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So I've received my first mini batch of rejections on my ms. I've decided to stop querying and take a break from working on my ms a while before I decide how to proceed next. In the meantime, I've ordered a whole bunch of YA novels released this year just to get a sense of their openings (and to read and enjoy too, of course.) Something I've noticed is that in my first chapter there's one main scene, and it feels like time is very focused, almost like it's a movie, happening in real time.
Whereas in the YA books I've recently bought, the author seems to use broad strokes to talk about large amounts of time within a sentence or two. Somehow, it feels grander, wider in scope. Mine, in contrast, if I'm being honest, feels too much like a screenplay (which I've been writing up until my YA ms.)
Does anyone have any tips on how to control pace? Or how to know how many scenes to put in a chapter? Currently, it feels like I'm putting 1 big scene per chapter, and something just feels bogged down by it, I don't know.
Maybe I should look closely at one or two YA books in the style I'm going for and emulate the pace / scene work?
Whereas in the YA books I've recently bought, the author seems to use broad strokes to talk about large amounts of time within a sentence or two. Somehow, it feels grander, wider in scope. Mine, in contrast, if I'm being honest, feels too much like a screenplay (which I've been writing up until my YA ms.)
Does anyone have any tips on how to control pace? Or how to know how many scenes to put in a chapter? Currently, it feels like I'm putting 1 big scene per chapter, and something just feels bogged down by it, I don't know.
Maybe I should look closely at one or two YA books in the style I'm going for and emulate the pace / scene work?
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