Sunday, February 25, 2018

Keep It Simple, Sister

I don't always share my non-SFF stuff here, but I'm so pleased with how this cover turned out that I just had to. SHOOTING STAR is a contemporary romance, darker and edgier than my Missed Connections series. I'm really excited to see this one finally come out as I've been working on it for years. Releasing March 6!

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.

5 comments:

  1. I appreciate this about your work.

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    1. Thank you - and thank you for always taking the trouble to comment :-)

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  2. Awesome cover! And the guts of the story are just as wonderful. I'm reading it right now for a blog review ;)

    Hmm...a good point. It makes me think of some books I've read where there is too much going on that it detracted from the characters and their journey. Here I thought it was just I didn't 'get' those particular SF books. A nice post!

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    1. Yay! I'm so pleased to hear that :D

      And yeah - I think it's almost cliché that the sprawling epic fantasy or the super-tech-focused hard SF books do this. I think in many cases, those writers aren't interested in the characters as much as the worlds or ideas/themes.

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    2. Hmm, I agree with that statement. Glad you love your characters!!

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