Dang it! You just hit on something I need to consider. I'm often told all my works start too slowly and need to 'get to the hook' faster. Now often I can correct for that after the alpha readers get back to me. Sometimes it's the beta readers who catch it. BUT... although I try to follow Kurt Vonnagut's advice of starting as close to the ending as possible, that beginning is still slow, because I'm setting stuff up for the readers.
So that made me just realize that after I'm done with my first draft, maybe my second, I need to look at the story and figure out if it's fast enough to get the reader into the story. Then, look at how many chapters I must figure out how to condense, or find a better way to explain it.
Too often, my first draft is me telling myself the story and thinking the reader wants to know this stuff. Now I am understanding this isn't quite so.
Dang it! You just hit on something I need to consider. I'm often told all my works start too slowly and need to 'get to the hook' faster. Now often I can correct for that after the alpha readers get back to me. Sometimes it's the beta readers who catch it. BUT... although I try to follow Kurt Vonnagut's advice of starting as close to the ending as possible, that beginning is still slow, because I'm setting stuff up for the readers.
So that made me just realize that after I'm done with my first draft, maybe my second, I need to look at the story and figure out if it's fast enough to get the reader into the story. Then, look at how many chapters I must figure out how to condense, or find a better way to explain it.
Too often, my first draft is me telling myself the story and thinking the reader wants to know this stuff. Now I am understanding this isn't quite so.