Not Awful

I finally dared to read what I'd written the other day. Re-reading, for me, is a sign of uncertainty. I never used to read my full manuscript until it was done. 

Turns out, it's not awful. It's not good, but my writing session wasn't a complete fail. My problem, and it's a big one, is that the story is not meaty; meaning one scene trips to the next without fully fleshing things out. I don't believe in overplaying a particular scenario ~ dragging it out until it becomes tedious ~ but one of my shortcomings as a writer is flashing to the next image in my head and going with it. Example: my main character discovers something disturbing about her newfound love and is so appalled, she flees. Cut to the next scene. She's home and is suddenly philosophical about the whole thing and moves on. Now, I'm not about to craft a whole section of her crying into her pillow for days, but on the other hand, it reads rather cold. While it's true that she has to move on, it shouldn't be without regret or mourning over what might have been. It's a fine line. I have to get to the next action or the story stalls, but I don't want to portray her as an automaton who basically shrugs off a devastating event.

Perhaps I need to view the story as a reader. What would I want to know? What would be a pleasing, or at least, edifying conclusion to the scene? Ahh, the eternal editing...

My novellas consistently come out on the short end of the scale ~ 20,000 words or so ~ except for the novel that I condensed, which topped out at 35,000. So I obviously have carte blanche to flesh out this story. It's a push-pull between being able to and wanting to (oh, and needing to). 

I'll get it eventually. Maybe.