When writing

What do I pay attention to when writing (or reading)?

Good question. This is really more a matter of my own preferences, but I still wanted to put together the things I think matter to the average book reader. This list is also a reminder to myself.

I think, above all, I care a lot about reading tempo. I've shared my thoughts on tempo in another post, more or less. Long, ornate paragraphs, lengthy exposition, and the author's effort to pour out the knowledge in their head as it is all tire the reader. They slow down the reading and create a kind of silence in the mind. Conversely, dialogue, short sentences, and small events speed up reading. Because these feel natural; they follow the natural flow of life. I think the story's most worthwhile parts are carried by them, too. Readers don't like staying heavy all the time. They get bored. Their eyes drift to the page numbers: "How many hours have I been reading, and I've only managed five pages," they say. The book grows larger in the reader's eyes. On the other hand, constant dialogue and short events push the tempo up too far, and this time they start to tire the reader from the opposite direction. Because dialogue and events raise the tension gradually. At some point, the reader expects the knot to be untied. The longer that's delayed, the stronger the "Stop talking and get to the point" feeling becomes. I don't know if it's mathematically right, but I think the ideal balance is something like two-thirds plain narration and one-third dialogue in each chapter.

Dialogue has its own separate issue, of course. I think dialogue shouldn't drift away from the real world. Nobody lets the person across from them deliver a four-paragraph tirade in a single breath; something always interrupts. Sometimes our hero really does need to explain things at length. In that case, it's better to break up long dialogue with small events. That way, the reader doesn't drift away from reality and stays inside the scene. For example: "...I'm getting bored, how can I even explain this to you?" She smoothed her hair with her hand. Her eyes slid to the glass on the table. "Look, for instance, the other day I told the guy..." Small events are needed in between.

Another thing that annoys me is the author's stubborn effort to place events on a logical footing. It's especially irritating when the author goes to the trouble of explaining an invention, say a lightsaber, scientifically. They sit down and spend two paragraphs trying to write how a lightsaber works and how it could be possible, or how a flying car is possible. Yet the reader has already accepted that it's possible; no explanation is needed. In successful books, such inventions simply exist. When the author doesn't fall into a need to prove themselves, the story becomes more believable. Instead, the "show, don't tell" approach holds better. For example, at the story's most critical moment, the lightsaber's battery may die, or its crystal may break. The reader says, "Aha, so this sword has a battery and a crystal." There's no need for further explanation. The author shouldn't be out to prove anything; they should tell the story as it is. All inventions, streets, cities, planets, all of them are already part of that world. When you write a novel, do you feel the need to write how a car works, how the fuel reaches its engine, how the fuel is extracted from the ground, how it formed from ancient fossils? You don't, because that is part of our world, our normal. Flying cars are likewise the normal of another world and need no explanation.

Another subject is information and events that don't contribute to the main story. When writing or reading something, if it has no connection to the main subject, doesn't contribute to the story, or doesn't complete the scene in which the story takes place, it's unnecessary.

And one personal favorite: if I'm bored while writing, the reader will be bored to death while reading. That's why I delete the parts where I get stuck while writing, where I can't find the continuation, where my hand won't move, where I get bored. It shows me I'm not on the right track.

That's all for my notes. Maybe I'll update them at some point. Thanks!