by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I really need to watch Fleabag again. I’m now completely consumed with how to improve the characterizations of my characters. I say this in the context of having a very stable first three chapters of the novel.
They’re not perfect, I’m still going to futz with them some, but they’re good enough to move forward. The issue I have now is I’m edging towards 50 scenes in the first act and that’s just way too many. And, yet, if I play my cards right, it won’t be THAT bad because some of those scenes won’t be 1,000 words.
The reason for so many scenes is very, very dumb — I have very dumb, arbitrary rules for my chapter structure when it comes to POVs and, as such, I find myself feeling repeatedly compelled to add a scene here or there to fit to the conventions I have in my head.
The average reader won’t notice — but *I* will notice and I’m the fucking person writing the novel. And I’m willing to write more to fit the conventions I have in my head, so there you go.
My goal is to write a heroine as interesting as Lisbeth Salander.
More scenes.
It is becoming clear that this novel is probably going to be in the general 140,000 word count area. I’m a complete nobody loser and, as such, I risk writing a really good novel that I can’t sell because, lulz, it’s just too fucking long.
But because I’m doing all of this in a vacuum, I just don’t know. I have no idea if what I feel on a visceral level is the right thing to do or not. And because it’s really, really tough for me to do something as basic consume someone else’s media….things can get tricky.
And, yet, I do plan on watching Fleabag again. There are such great characters in that show that I believe I can glean some sense of how to construct good characters by watching it. I also need to watch some more of House of Cards.
Wish me luck.
