Dancing with the reader

Okay, so I just finished watching the Japanese movie, "Shall we dance?" I'd seen it before but it came again at a time that was needed and confirmed what's been my trouble with Constant Tower.

In short,
A) the leader in any dance step must start off with trust in his partner -=- i.e. the writer must trust her partnership with the reader.
B) the leader in the dance step must confidently stride forward -=- i.e. the writer must be confident about the game, the play, the commitment to the passion of the story.

So, yeah, my problem: I've been thinking way too much of what critics have said about Wind Follower. Some --not many-- had issues with the character development way of the story and thought the first 100 pages were too leisurely. Of course, romance lovers had no problem with the beginning. But fantasy is made up of derring-do and I had brought my habit of viewing indie movies or reading spiritual memoirs and essays into a genre that wasn't quite in the mood for that.

So, then....what to do?
First, to the best of my ability, I will work on my part of the problem. I will work on pacing. Although I will repeat that only a few folks had issues with that.

Second, I will accept who and what I am as a writer. Even if my pacing improves for the fantasy genre, alas there will always be in my soul...the soul of a lover of slow indie slice-of-life films that build to a slow but heart-wrenching climax. So I have to accept that. Which means, striding purposely with my plot and not second-guessing my writing or holding back on certain scenes because the lovers of ripped flesh and heavy warfare are having a problem with my lack of a battle.

All this leads to Three: I will trust my audience to find me and write for them. Not for the snide critics. Dang, that Neth really affected my writing. And yeah, I'll say it. Why should I hide the fact that he's put a stumbling block before my writing? Is it tacky to show one's heart and to show how a snide reviewer who didn't read one's book affected one's story and one's health? I think not.