Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is "How do you keep your story from being too complex?"
...and I don't know.
I mean, what is TOO complex? I'm thinking that sometimes there's too much story to fit into a single book, which is probably why my series tend to expand.
It can be a mistake of newbie writers to think a story needs MORE. I used to worry about that, especially with the first novel I wrote. I worried that the story didn't have ENOUGH. Enough of what, I'm not sure. But, that was before I understood that the actual details of the story are much less important than how the story is told. It's the author's voice we fall in love with. Details, while they may add to the atmosphere of the story, tend to be forgettable.
So I think it's key to keep in mind that simple is good. If we're feeling the impulse to add to the story, simply to add, that's almost certainly not necessary.
