I always feel like there isn't enough...

[Androxine Vortex]

Whenever I am writting, I feel like I advance very fast. But even when I try to slow the pace down I always feel like my book is going to be very short in the end. I don't want it to be hundreds and hundreds of pages long but I think it's going to be too short. Does anyone here know what I'm talking about? How have you helped lengthen your stories?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I'm more afraid of having too much...then I have to decide what to cut.

If you feel you need more, have you examined your story for good sub-plots, considered other POVs, looked at the story for act structures, things of that nature?

 

[Filk]

Slow down and show the world around you. I'm guessing, but perhaps you could focus on detail. Setting is important; helping the reader conjure up the images that you wish to portray is vital to good storytelling. Some authors do go into too much detail, which detracts from the story in some cases.

I only suggest this because I struggle with it myself. I try not to write pure action and some dialogue, but it takes effort and I often don't get detail in until I edit.

Sometimes I try to describe a scene ad nauseum until I get a bit of gold (copper's usually the case hehe).

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I'm more afraid of having too much...then I have to decide what to cut.

If you feel you need more, have you examined your story for good sub-plots, considered other POVs, looked at the story for act structures, things of that nature?

Slow down and show the world around you. I'm guessing, but perhaps you could focus on detail. Setting is important; helping the reader conjure up the images that you wish to portray is vital to good storytelling. Some authors do go into too much detail, which detracts from the story in some cases.

I only suggest this because I struggle with it myself. I try not to write pure action and some dialogue, but it takes effort and I often don't get detail in until I edit.

Sometimes I try to describe a scene ad nauseum until I get a bit of gold (copper's usually the case hehe).

It's also difficult because the span of the novel is about two weeks. I know that doesn't sound like a lot especially in comparison to other great fantasy novels that have spans for years and years. In my mind I know I have to get from point A to B and then B to C and so on until the end. My problem is I have a hard time filling in the spaces of what leads A to B. I don't want to fill up the gaps with just useless words so I'm trying to find ways to maybe expand on the characters or maybe something happens to hinder their journey.

 

[Devora]

I'd think that maybe you could write the story, then when you edit see what you could add onto the story to give it more "flesh", so to speak.

 

[ThinkerX]

A story will be as long as it needs to be - which may be substantially longer or shorter than what the author intended.

I set out to write novels. But most of them look more like novellas.

 

[Penpilot]

I tend to write sparse first drafts. On my second draft. I over write. I look for what seem to be throw away lines and dig and dig for what they mean in terms of the story as a whole. For example. If a character mentions they don't like ice cream, I'll dig a bit asking why and see if it becomes significant. If not, it gets cut later. What I find is sometimes it unlocks a key event that adds to their motivations or I find some synergy with other things in the story.

As for your writing, there may be a lot of reason for why you're coming up short. Here are a few questions to ponder. Are you sure you have enough material for a full novel? Maybe you're telling too much in your prose. Do you have at least one subplot that directly supports the main plot? Are you getting into your character's heads enough? What I mean is are you exploring the internal landscape of your POV character's mind? Is your plot too linear? What I mean by that is it in the form like "go here, face problem, overcome problem, then go here, face problem, overcome problem, rinse and repeat"? Plots that are too linear tend to be flat and the tension doesn't rise. Do you have something along these lines in your plot "go somewhere, face problem, overcome problem but the solution causes even more problems"? Basically, dig your characters deeper and deeper into a hole each time they think they have a solution to their problems. This creates rising tension and gives you a lot more to write about.

One word of warning, describing the external environment will only get you so far, after a certain point it becomes bloat. For me, I use describing the external environment to reflect my POV character's mood and to add significant detail, depending on what I'm trying to convey in that scene. Once I've achieved that, anything else is like icing on top of icing on top of icing.

 

[wordwalker]

I'm with Penpilot, going into the characters' heads and also looking for complications from a "solved" plot point are some of the richest sources of material. And description only goes so far.

My view is,

Length = (# Characters) x (# Decisions) x (# Complications) x (Description)


Then, look at how much you have of each and ask if there's a side of it missing-- and if it's one that balances out the story and works for your style.

So if you've already spread your attention around the hero team and a villain, maybe a bystander or reluctant thug could have a small thread too-- without their own Decisions anyone counts more to modify the Characters who do get them. Or you give a character a second plotline (some Decisions mostly separate from the rest), or dig deeper into his main interest and how many choices he'd really have to make to make it work; I love a good cat-and-mouse of who's really on whose side for how long, or how many sacrifices they have to okay to stay with a plan. Or play up #3, how many clues and challenges fit in around each decision: if they go in in disguise, how hard is it to get the guard uniforms and how often do they nearly get caught?

Meanwhile Description's really a matter of style; unless you commit to consistently giving more time going over things, it's better to just be sure you've done it justice and focus on the rest. Or people who get into those details don't need as complex a story-- or can make a longer one.

It's all about feeling you've covered what your story is properly, with enough of the right variations and amount of flavor, and where you want to put that balance.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Yes sometimes I do feel like it goes from "hero goes here, completes objective, goes there, etc." I don't want my story to be just a continuous pattern of go here, go there. I have been looking at my outline and have begun thinking to myself, "maybe instead of going from part C directly to part D, the heroes come in conflict with some sort of obstacle that hinders them and have to change their course?" Sometimes it's hard not to make a story that's just "go here, go there" because well that is what a story is, a telling of how one event lead to another. I just don't want mine to be dull or progress too quickly.

Right now I am approaching the subject like this: I feel like a certain part of story is advancing too fast. I'll first analyze what is happening between point A and point B. This is just an example (unrelated to my story) but let's say the party of heroes must get from the woods to a town. So point A is the woods and B is the town. So maybe they could run into wolves or a band of savages or something like that. Maybe it doesn't have to be associated with action/fighting in order to prolong it. Maybe they needed to cross a bridge but find it is destroyed or they just get lost. This is how I am approaching it right now, just trying to add things that can fit between points A and B. Do you think this is a good approach?

