Adapting My Writing Style For Purposes

I've consistently been a short story writer. Because of this it took years to change how I tackle a story that is longer than 10k words. From watching videos about how Avatar adds comedy to their scenes that can be full of drama, to how short stories cut in late and leave early.

That last bit is what is key about how I tend to write scenes. And the Avatar comedy video was the opposite of that. So, let me establish one then talk about the other. A scene in a story is when something happens. Usually you don't need little details unless they matter. So you don't need to talk about your characters going to school, and getting things out of their locker, and making it to first period, and how the teacher is talking about mitochondria, and how mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Unless it matters to the story later.

So you cut out the bits. The go to school, but something big happens at lunch? Then that's where the story jumps in. Usually in a novel length story, you bring the reader in before things really get started. You get an atmosphere going. In a short story, you just dump them in as the thing starts. I fall right in between.

The video I watched talking about the Avatar video showed examples where they did the opposite. They kept the camera on someone who was waiting. They stayed too long after the scene and events had moved on. That lingering led to watching Zuko being bored. See, the thing is, its funny seeing someone who has been so serious the entire series sitting around being bored.

Other movies doe it too, like in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, they had this moment in an elevator. It was WAY before the scene where things "happen". That moment of how these people comport themselves in an elevator brings a change of pace.

So here I am, a writer who comes in just as the action begins, who skips the fluff and assume that the reader can read between the lines, here I am, trying to write things early. I end up skipping the scene set up and jump into the action. It is a work in progress.

I mean, let's take a story by HP Lovecraft as an example (short story), he starts with a guy riding a bike in the country side, and ends with him in a shack with a cannibal. I would start with him running into the shack from shelter from the rain. Lovecraft went all the way back to the bike ride to begin with. The story is better for it.

That's not to say that short story style is bad. Often times I feel like my writing is a montage of scenes, that make a scene together. Sometimes it is just a hyper focus on a singular event. Thing is, that it doesn't lend itself to longer form.

Reading back my writing I often feel like I'm rushing the reader along. People often get confused. I'm not sure where I lose them to be honest. Some readers act like if a moment is not written down, it doesn't happen. It bothers me, because no one ever writes about going to the toilet until it matters. But obviously characters to and use the toilet.

Now, if your evil overlord were to go to the toilet, then maybe you use that to lighten things up and humanize them. Could be funny. My question though would always be, "why?"