pacing

I can't think of anything more nerve-wracking than putting a novel in that hands of beta readers. It isn't fear (sorry Marcus). It's hope and dread at the same time. Did the story flow well, build up to a good climax, and end right? How many things did I gloss over because I understood what was happening, or what the character meant, but failed to convey to the reader? Did I back away when something got uncomfortable? (readers are allowed to flinch and look away, writers aren't) I want to know all these answers, but waiting to hear the verdict isn't easy. So I pace (that much I have in common with Sam) . And once I have the answers, I hope that they're easy fixes and not huge problems. Even though Love Runes is, like Chaos Magic, an erotic novel, I actually cut one sex scene because I felt it was gratuitous. It didn't move the plot forward and didn't reveal more about the characters. Tellingly, after I cut it, the rest of the story wasn't affected. I do worry about a section of the story where there's no sex at all, but since Sam and Hector are fighting in those chapters, it wouldn't have worked to toss them into bed, or across the kitchen table, or into the dungeon. Hopefully readers will be so caught up in the story that they won't even notice the lack of sex. We shall see, just as soon as my beta readers get back to me.