The BEST book I've read this year is by far The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. If you haven't read it yet, you need to. It's amazing. It has everything I'm a sucker for in books: nail biting action, cliffhanger chapter endings, strong female characters, and the excitement of having no clue what is going to happen next or how it will happen. I wish all books were this exciting! After four years in college of reading nothing but the classics and literary fiction I need a break (preferably a long one) from adult literary works of masterpiece. Give me a book that reads like a movie, moving at breakneck speed and vivid, graphic descriptions. Mostly I find these books to be young adult, so I am taking a hiatus from reading any adult fiction and disappearing into the world of YA lit. Which is completely fine, since I am writing YA lit.
In my own writing I try to avoid chapters that lag or cause the reader boredom. I try as hard as I can to keep the story moving along quickly, with several action scenes and a witty, well crafted voice. This is both a blessing and a curse, because even when I'm writing I find myself just wanting to jump from action scene to action scene without much transition or explanation in between and it's hard for me to go back on edits and insert transitional scenes to make the story slow down and flow better. I need to take the time to fully describe people and places in my story and make sure the characters are fleshed out beings and not just action heroes.
LOL! I'm guilty of the same. My rough drafts are usually non-stop action. It's during the editing process that I take the time to add more detail and filler chapters between action scenes. I think that is why editing is such a chore!
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