Never Enough Time

Writing does indeed require vast amounts of time. Time plotting and thinking. Time actually writing, and then rewriting. Then time editing! But our characters are just as pressed for time as we are. 

Especially when writing historical fiction, one must be wary of time. Even in alternate universes, certain events happen in a certain order. I can't change the dates of the Ripper killings just because I want Esther to be in summer dresses. My desk is currently filled with calendars and lists of dates, with question marks filling in various blank spaces. 

Because of the international escapades of the Hunters, I seem to fumble with their time a lot more than with Scarlet. She only leaves England once, where Bryan, Esther, and Thomas leave nearly every month. Plus, the Hunter universe has several other casts whose whereabouts I have to keep track of. Scarlet and her opponents are much more orderly in their crimes. By no means, does that make them any less exciting!

Mysteries tend to need a much shorter time frame than other adventures in my experience. In modern detective shows, you see the pressing need to solve it under 48 hours. In historical, I find many cases are solved in a week or two. Fast paced scenes make for more exciting reads though. Look at Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Her novels are shorter than most, and he wrote mainly short stories. On the other hand, Wilkie Collins did write much longer novels. 

In the end, it's the story itself that matters. Not the page or word count. But that story has to happen in a reasonable amount of time, just right on the edge of thrilling and logical. I'm still working on finding that balance myself. Only time will tell if I get it right.