JBryden88
Troubadour
So, as the winter dies down, Spring comes, I feel like a bear out of hibernation. I'm writing again, however this time, I'm unfocused.
To be honest, I think I'm shelving my "completed" manuscript for a good long while. It's not that I'm not proud of it, but when I look at it, I think... "the character development isn't half bad, but the pacing and story are terrible." Mostly because for the first half of the book, it's chasing one goal. But then the second part its like... "what did I just do?"
For a more in depth summary, I'll give you the run down.
It's meant to be the first in a series, yet it's also meant to stand alone as well.
The original concept for my story, tentatively called "The Red Axe," is that here's this realm, very loosely based on a mixture of Norse, Irish, Scottish, and very faint English (mostly the fact that it's feudal is the english part, but very barbaric leanings) that values honor and strength. The term often used for the realm is "unconquerable." Anyway. The whole story centers around Cathal and his men (and women) and how they serve the king blah blah blah.
Anyway. The character development is fine. I'll be changing things up, I know how I'll be reworking the romance for example, and otherwise the character development is perfect. The problem is the overall plot.
As it stands, for the first chunk of the story, there's a bandit king. He's marauding the realm, causing issues. Heroes save the day, send him to the afterlife, and there is mourning after one of the main characters dies. The second part of the story is where it's kind of chaotic, centered around characters moving on, a "small" action sequence, and then the realm gets invaded by the Empire in the east.
I'm not satisfied with this.
I love these characters, I've been spending much time with them ever since I envisioned them in a short story about three or four years ago. But I need to change this, and make a more satisfying story. I want the pacing to slow down, focus more on the characters, but I want the threat level to be higher.
How do I say, minimize the bandit threat, maximize the threat of invasion, and provide both the intense character development I seek while having some good ol' medieval warfare to top it all off? With this story I am perplexed.
It's been collecting dust since the fall when I finished it, and I have other story ideas, but I don't want to just abandon this one either!
To be honest, I think I'm shelving my "completed" manuscript for a good long while. It's not that I'm not proud of it, but when I look at it, I think... "the character development isn't half bad, but the pacing and story are terrible." Mostly because for the first half of the book, it's chasing one goal. But then the second part its like... "what did I just do?"
For a more in depth summary, I'll give you the run down.
It's meant to be the first in a series, yet it's also meant to stand alone as well.
The original concept for my story, tentatively called "The Red Axe," is that here's this realm, very loosely based on a mixture of Norse, Irish, Scottish, and very faint English (mostly the fact that it's feudal is the english part, but very barbaric leanings) that values honor and strength. The term often used for the realm is "unconquerable." Anyway. The whole story centers around Cathal and his men (and women) and how they serve the king blah blah blah.
Anyway. The character development is fine. I'll be changing things up, I know how I'll be reworking the romance for example, and otherwise the character development is perfect. The problem is the overall plot.
As it stands, for the first chunk of the story, there's a bandit king. He's marauding the realm, causing issues. Heroes save the day, send him to the afterlife, and there is mourning after one of the main characters dies. The second part of the story is where it's kind of chaotic, centered around characters moving on, a "small" action sequence, and then the realm gets invaded by the Empire in the east.
I'm not satisfied with this.
I love these characters, I've been spending much time with them ever since I envisioned them in a short story about three or four years ago. But I need to change this, and make a more satisfying story. I want the pacing to slow down, focus more on the characters, but I want the threat level to be higher.
How do I say, minimize the bandit threat, maximize the threat of invasion, and provide both the intense character development I seek while having some good ol' medieval warfare to top it all off? With this story I am perplexed.
It's been collecting dust since the fall when I finished it, and I have other story ideas, but I don't want to just abandon this one either!