapter got scraped so hard, it went from 15 pages to three, and recently I trimmed it even more. A little info to realize we're in a matriarchal clan society, fine... but we don't need to know the whole fricking history of the country!

Now I'm tightening more. I wanted the first four chapters to fit in those 30 pages. The thing is, there's this castle. I describe the castle. I describe it loquaciously! Whereas it's great to step back and see an aerial view of the castle and land where this scene will take place, it does not have to fill up three pages of my first thirty pages. Those "Holy 30" make it or break it. Although it's an example of descriptiveness, something I have a weakness toward, it's telling, not showing. The plot isn't moving yet in these thirty pages.

There is so much that must happen before my main character meets the love interest, a whole royal ceremony to name her the heiress, hints about the main mystery, political allies and enemies to meet, her family and childhood friends who form the nebulous of her "five-man band."

Is this all good for pacing? Does the story lag? Am I getting into the meat of the story too slowly? How can I fix it?

These are legitimate issues that writers must deal with through time and learning, not just me being obsessive-compulsive again. Well, perhaps a little of that too. This manuscript was so challenging because I went into it not blind. I had the characters and their histories all worked out ahead of time, so I wanted to explain it all quickly. Now I'm reading these initial pages, and I'm seeing a grotesque info dump. It's scaring me!

Do I really think I'm ready to send this out? If even I, the author, am seeing issues, does the story stand a chance against the far-more-experienced eye of a literary agent?

I love this story. I want this to work.

I wish I had someone I trusted, someone who knew what things to look for in voicing and pacing and such, someone who would read my story and not just say "Yeah, it sounds great." I don't want praise! I want harsh criticism. I am a masochist when it comes to editing. I want to be beaten and whipped into shape, to have my story blood red with corrective ink.

However, I want someone to tell me my faults before I get my hopes up with sending in a query, then thirty pages, then a whole manuscript, just to have the agent say, "Sorry, but your pacing is all wrong." Reading Ms. Nelson's blog post reminded me of that little hidden fear in me. What if this was my story? What if she was reading it, and in 30 pages or even 100, it just wasn't working?

I want this to be perfect.

Yes, I'm obsessing... again. I need to stop doing this, but I'm not sure how without icky drugs.

Then again, by obsessing, I'm growing to become a better storyteller. For artists and writers, striving for perfection is not only recommended, it's practically mandatory! So I'll go back, tighten the belt of those thirty pages, while I wait for a response from an agent.

Wish me luck!

Sapere aude!

Writers Workshop Blues

I'll be blunt. Some days, I need a swift kick in the rear.

I've really not been able to write for quite some time. Oh, I'm getting editing done, sure, but that's nowhere near as fulfilling as finishing a chapter of new content, fresh off the press of my imagination.

Nope, since at least December, it has been all editing work. Maybe a page here and there, but my brain has hit an Ayers Rock, a block in the middle of nowhere; or perhaps I should compare it to Auyantepui, the Devil's Mountain, where, ironically enough, Angel Falls tempts adventurers with a piss-shower from heaven... or hell? Whether I imagine my writers block as a sea cliff, a monolith, or the Great Trango, my metaphors fail to correct the problem of somehow surmounting this impasse.

And of course, I suck at rock climbing.

I thought sitting in with a writer's group would help. I don't know many writers around here, besides a few I've befriended during Nanowrimo. My lack of literary companions leaves me wishing I had made it to more write-ins. (Note to self: get over my social anxiety by next November.)

I was part of the White Knights Writers, but they disbanded before we really got a chance to get started. I'm far too shy to simply sit in with a group I don't know. I never feel "good enough" to be in the presence of such people. It's all about talking, and I communicate via keyboard, not vocalizations. If I could speak that eloquently, I would have gotten into radio.

Workshops can be outrageously brutal to the pocketbook. Tin House Summer Writers Workshop at Reed College costs $1,100 in tuition, meals & lodging $575, plus mentorship is $750-$1,000. A cheaper one is the Write to Publish Workshop at PSU, which is a mere $120 all day, or $35 for each workshop. What's a starving artist to do?

I can't recall my last writing workshop, it's been that long. This is not the longest writer's block I've had, but considering I haven't even been able to write anything more than one short poem and some snarky forum posts, it's perhaps the most complete writer's block.

At least I can read through old stuff, but grammar checks are the tofu to my smorgasbord of creativity. I need a kick in the pants, a stick of dynamite to blast this stupid rock so I can plow through without worrying about carabiners and climbing harnesses.

The best I can do at the moment is blog. That's...pathetic. But at least it's something.

So...anyone know a good writing group in the Portland (preferably Tigard/Tualatin area) with free meetings?