It has taken a very long time to get to this point. My serial is finally in its final act!
What does that mean?
For Saving the Music I followed the traditional three act structure made popular through “Save the Cat” by Blake Snyder. Essentially, Act III comes after the “dark moment of the soul” in a traditional story structure sense. Aka, the moment it all goes bad, the plan fails, or a misbelief is re-established. At this point in the story, the main character is losing all hope.
Act III is the section where the final climax comes in and the misbelief is finally turned on its head and the lessons sink in. I personally love this section of books. They often read faster, and all of the theories you might have had throughout the book either come true or are flipped in a kind of plot twist.
How I feel about my book going into Act III
To be honest, I feel like this serial was not my best. I felt like it got a little boring or slow at points. I do still love the emotional lines that run through it, but I think it’s going to take a bit to find its audience.
A lot of my inspiration for the book came from Sarah Dessen’s “Just Listen.” In that novel, there’s an underlying event that occurred before the book started and follows the character emotionally through her journey. There aren’t any huge climactic moments, but there’s enough in there that it hits you pretty hard when things finally come to a close.
I’m hoping this book, this serial, finds the right person who needs to know that they’re not the only ones who felt like high school was too much for so little return. For those who feel like their emotions are a problem rather than the human experience. For those who never quite felt right in their skin when they were younger. I want them to know that it’s completely fine to fail, completely fine to not understand your own emotions yet, and completely fine to let your friends in to help you feel. Chances are that your entire peer group is struggling with something similar and just not talking about it.
So, even if my book might be boring to some, I hope it finds it’s reader. Even if it’s just one person, I want it to make somebody feel heard. That’s all I ever really want for my stories.
(Okay sappy time over).
What’s next?
I have contracted a Developmental Editor for August (which I’m excited for beyond words but also stupidly nervous). I’m also going to let myself just write whatever the heck I want for a bit. I need to stop making myself beholden to certain deadlines so that I can truly be happy with my work. I also need to start reading some things other than the one genre that has my hyper-fixation hooked. Not because I NEED to, but because I want to diversify my reading a bit to keep my writing strong as well. Hopefully, that will lead to a few more serials and another bigger work in my pocket.
Only time will tell. 🙂
Happy reading!
Rachel
Subtle Stories 