I am, of course, already…

I am, of course, already critiquing this book even though almost no one has had a chance to read it yet, wishing I had done certain things differently. Mostly I love it, I do.

But I do think, in retrospect, that if you start off with a book of linked stories, that you should, perhaps, consider that it reduces the urgency a bit. It's easier for the reader to read the first story, be satisfied (hopefully), and put the book down. This came up with Bodies in Motion too, and maybe it's just endemic to the linked-story-sort-of-novel genre, and I should accept that this is my natural form and thus there are consequences.

The two books are different, though -- in BiM, the stories really were very separate. In TSC, they start off separate, but by a few stories in, they're interweaving much more tightly, and there's a definite urgency. I'm wondering now if I could have had that happen from story one. Something to think about if I try this form again. But I think maybe the next book will just be a straight up novel.