Becoming a novelist

[oldwrench]

I've started trying to write a story based on one of the old rpgs we did here, it won't be a novel though, and it won't come near the mark Dinky has set for us.

[Zeratul2k]

Yep, Dinky sure put a high bar for all of us to beat. I'm writing something half-based on a dream I had, with parts of rpgs we have played here (my characters, mostly). Let's see if I can make it into anything worthy of posting tonight, then it becomes everybody's job to keep bugging me for more, if you like it :p

[Hiki]

Everyone's writing a story! Makes me wanna write a story too... but I know I'd never finish it and change it twenty times afterwards so I'm not even gonna try XD

[oldwrench]

I thought your comics were stories. They seem like it to me.

[Elvin]

Be careful what you post online, it might give you problems if you ever want to get it published.

[Hiki]

@gpa: Well... they are in a way... but I hope I do finish them one day...

@Elvin: That's true~! (but it's not like I'm actually planning on publishing anything for real at the moment XD)

[Elvin]

A wild Elvin suddenly appeared!

So I'm still trying my hand at becoming a novelist, and I want to hear your opinions on something.

I've reached a fight scene in my book. How long should I make it? It's a confrontation that's been building up for about 3 chapters (1. We find out there's a serial killer, 2. We looked for the serial killer, 3. We've found the serial killer and we're taking him down.)

I recall someone reccommended skulduggery pleasant for its fight scenes on this forum, but when I checked those out, I felt that they kind of dragged on and found myself wishing they'd just be done with (or maybe it was just the reader's voice in the audiobook.) So what do you guys think? Short and sweet? Or terribly detailed?

[oldwrench]

I prefer detailed, but don't waste a lot of time. Overly detailed doesn't let the reader use his imagination. To little detail and you lose your vision of the scene. Try writing it, leave it for a day and reread it, does it sound like it makes sense to you then. Have someone else read it and ask if they can imagine the scene.

[Elvin]

So, medium length?

[oldwrench]

That would probably be it. It depends on the fight, and how important it is to the story.