I’m having two problems with the novel I’m trying to write. The first problem is it’s kind of a story of self discovery which relies heavily upon dialogue and right now it feels more like an improperly formatted screenplay than a novel. The second problem is my chapters are coming out short, averaging 1000 words each. What would you recommend?
Okay cool, so.. this feels like it’s two symptoms of the same root cause… which is that you have a lot of dialogue and not a lot of description/ scene setting. I don’t see this as a problem as such.. but more of a style. Work with what you’ve got! Own it! :)
My advice for the moment would be to get the story out. Write your first draft exactly as it comes. Don’t worry about word count or formatting. That’s for the second draft, for the editing.
What you’re going to want to do at that stage is decide if you want to reformat it into a screenplay, keep it a short novella, or flesh it out into a novel. All are legit options, I find writing scripts to be fun and also quite challenging.
Don’t worry too much about it. You’ve got this!
keep writing,
-Span















