Almost done with book one when a bad feeling struck me. The first part is too long. It’s boring and cluttered with excessive descriptionaire. What if I just cut out several chapters and simply write, like a summary of what happened during her two month’s walk of discoveries through the jungle? Could it be as short as a chapter or maybe two? Would that give the same effect at the end of the first part? Would it suffice as a base for the other parts? I’m sure a sentence like “It took her two months to cross the jungle.” wouldn’t make any sense.

Maybe I should try a shorter version as an alternative and see how it turns out. If it’s one chapter or maybe two, would it improve the total feeling of the story? There’s no dialog at all in the first part and I don’t think it’s really that fun to read 13 chapters about what my main character does in the jungle. Even though she’s having a lot of problems and discovers incredible abilities within her mind.

I think I’ll save the current writing off, then summarize the chapters into new subdocuments and stuff the vital parts there. Rewriting yet again will take months and those special abilities of her wont be as profound. They can’t be covered and she really need to experience all that loneliness. The abilities comes as a pay-off from all that loneliness.

I don’t know. Maybe a walkabout would help me find the way with this. Or maybe asking someone about their opinion but I should have my own, since this is my work. Reading a book might help yank my mind loose. It seems inevitable to throw a lot of stuff out. It would cripple the later parts of the story. Should I write an explanation to the reader about why it’s so boring in the beginning? Or can I shorten the chapters and make them more fun even though it lack dialog? Does it really need an extensive dialog at all? Then there’s a lot of dialog starting in part two.

If I ask someone about this, I may have a deeper consideration. Or maybe just face someone that make a basis for a quick comment through speed reading. That takes me nowhere. What if I ask the wrong person these questions. Then again, I don’t have to ask someone about this as I already know the answer. So, I answer the question with another question. Where is my heart in this? What feels the best and what would the reader value?

What I came up with is to shorten the chapters. I’m currently explaining non-critical things in detail. Like a scout’s handbook for making fire in each paragraph. It’s pretty much everywhere. It’s excessive and boring. The story is too slow.

Even though I feel we all have to slow down, only a few would bother with it in these times of high speed reading and number gathering. “I’ve read 356 books this year. How many did you read?” Sigh. They would miss out on the rest of the story which is pretty darn good.

Yes. The first part need to be shortened. A reader can fill out what they want and I only want to take them through and only show the important parts. They have enough imagination to create their own worlds or am I lazy here? Would they see the world as I do?

Back to throw a lot of stuff out. Taking 13 chapters on then. Arghhh…