@Penpilot What do you mean "For me, I use describing the external environment to reflect my POV character's mood and to add significant detail, depending on what I'm trying to convey in that scene."

 

[Addison]

Sounds like your pacing is all over the place, that or you can't find a middle. You might want to try looking closely at your story and make sure it's structured. The best way I've found to do this is to outline it. What happens when and what's the consequences of those actions and the ones after that and so forth. Once it's done you'll either find the places needing picking up or slowing down on the way or you'll spot them when you're done.

Hope this helped.

 

[Penpilot]

This is how I am approaching it right now, just trying to add things that can fit between points A and B. Do you think this is a good approach?

Yes and no. Don't just make the wolf encounter an insignificant throw away thing, like a random gaming encounter. What does this encounter say about the woods they're travelling through and the world in general? Are they dangerous woods where wolf attacks are common, or is this something completely unexpected in an otherwise well travelled and safe wood? Have it matter. Maybe the attack drives them into the hands of the bad guys or it kills all their horses so now they have to walk. Maybe it injures the hero and when next they face the big bad they can't wield a sword in their right hand.

@Penpilot What do you mean "For me, I use describing the external environment to reflect my POV character's mood and to add significant detail, depending on what I'm trying to convey in that scene."

For mood, lets say your POV character is watching kids play on the street. How you/they describe it will reflect their mood. For example.

- The little brats wouldn't stop laughing outside. Their shouts drilled into my skull. STFU you little munchkins. I got a headache.

- Kids were playing outside again. Their laughs were loud but I didn't mind. If kids aren't giving you headaches, they aren't having fun.

This is a bit heavy handed, and it definitely can be subtler, but from the example you can obviously see one person is a bit grouchy and the other in lighter spirits, but they're both describing the same thing.

One application of significant detail is the Chekov's gun rule, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." Another application, which sort of relates is what gets described is generally what's important to the POV character. A Theif, a Knight, and a Priest walk into a bar--no this is not the start of a bad joke--what's the first thing each of them notices? The Thief probably notices the big fat lord with the big fat purse. The Knight maybe notices the fat lord's ravishing daughter. The Priest may notice the ravishing daughter too, or maybe for a more pious priest, he notices the troubled young man weeping in a dark corner. What each notices says something about their personalities.

For me you use these two things mood and significant detail to build a feel for the world, move the plot, and show character in your scenes. Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I'm articulating this clearly. I guess what I'm trying to say is detail shouldn't be there just for detail's sake. It should be doing more than one thing.

Now, to sort of cover my but on this, you don't have to know exactly what every detail's significance is as you write. Quite honestly, sometimes, the significance doesn't come out until later. Also there is room for a little fluff detail that's just there because it's cool, but that should be kept to a minimum, and for me generally speaking, that's the stuff that gets edited out.

 

[Helen]

Whenever I am writting, I feel like I advance very fast. But even when I try to slow the pace down I always feel like my book is going to be very short in the end. I don't want it to be hundreds and hundreds of pages long but I think it's going to be too short. Does anyone here know what I'm talking about? How have you helped lengthen your stories?

What about cutting it into sections, each with a purpose and each advancing the story.

Then you can build each section and can gauge how long it's going to be.

Sounds like you're looking at it as one huge monolith.

 

[BWFoster78]

Now, to sort of cover my but on this, you don't have to know exactly what every detail's significance is as you write. Quite honestly, sometimes, the significance doesn't come out until later. Also there is room for a little fluff detail that's just there because it's cool, but that should be kept to a minimum, and for me generally speaking, that's the stuff that gets edited out.

Great advice! Following your instinct can lead you to the most interesting places. But, if it doesn't pan out, chop it.

 

[Rob P]

I think I'm in the camp that writes way too much but that is more to do with me describing everything, getting every element of the story down allowing me not to worry about changing anything until the end when I can choose what to keep and what to throw. I have to lose over 150k of words to feel comfortable, so far 25k have gone without any scruples.

The big change to story length came when subplots and divergent storylines were used. For instance does your happy band of adventurers need to be together. Can they not split apart. Do they have different agendas to each other, their own ambitions to fulfil beyond that of your story's main thrust. This all adds depth and colour.

One tip I used about halfway through my project was to project the next six chapters in note form. What did I want these chapters to achieve. Whose POV to use. With that I was free to tell the story without thinking as I was writing about where the story should go. It had been outlined. Only thinking six chapters ahead helped to focus on the immediate, keeping an eye to the distant without being fixed on that distant goal. I still knew where it all should end, roughly, just not exactly which path to take to get there.

 

[cibir]

Slowing down should NOT be your goal. Having a full and interesting novel/story/whatever SHOULD be.

If you feel like you don't have enough content, consider making it a short story instead. If that is not your goal, then make a big list of all the characters in your book in order of prominence or importance. Your main character should already have a strong desire that drives your story, but consider giving each character a strong desire as well. The love interest: what does he want besides the main character? The sidekick, what is his real goal? (Don't make him a Pippin.) Down the list until you get to people like the tailor down the street and the character's boss. See how these goals intersect with your main characters. You should now have quite a few good sub-plots (just like in real life) to really flesh out your novel.

 

[TheokinsJ]

I have exactly the same problem. It seems I have the plot all planned out and am writing the first chapter of the novel, only to find that my 1st chapter is 4 pages. I slow the pace down as much as I can until it becomes pathetically obvious I'm trying to stall and drag out the chapter- my advice, quality is better than quantity. A 200 page novel well written is better than a 500 page novel written poorly. Good luck!