Okay, so I think I may have made a mistake. I am currently writing a novel (some of you have read parts of it for Reading Excuses). It's my first try at writing anything longer than a short story. So far I think it's going well. I have almost the whole novel outlined and I've written the first two chapters. The people who've read them have liked them very much and want more.
Then I went and started reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Seriously, I'm not even a quarter into that book, and I already feel like my book is a failure. Don't get me wrong, I think what I've done so far is interesting, maybe on par with Mr. Abercrombie's first two chapters, but he wrote like two hundred chapters, and that's just in the first book of a three part series. My current outline is only around thirty chapters long.
*sigh*
It makes me want to give up. I plan on plowing on--I really want to write this--but it's very discouraging reading something so good and holding up my pathetic attempt next to it. Any ideas on how to add length to a story without it feeling like fluff?