Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A I have three dead-end chapters. Should I keep them or remove them?

(Disclaimer: I'm not a writer…) Is it possible that some readers don't see the point of those chapters because they don't have a lasting effect on the story? If so, then the solution may be to gi...

posted 6y ago by gidds‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:22:17Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36782
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar gidds‭ · 2019-12-08T04:22:17Z (about 5 years ago)
<sup>(Disclaimer: I'm not a writer…)</sup>

Is it possible that some readers don't see the point of those chapters because they don't have a lasting effect on the story?

If so, then the solution may be to **give** them a lasting effect on the story; most obviously, on the main character.&nbsp; Show her frustration increasing with each failure.&nbsp; Perhaps show some collateral damage that that has on her life outside this particular quest.&nbsp; Or maybe she gains some useful knowledge or experience from each failure, that she can use later.&nbsp; Or you introduce important characters or ideas.

However you do it, I'd suggest making those chapters **necessary** to the story somehow; to reach the point later on where the story would be different (and not as good) had they not happened.&nbsp; That way, readers may come to forgive the lack of progress on the main plot-line.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-06-07T14:25:59Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 4