Room to Breathe by Sectioning Parts

The story must go on. But might it be better to partition the prose into three (or four in my case) sections to give the reader room to breathe?

My light novel (well, they’re not so light anymore) series is stepping up far higher in quality, with section breaks and quirky little spots where when a character duels it says: Session Start! in the vein of the classics from the 80s and 90s.

My belief in this series goes far higher than thinking it’s some passion project. I believe in this story and my revamps. Of course, this means I must revisit the original 2023 novel (consolidated into one from two in 2025) and redo the paneling and art to go with the newer standard. I think a version like that needs gold-foil edges and the musical touch, though.

I’ve often said (learning from the greats like Murakami and not listening to the indies that say it MUST be done quickly) that taking your time with things is far better than rushing things out. And that’s true.

My new pace is slower, but I want to do at least two Orchestrylus Odyssey novels in 2027. I’ve got many in the works, and there’s so much that goes into each separate novel and genre that it takes some time and dedication to get things right and out there.

I’ve posted samples of the coming novel a few times on here, but the state of the story isn’t quite the way those go anymore.

They are sectioned out much like the first novel has two parts, only now there are three to four parts.

Doing the paneling this way gives the light novels some room to breathe. Now that they’re going to be between 300 and 400 pages (give or take depending on format), I need to intersperse flavor text, lore, and paneling in a much grander way, and with much more work going into it.

This series isn’t a one-off novel like Crown of the Orphic Queen. Different projects take different approaches and have different timelines.

As artists who create without constraints, we are free to do things however we’d like.

But we must believe in our work and do right by ourselves first, before anyone else can take something from the things we create.

The message will get across once we frame our minds to accept the differing approaches to each piece or book we tackle.

I’ve got partitions, party interactions, paneling, poems set against gorgeous backdrops, and things we don’t normally always find in books.

But the secret—the sauce behind it all—is to do things your way.

I believe Gen Z says that things which are not up to par are mid, or chopped, or whatever. I’m too old for these slang terms. But Konner (from Auminous) was tapping his toes six times and seven way before 2025. Ahead in some ways, I suppose.

Let’s not release mediocre books and let’s attempt to create works of art that might change the landscape in even a small way.

I believe sectioning things out is one way to get that across in a powerful way. Using flavor text, panels, or even an epigraph or letter to divide the parts of the story is awesome (at least for me).

Happy writing!