I wanted the book to be about twice as long and have about 2-3 times as much consequence and reaction and explanation for every creepy incident.
I just felt like they didn't coalesce into enough of a narrative for me to feel much about the story as a whole?
Yes! It felt very....sketched in, in a way. And I get that it was meant to be evocative and using the "never let the audience see the monster directly" technique, but sometimes that also leads to an all sizzle, no steak feeling. Like, Shirley Jackson can give me the screaming heebie jeebies by barely describing a supernatural picnic? (mostly by writing extremely evocatively about the sheer terror of the people fleeing from it). But she's a mistress of technique. -- It wasn't bad at all, just kind of underdone.
no subject
I just felt like they didn't coalesce into enough of a narrative for me to feel much about the story as a whole?
Yes! It felt very....sketched in, in a way. And I get that it was meant to be evocative and using the "never let the audience see the monster directly" technique, but sometimes that also leads to an all sizzle, no steak feeling. Like, Shirley Jackson can give me the screaming heebie jeebies by barely describing a supernatural picnic? (mostly by writing extremely evocatively about the sheer terror of the people fleeing from it). But she's a mistress of technique. -- It wasn't bad at all, just kind of underdone.