Revisions

The other day, as I was adding chapter 2 and doing some advertising of my story, I found that my tale was added to a couple groups. Unfortunately, they were essentially shame groups about how much a given story sucks. One group was called "Absolutely Disgusting." It was placed in a sub category for terrible pacing. I was never notified of my story being added to any groups, so I don't know when it was placed there. Nor do I know or care who put it there. I'm also not entirely mad. The only thing I'm disappointed in is whoever added my story to these shame groups I would've preferred to have told me of their issues with my story through proper criticism instead of attempting to to slide a sucker punch under the table. I find it cowardly.

I want my story to be the absolute best it can possibly be. I don't expect myself to knock it out of the park every single time I put my fingers to the keyboard. But if nobody tells me of flaws that I may be oblivious or uncertain of, I cannot expect to correct what is otherwise wrong. I'm a big boy. I can take criticism, even if it is negative. So long as you're not being a dick or a troll about it, I will take it into heavy consideration. I may even make changes in an attempt to better share the story. But there are going to be some moments where it is deliberate that I try and puzzle the reader. What's a good read without some mysteries, right?

Either way, I think I will need to give the prologue of my story a good revision. It will still say what I want it to convey by the end, but hopefully it will be easier to follow along. I've felt odd about the prologue and parts of the first chapter for a while now. What I previously blamed on not just being too interesting as it was setting the scene of the "ordinary world," it could've very well been that my pacing was terribly off. I went over this finding with my editor and he said in hindsight, my pacing is terrible. He even wants me to dive deeper into the mundane to really give a bigger picture of the protagonist's everyday life, but I'm a bit reluctant on that.

That said, I know why my pacing was off. I was trying to limit myself on what to say as I can ramble quite a bit once I get going. My story is ultimately aiming to be an adventure and I do not want to waste too much time with slice of life stuff where it drags on and on, never getting to the point. Setting the scene is fine, but I don't want to be so far into it that the conflict seems like it is never going to happen and readers lose interest. So I'll find a balance, I think. The prologue will be revised entirely, parts of chapter 1 changed. But I feel really good with the bulk of chapter 2, save for one part. I'll perhaps edit that.

I'm not discouraged to find I was added to some shame groups do to my poor pacing, just disappointed nobody had the courage to tell me up front. Adding secretly to shame groups is just mean and uninformative. If you have a gripe with my story, do not be afraid to tell me. I want you to enjoy reading it as much as I do telling it. Just be respectful and I'll listen. After all, having my story in a shame group after a much needed improvement could just be hurting an otherwise fixed and now great tale.

And that about does it! I'll be putting off chapter 3 until my revisions are complete and things are much better looking. Hope it doesn't take long, though. I already have an idea on how to fix my pacing. It'll be time to put that theory to the test.