The reasons for this blog: 1. To provide basic author information for students, teachers, librarians, etc. (Please see sidebar) 2. I think out loud a lot as I work through writing projects, and I'm trying to dump most of those thoughts here rather than on my friends.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

More thinking re. DH and ATNF sections, while mowing back yard. The ATNF section I looked at basically reads something like: travel-travel-travel, piece of information, travel-travel-travel. Well, not exactly, because sometimes it's stop-for-the-night, piece of information, travel-travel-travel, etc. But anyway, the info is broken up into small digestible pieces by the other stuff so you have time to absorb it. In DH, the chapter break is set at a revelatory moment, but it also has the effect of breaking up what would otherwise be around seven to eight pages of straight information. So maybe--I'm not saying the authors did this on purpose; maybe they did, or maybe it just turned out that way by authorial instinct--the thing to take away from it is this: figure out what needs to be said, get it said as efficiently and readably as possible, make sure you don't cram it too full, then back off for a sec. The reader needs the main idea in one readily understandable chunk, then a break to absorb/digest. If you don't provide the break--or if you fill it with too many other things that must be understood and digested--you're in danger of losing your reader and screwing up your pacing.

So maybe the thing for me to think about next re. Chapter 4 is what's the most important piece of info I need to get in, what's the second most important, etc. And then think how to get those in, with time between to absorb. The between-times can hint at more minor stuff re. characters, world, set-up for later, etc. I have a plethora of minor stuff to choose from, so can pick whatever comes most naturally to the scene. I'm guessing I can get two important pieces of info in before it feels like the chapter is at its limit, but we'll see.

Blog Archive