It Wasn't a Story Problem

Finished the first draft of Book V tonight and something felt off before I even checked the numbers. Checked them anyway. Sixty fewer pages than Book III, more individual scenes than Book III. Thinner, not shorter.

First instinct was to add material — a new scene here, an extra beat there. Sat with it instead and realized that wasn't it. The scenes that existed were rushing past things they should have been living inside.

Went back through act by act, not adding plot, just letting the plot that was already there take up the room it actually needed. Sixty-some pages came back that way, without a single new event happening anywhere in the book.

Depth and length aren't the same problem, and I keep having to relearn that.