Emmy And Me

All right. The last time I held one of these story discussions, it was because a few readers had suggested that the story left out some bits that it would have been good to have built up.

Several others expressed a desire for more 'slice of life' as well.

Taking these suggestions into account, I just wrote and posted almost 35,000 words on the time in Texas, the wedding and the honeymoon emphasizing the interpersonal interactions and filling in lots of character building and life details while still hitting the plot points that are the key to moving the story forward.

I could have told the same amount of story with half (or less) of the word count, but what many of you readers enjoy about Emmy And Me is the 'fuzzy pajamas', the minutiae of the relationship between our two leads, and their interactions with supporting characters. You don't simply want me to cut to the chase, as it were.

So I've tried to write to accomodate both somewhat competing goals. I've hit the plot points, but wrapped them in the fuzzy stuff.

The most tangible result of this is that Emmy And Me has lost 2.25% of its followers. From a high of 400 after the Texas arc to 391 now. Odlly, it picked up seven favorites during this same period, so I'm left wondering just what is going on.

I've looked through the writer's forums on Royal Road for any other mentions of this phenomenon, thinking it may be some site-wide realignment or shedding of inactive accounts or something, but I haven't seen anything.

So I have to imagine that nine readers lost interest during the wedding and honeymoon arcs.

While that's fine, I really wish I could ask them what it was that made them give up on the story. In effect, what am I doing wrong?

So, those of you that have stayed (and that is 97.75% of you), what do you think I'm doing right with this story, and what am I doing wrong?

Do you like this new emphasis on the 'fuzzy pajamas' or should I return to the somewhat more cut and dried storytelling of the alley fight and its repurcussions?

On a subsidiary note, the fuzzy pajamas style is ill-suited to traditional publishing. If I do try to get this book published via an editor and publishing house I'll have to cut huge swaths out to appease the limitaions of print distribution. As it stands, this would be a thousand page book as of this point, so bigger than a typical James Michener novel. Thick as the proverbial brick.

Should I not give a damn about that and just pad all the fuzz the story needs into it and figure that the weblit serial format encourages such writing? I'll obviously never reach Wandering Inn levels of word count, nor do I want to. I want to write a story that people would enjoy reading. I'm doing this to flex my creative muscles, not in the expectation of becoming the next Stephanie Meyer and having my books optioned into hit movies.

This is for me, and for you, the reader.

The pajama fuzz is easy- it practically writes itself, and while I still keep an eye on the dictum that every passage must either build the characters or advance the plot, I'm not too rigorous about it. Sure, Leah falling on her face trying to get into her wedding gown was comic relief, but it also gave insight into her attitudes and her relationship with Donny, so it wasn't just a non-sequitur. And that has been my guideline in the last few arcs. Go ahead and add the padding, but make sure it still advances the narrative.

So- the 391 of you who have been reading this story, what do you think? I open the floor to comments.

Oh- feel free to comment on specific plot points, developments, character questions etc. If it isn't spoilery, I'll explain or elaborate.