The first week of NaNo is officially over and I am all caught up with my word count. This statement could very easily change by tonight, as my family is in the midst of unpacking in our new residence. It's taking some time for us all to adjust to this new change, but the commute to work is infinitely better. Seven minutes versus an hour and fifteen minutes? I'll take it!
My address isn't the only thing that's changed this November. As I slog away on my NaNo project, I've realized my storytelling technique has also undergone some renovations. 12,000 words or so into this new venture and I noticed most of the novel was being told through character dialogue. Most of my work before has been told mainly through narration. Long passages of descriptions and back story sprinkled generously throughout the actions and speech of my characters. This time, everything the reader needs to know about what is going on is told to them by the characters.
This revelation about my own writing makes me wonder which way most readers prefer to learn about the world they're being immersed into. Do you want to be told in the narration what is going on, or do you like it when the characters hold intelligent conversations to share the information with you?
I'm a little ADD,so I don't like long passages of narrative and descriptive detail. Don't get me wrong- I like being given a few hints about what the characters look like, but my imagination tends to take off and fill any blanks the author leaves out. As a reader, my attention wanders if there's too much narrative, so I've found that I'm a pretty dialogue-heavy writer.
ReplyDeleteOver the past year I've received comments similar to yours about needing the action to pick up quicker. I think that's why, subconsciously, this year's piece is turning out the way it is.
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