My first act is lengthy. And I cannot shorten it. Any Suggestions?
After the great amount of encouragement that you all gave me here, you'd be happy to know that I finally started writing my novel and I'm writing whenever I get time. Special thanks goes to Lauren for that quote of hers. I loved it!
Okay. So I'm following the three act structure for my thriller. And as I read somewhere, according to this structure, the first act should end when the novel reaches around 25% of its length; Here, as most of us know, the protagonist is supposed to start his journey, the story goal is supposed to become clearly visible & concrete along with the story question.
Now the problem that I am facing is this: Although my first act does everything what it is supposed to do, it ends at around 38%. Which, I feel, is devastating. Although I asked a couple of my friends who are avid readers, to proofread my work up til here and they said that the humour (I have used humour in the whole act just to cover up my placing of 'links-in-a-thriller') is very finely written and it kept them going without letting them feel any lags.
So I tried clubbing a few scenes together; keeping what is required. But as soon as I did that, the 'links' that i had placed became visible.
Now i do not know what to do! I mean, If i condense the scenes, the links show up. If i don't then the Act becomes wider. And the conversations, though lengthy, are equally important because it gives the backstory to the readers.
Any suggestions?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/5944. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
2 answers
The rules in place are to help writers overcome hesitation to write, or indecision on how to structure the story. Others will give you rules to follow, and as a result you try to club it into submission and force it to be something that it is not. The story is the important part: write it to keep it in its natural form.
You said "I just cannot move on to the next chapter until I personally feel that I have written good." This is a problem that writers have dealt with forever, but it is not a reason to stop writing! "If you want to write" by Brenda Ueland addresses this point exactly, and has been immensely inspirational to me. It was written in 1938, so it was before all the hundreds of books on how to write. Hopefully, you might find it helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/If-You-Want-Write-ebook/dp/B0034KYUV8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
Also, if you are worried about following publisher's guidelines so that it is easier to publish, you should self-publish on Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Link for more information:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/5957. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Quit bean-counting.
Finish the novel and then go back and worry about whether the first act works. Methods for structuring a story are guides, not laws. The novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is 850 pages. I remember vividly that the first six hundred were a complete slog, and then suddenly something happened and the last 200-odd pages went like a shot. That worked for that book. Who knows what will work for yours?
Put the entire story together, set it aside, and then go back and look at it with fresh eyes. If your first act is the right length, stop worrying. There will be other things to fix.
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