Developmental Patience

One of my biggest challenges in writing is being patient with story development.  I know (most of) the story I want to write, and I want to get it out as soon as possible.  However, as I found with past drafts of Akeldamaand Salvation Day, this leads to first drafts that are…well…less than good.  It builds no tension and doesn’t let the reader get from A to B in their own minds.  Instead, it drags them into the story forcefully.  So forcefully, in my opinion, that they’ll escape as soon as they can.

Take my new project.  I’m starting a sci-fi/fantasy mashup that begins on the bridge of a ship heading to a new world.  The reasons are manifold for why they’re traveling to the new star, but just putting all of that in one or two paragraphs creates a clumsy story that doesn’t get the reader to care about them.  Finding ways to gradually bring out information as an organic part of the plot is where I’m struggling, for I want to delve into the main story, but I also know that giving too much info too quickly will turn off readers.  Plus, they won’t remember all of that info anyway.

I wrote several drafts of the opening of both Akeldama and Salvation Day because the opening sequences read more like textbooks than they did like novels.  I have a funny feeling that this new story will be the same way.  So much of the backstory is important to the plot, but just vomiting it on a page will dampen enthusiasm.  I think I can get to better character development too if I bring this stuff out slowly, but I struggle with the specifics on that.

This is likely a challenge for most writers, not just me.  Maybe getting too excited about a project is what hurts us in bringing along a book at a more natural pace.  Or perhaps it’s why I always get scrambled eggs when I’m trying to make a quiche – I don’t have the patience to let it develop.