I was ecstatic when I finished chapter five of my WIP last week, especially since it has taken me a good long year to accomplish this.
Onward and forward to chapter six! But wait...after all I've learned about trimming the fat and keeping things succinct and relevant, I realized today that I'm going to need a chapter outline before I can really get into it. Geez. Way to put a halt to the flowing creativity :)
I guess this is where the practical planning side of writing comes in. For instance, I know the basic events that I want to happen in chapter six. I know that I want to keep my word count to 5000-5500 words (or my book will be over 175,000 words long, and no agent will touch it). I also know that because I am writing from two characters' perspectives, I have to know when I will switch perspectives, and how much of the word count each character gets. This chapter will probably be split into an even two (whereas other chapters switched back and forth about four times). See what I'm getting at? I have to know what I want to accomplish, how many words I get to accomplish this, and still make it sound as action-packed as I can.
Last night I wrote the opening scene and it used up almost a thousand words; that's not even getting to the more pertinent information. I guess I really like to write with detail.
So, I'm taking a break to go to the gym, but as my legs are walking on the treadmill, my mind will be whirring, setting up a plan to follow. I would like to finish this chapter today. Ahem, that's a good 4500 words. Better get to it!
7 comments:
Whoa, that was intense. Good luck being so organized, my mind works completely different. I have some chapters at twelve hundred words and some at four hundred and others at forty-one hundred.
Wow, you write long chapters! My chapters are usually very short, about 1k - 3k at the most. I love that you're doing two perspectives! Fun! Good luck with that planning. It's an important ground step to take before really diving in.
Sounds like you're making great progress - and kudos for stopping to organize your chapter before writing. Excellent idea. :-)
Good luck with all those words...that's a lot in one day!
I guess my chapters are kind of long, and very planned out, but it totally suits my personality. When I first started writing, I would just type and let whatever came to mind be added. I realized that I needed to harness a lot of the thoughts, cause like I mentioned, I like detail, and my first few chapters were over 7000 words long. WAY TOO LONG! They might still be too long, but I could always split them in two, if I had to.
I'm glad you think two perspectives is fun, Lady Glamis! I actually really like the transitions between POV, and though I'm writing one of them from a man's perspective, it has been a bit easier than I originally thought. Plus, I have my husband to give advice on how realistic the character is.
Well, Scott over at Lit Lab writes super long chapters too. There's nothing wrong with that!
Yay, I'm not the only one!
Good luck writing chapter 6. My chapters are anywhere between 1000 to 2500 words each, but it still takes me a long time to write them. I have a tendency to edit as I go.
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