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Writing that perfect chapter…….

23/10/2015

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Picture
Writing that perfect chapter…….
 
Get your rough ideas hand written, green ink of course.
Get going.
Wow three hundred words, that’s a page, but don’t stop.
Keep going.
A thousand words, that’s three pages, pat yourself on the back.
Keep going
Fifteen hundred words, tempted to put the masterpiece on Wattpad, let everyone marvel at the sheer genius of it. But no, every chapter will need to be nothing but clichés and cheesy crowd pleasers. No one likes a book entirely made up of first paragraphs.
Keep going, keep going.
Three thousand words and my characters have depth and they’ve had an event that actually moves me. Easy now to;
Keep going.
Four thousand words and my chapter has a story arc that will take four more chapters to resolve. One of my characters seems in peril and that worries me. Harder now to;
Keep going.
Five thousand words and I’ve completed a minor plot and moved the book forward. I realise now that I have too many characters and one will have to go. Tempted to start the read through but;
Keep going, keep going.
Six thousand words! I do a first read through and love it; the characters are real to me. There’s peril, there’s emotion, there’s empathy. But although I love the word ‘vicious,’ do I really want it to appear three times in one paragraph?
Get editing.
All those over used words to go, bits that don’t scan rewritten. And my character would never say that! Rewrite and then read through to get the typos.
Keep editing.
Damn typos they seem to breed, like roaches. Oh, my character lost that item in chapter two, rewrite that bit for continuity. Damn more typos and too many commas!
Keep editing.
Typos, typos, the typos are driving me crazy and do we spell it as Theater in Britain….. check that everything is in UK English.
Keep editing, keep editing.
It’s perfect, no more typos. Six thousand two hundred words that I’d be happy for anyone to read. I actually cried at one bit and I knew what was going to happen! But;
Start again.
More coffee, maybe a day off. Then repeat for another eighteen chapters or until the book is finished.
 
Get going…………………..

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    Author - Ed Cowling

    Self Employed consultant from North London

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