One piece of advice I've gotten over and over again is about the importance of having good Beta readers. I've been lucky enough to find a small group of serious writers and we're helping each other out. When I posted the first couple chapters, I immediately heard from multiple sources to drop my prologue. At first I thought, "no! That's my dramatic irony!" I mean, what would
Romeo & Juliet be like if we didn't know they were star-crossed?!
However, I realized a few things after calming down: 1) I am no Shakespeare and 2) they were right, especially because my prologue is only serving as a crutch.
I have found that it's difficult to know what to tell when, but all good books and shows manage to do this well. Just look at Lost...they kept us watching, no matter how ridiculous the show got, because we wanted those back stories. And what would be the point of The Hunger Games if we [SPOILER FOR OBLIVIOUS PEOPLE] knew up front how Peeta really felt about Katniss and didn't have to experience her self-doubt as she did? What if George R.R. Martin just included a list of everyone that was going to die? Oh wait, he did--it's called the "Cast of Characters."
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| ^ OCSD Waiting to Happen ^ |
So, I know I have to do the right, albeit harder, thing. My question is do I use this as an excuse to continue to stall on getting into the rising action or will fleshing out the exposition better lead more organically into the meat of the story? I guess I'll worry about that after I watch
Orange is the New Black, so I can understand what the hell all my friends are talking about.
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