Really? That’s it?

To everyone, who has been looking forward to the next blog, I apologize immensely for not being able to get it out sooner that it had. Between life, health, and other medical things it made it hard to sit down at a keyboard to get it typed up. I am confident, and hope that everyone understands this. Now? Onto the main portion of the blog.

The topic for this blog is Story length. Let me ask you this first, what exactly constitutes as proper story length? What do you feel is necessary for a story to be a story, have depth, plot, character development, all of the things that a good story needs in order to survive and attract readers? Should it be limited by only what you put into it at first, being the original plot? Or is it possible to add in more details of a story. Perhaps a sub story? I think the only thing holding a writer back IS themselves. We all know, and have delved into our imaginations. We can come up with a thousand different scenarios for our characters. Perhaps each scenario for the character is different. But is it a good idea to leave items in the story unresolved or skipped over? It’s always exciting to be writing a novel, novelette, short story, poems, and want to get it out for your readers. But what’s the proper length in which you should stop? At what point should you limit your imagination or limit the characters to what they are doing? Maybe, give them a way out of a scenario that could bring the particular piece of work to a grinding halt and make it hard for not only you, but for the character to trudge through. I will be the first to admit that in my imagination, and stories at times I get a bid wordy with ALL the characters details.

However, I know that I’m not the only writer out there that would do this. I think it’s incredibly important at times to add to the story what the characters are doing every time they are in a scene, what they are thinking, etc. However, I’ve read over some of the scenes in my upcoming novel “Whispers” and see where I have been almost too wordy with what is going on in the scene. A quick resolve, but at times it’s dropped me about a ½ or even a whole page of writing. To me? It’s irrelevant on how long a story should be. If I cut out a page or two pages of writing that drops my story to maybe twenty three or twenty five pages that is ok. To me, it’s more important to keep your idea to the point, instead of wandering off track and getting lost with something irrelevant to the story. Whenever I read scenes, and notice these wordy situations I can always imagine my readers sitting in a chair, with one hand propped against there hand. My book would be open and a sigh escaping there lips as they flip the page. The story should be enthralling, it should be riveting, it should keep them interested to the point that they are wanting to turn page and page because they are excited for what is happening in the story with the characters. Short stories are still stories. They can be entertaining, and enthralling as a thousand page novel.

But with that said, a story can be a thousand pages and full of crap. Either the plot development is horrible, slow, maybe irritating? Characters don’t click as well as they should or maybe slapped together too quickly? Editors can be a WONDERFUL help in this department and be able to tell you if you are being too wordy, or maybe not wordy enough. When is detail too much detail? That is up to the individual writer. I think the amount of detail you put into it should keep your writer enthralled and hanging on, instead of making it feel like your reading a dictionary or a quickly rushed idea that has the potential to have a ingloriously awesome idea. It’s important to listen to your muse while your in that frame of mind. Whether your sitting in a police car listening to your characters talk? Or if you are sitting at an Inn in the corner listening to various conversations amongst characters it’s easier to write all of it down as it happens and then go back and read it again later. Really, it’s no different than having a tape recorder walking out in the general public and recording what you hear. At least this way, you’ve got it all documented on the scene and what’s happening. Perhaps there are irrelevant things you can cut out along the way that doesn’t make it into the MS before it goes to editing.

Perhaps, those details can be used for another story, time, or setting. With this said, and since we are all friends here. What is one thing in your stories, poems, etc. that you tend to go on in almost too much detail that you feel? Please, post in the comments below to share with everyone!