Cutting down story length without leaving out locations
I'd like to write a story and I have plenty of elements for it, up to and including a set of locations, characters and events, as well as some loose sequence for those.
This is still a planning phase, though, and I can already see it would span much, much longer than suitable for a beginner. I consider the scope of the story quite epic, but huge chances are I won't become the next Oda Eiichiro, let alone Tolkien.
Therefore, primarily for the purpose of speeding up the introduction of new major characters (which would take ridiculously much time at the current pacing), I'd like to tweak on the scope.
The problem, however, is that for irrelevant reasons, some of the locations visited and introduced in the story are rather fixed already. Some are only relevant for one arc/chapter, but I can't really let them out.
With this in mind, what are some rules of thumb I can use to cut down the length of the story?
I know, leaving little time at each location is one option, but that is quite vague of an idea.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36772. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
It's a bit hard to give advise with so little information to base it on, but if your story is about the characters rather than the locations, and your problem is that it takes the characters to meet in the first place, couldn't they all (or at least some of them) meet at some event outside their place of birth?
Consider, for example how the Fellowship of the Ring all meet in Rivendell, at the Council of Elrond; Tolkien never (not in The Lord of the Rings, that is) takes us to Mirkwood (Legolas's home), Erebor (Gimli's home), and it takes more than half the book until we reach Gondor (Boromir's home).
@Pawana is right - if a place is introduced, I want to experience it in full. But if it's relevant only for a chapter, is it all that relevant at all? What is it that makes the place relevant? Can't this aspect be conflated with another place, or shown in a different manner than actually visiting the place? For example, Tolkien sets up Gimli's home in one passage, instead of taking us to a place that's irrelevant to the story at hand:
In metal-work we cannot rival our fathers, many of whose secrets are lost. We make good armour and keen swords, but we cannot again make mail or blade to match those that were made before the dragon came. Only in mining and building have we surpassed the old days. You should see the waterways of Dale, Frodo, and the fountains, and the pools! You should see the stone-paved roads of many colours! And the halls and cavernous streets under the earth with arches carved like trees; and the terraces and towers upon the Mountain's sides! (Lord of the Rings, II 1 - Many Meetings)
In this short passage, we get what the dwarves do (smiths and architects), how they live (under the Mountain), something of their history (dragon), and a notion of what excites Gimli (aesthetics). Couldn't some of your locations be condensed the same way, instead of being visited?
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