Today, I intend to work on my book, although chances are I won’t be as productive as I desire. Why? Because, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. That aside, I haven’t given my book any attention for at least the last week.
‘Boooook?’ I hear you thinking. Yes, bewk.
‘Well, what’s it about?’
Well, I’ll tell you!
“A teenage boy discovers a train graveyard that seems to appear out of nowhere. When he goes to investigate, he makes the acquaintance of a girl from his school, and shortly after, a curious young man who tries to explain his world is only one perception of reality. They discover their world is in danger and try to prevent a disastrous machination from unfolding.” Sounds bookish, right?
It is filled with mystery, suspense, paranormal, magic, demons, ghouls, and swords. Well, maybe not filled with it, but it’s in there. I may reveal more, later, depending…
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have written about forty-five to fifty pages, and that’s on 8½x11 size 10 Times New Roman font. That approximates, with chapter headings, footer and header and size 12 font, about one-hundred-seventy standard novel-sized pages. Probably more than that, as the formatting I’ve been using adds blank pages after chapters and other such. To be honest, I doubt this book will be published (by a major publisher), and if so, I doubt it will be successful. (if you don’t care about publishing, skip this section and continue to “So, my book.“)
It’s been a while since I’ve read about publishing, so feel free to correct me, or add additional information. The main reason I feel I won’t be published is mostly because I read it’s quite difficult for first-time authors to get their work published, most of them are lucky to get more than $15,000.00 for their first book if published, and they don’t see that money until several months after the book is published and set to sale because the vendors will send back unsold books which is deducted from your total royalties and check. At least, that’s how I remember understanding it when I researched the topic.
Plus, most publishers don’t push your books for you. You have to either higher an agent/publicist, or contact vendors and do your own advertising. Of course, there is also the route of self-publishing, which I will do if I cannot get a major publisher.
So, my book. I decided my book will be thirteen or more chapters, each chapter consisting of five 8½x11 pages, which approximates four to six-thousand words per chapter. Progress-wise, I have written nine of thirteen chapters. ’That’s good, right?’ Yes, and no. The first seven chapters went fine. They followed my outline well enough while producing adequate amounts of content. Chapter eight, though… It started out alright. However, I quickly found I had less than one-thousand words which fully completed the chapter.
’Less is more!’
In many cases, I would agree. For this chapter, no. It breaks the continuity of chapter length. I soon realized that the next two chapters had the same issue of fewer words completing the purpose of the chapter. However, the three chapters fit together perfectly with content and mood. I know I will have the same issue with outlined chapters eleven and twelve, and they will be combined into one chapter, bringing my book to a total of ten chapters. So, I am left approximately three chapters, which is about fifteen pages, or at least twelve-thousand words short of my initial goal.
However, I still have two chapters to complete, and upon their completion, I would say my book is one quarter finished.
‘But, you wrote it! It’s done, right?’
Nope. Next comes the part I will probably enjoy most: Editing! I get to go back, pull everything together, and make it look nice. During this rough draft, I’ve skipped over a lot of details, character traits and development, dialogue, and laying out the setting. After editing, I will consider my book half finished.
In writing the apex and anti-climax, I found I need to add additional material to string together the climax with the rest of the book. So, that’s potentially one chapter. I also feel I can create another two chapters by developing existing chapters during editing, so that should amend for the three chapters I had to meld with others.
And, for those curious about how my day has gone, this morning, after I got out of bed, my right nostril was completely closed off from swelling (I have sinus problems). Not fun, at all. After having some coffee, and a bowl of cereal, I watched the Halloween episode of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, which was also the first episode of the series. Quite nostalgic. So, why mention it? Why not. I like the series. Afterwards, I cozied up to my computer deks to write another post, and I had a sneezing fit. During my sneezing fit, I chose to write about my book. