You know, all my brilliant ideas seem to vanish when I actually go to write a blog post. 
That’s why I’m late. I love blogging, but it’s certainly a lesson in not waiting for inspiration.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I actually am writing. I’ve been working on a fantasy called Raiders’ Rise, and I’m hoping to finish the rough draft by the end of the summer. Phew, that’s a really crazy goal when I think about it! Anyway, few of you actually know what Raiders’ Rise is, but I just finished Chapter 8, with a grand total of 15 typed pages and 4,801 words. The previous 7 chapters have an average of 1,967 words apiece. It took me a while to write… And it brings my book total up to 18,571 words. I’m thinking I will end up with a fairly long novel, since I’m really only about a quarter of the way through the book at this point. We’ll just have to see!
The reason this chapter ended up being longer than the others was that I had a very specific, symbolic way I wanted to begin and end the chapter, and all the in-between stuff became needed as I was writing it. I was going a little crazy, because I wanted to finish it so badly! That’s how writing goes, though, isn’t it? But I did complete it, so I feel accomplished. And now to keep pushing!
How long is the average chapter word count in the books you’re working on right now? How do you like to end chapters? How’s the writing progress for those of you who are writers? Keep writing; it’s worth it in the end!
My chapters tend to be somewhere between 1100 and 1500 words. Kind of puny - but I think OK for a children's book. I like to tie the end of the chapter back to the beginning of it in someway - although this is tricky when you are also trying to propel action forward!
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I can definitely see that for a children's book! Keep it up! :) That's a good strategy, although it does indeed have its difficulties. :D I like parallels and symmetry, so I appreciate and tend to lean toward tying the beginning and end together somehow. Thanks for the input!
DeleteI'm not entirely sure how many words I have per chapter, but it does depend on which book I'm writing. I have several. In one series I'm in the middle of writing, I keep the chapters approximately six pages long. In another book that I"m writing, I keep the chapters about ten pages long. :) 'Pages' being 8x11 inches. The chapters are rather long, but it's usually by that time I can bring them to an acceptable stopping point.
ReplyDeleteAs far as endings go... it depends. I try to end them so that it makes the reader want to keep on reading, but it doesn't always end up that way. *shrug*
Good luck on finishing Raider's Rise! I hope you can make your goal. :D
By the way, you've been tagged. :)
http://writinginrivendell.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-fun-new-tag.html
Thanks for commenting and for wishing me luck! I totally know what you mean about getting to a good stopping point. Sometimes it just takes a little longer than expected to get there! :D
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