Book3 and YA Feedback

Progress continues on Book3, as I've been getting back into the swing of it. I'm going for a minimum daily word count of 1,000 for now that will have to rise later. Book2 is in its resting phase before one last going over. It should be out in January.

I don't do much politics on here, but I've mentioned the recent elections a few times, including the recounts and other shenanigans. Here's an update on those. Wisconsin did a recount. Trump gained 131 votes, making the victory even larger and more glorious than before. The recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan didn't happen, because there was no proof of election tampering whatsoever, etc. Imagining that something might have happened is not proof of anything. More than once, I've imagined myself winning the lottery. The lottery commission refuses to accept my imagination as proof I won.

I received some feedback on a sample of the YA novel from a freelance editor. I thought I'd share it with you.

"Too much dialogue upfront when we don’t know who’s speaking or where we are—this is a touch disorienting. Try to give us a little bit more of a setting by weaving descriptions into the dialogue tags."
and
"In general, I really wanted to see more description of your setting. I think by strategically weaving in more description, it would significantly strengthen your world building."

Where the reader is would be in the cover blurb. The reader would automatically go into the book knowing what's going on. Nevertheless, she's not wrong. I tend to have skimpy physical descriptions of places and items, because that's a lot of extra work. :) And I don't like lots of description, when I'm the reader. I hate pages of description of a setting, only to be gone from that setting forever by the end of a chapter. What a cool place! Farewell!

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned doorknob authors before. Those are the guys that spend pages describing the glint of the sunlight off a doorknob and how that reminds the character of something from the past and suddenly I'm stuck in a lengthy flashback that usually doesn't matter to the story. I don't want to be one of those guys.

But. I need to listen to what this person is saying, since I know she's right. My descriptions tend to be skimpy. That's so true. What I think I need to do is use more description while avoiding the doorknob problem. I suppose I could work a little bit harder and stretch and grow. :) Book2 is skimpy in places. It wouldn't hurt too much to add a paragraph here and there in the final edit and more sentences. Same for Book3.
On a practical level, one way I could do that would be to have a larger description of a setting the first time it appears in the book and then reference it later in a less-lengthy fashion. Think back to descriptions of Chesquial and Millican. I spent a few paragraphs on those and referenced them later by mentioning a spire or something similar that would recall the initial description without trying to redo it.
Going forward, I also think I'll try to add a few more sentences in minor locations. I'm going to have to find a balance without going overboard spamming description after every dialogue tag. If it grounds the reader while at the same time adding content of real value, it can only make the stories stronger.

Have a great weekend.