This is *really* hard for an author, because the stuff is really cool and allows us to delve into the world building which is what really makes fantasy fun. I LOVE reading it.

But if you allow those detours to sap the story of momentum, to slow the pace, you risk losing your readers. And if that happens, you’re doomed.

Some writers can get away with prose styling (or whiz-bang mules that haul no wood) for its own stake. Tolkien and Marion Zimmer Bradley did this. China Mieville does it.

But that has to be your overarching writing style. What makes Peter V. Brett’s writing so compelling is the breakneck pace. I assume that you write that way because that’s what other writers had to do to hook you.

Stick to that. It works for you. I would argue that it’s one of the key components to your success right now. Your writing is as combat operators love to say “high speed, low drag, wind tunnel tested.”

It’s also very, very good.