/lit/ - Literature

Thoughts on set-ups and pacing? I recently took a step back and decided to invest my first ~10 chapters purely into world-building, setting up the main cast and each of their motivations before delving into the story proper. Of course, everything that happens there has a good reason for being in the story but it takes a while before the action kicks in. TLDR the main PoV and three of his friends are going to participate in this coming of age ritual that's supposed to happen right on new year's eve. I'm trying to hinge my bets on drawing readers in with super immersive and detailed descriptions of all the traditions and events happening around the protag mixed with a bunch of shenanigans since he's supposed to be this adrenaline junkie who keeps getting into trouble for the sheer excitement of it. I really want to sell the whole cheery adventure vibe in the first bit, only to give readers one hell of a sucker punch when everything turns to shit about ~15 chapters in. Only issue is I think I might be leaning a liiitle bit too much into the worldbuilding bit. Think of it like the set-up for Bel Tine in Wheel of Time but with more moving parts.


>>22217025
Maybe have something happen to where going back home is impossible? Conflict drives the plot forward, after all. For instance just off the top of my head, you can maybe start with option B and once the girl decides to go out adventuring, have her spend all her money to buy like a ship ride to some far off frontier land where her parents can't reach her. Then, once she realizes that the outside world is dangerous and scary and tries to go back but is unable, thus forcing her to stay and learn to adapt and overcome this new environment. You can even have her fall in with a bigger group of adventurers that want to make use of her alchemy skills, and have a sort of moral conflict thing going where she both wants to keep adventuring and explore this new frontier, but at the same time she feels guilty and wants to go back to her parents, or something like that. I got a weirdly similar plotline as well, lol.

> but abandoning your parents and home over a disagreement seems equally bad

Its petty, childish and immature, which works well if your protag is on the younger side. Once she gets a reality check it can be the basis for some pretty good character growth imo.

>>22216903
Contradictory characters aren't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe have your prophecy or whatever inexplicably fail when push comes to shove or do something like what >>22216975 said.