: Re: Describing a Character Traveling: Too much narrative? I am new to writing and I am trying to a write a novel. In the first chapter, my main character travels from her hometown to a different

@Eichhorn147

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If there is no story there, just say:

She traveled by train from London to Paris.

Then get on with the story.

You don’t have to “use this time” because that train ride takes time.

If there is story, you might tell it as flashback story the character recalls as she looks out the window of the train at familiar locations.

This is really a rewriting/editing question, though, not a writing question. You should consider just writing and writing the story that you have without stopping to edit until your first draft is done. Then these questions are easier to answer in the context of the completed draft manuscript, either by you as you rewrite or by an editor as they edit. Extraneous and/or missing parts become more obvious.

Programmers have a saying: “premature optimization is the root of all evil.” For writers, it is premature rewrites, because rewrites are writing optimizations. So it is usually better to write without questioning what you write too much. The second draft is all questioning.

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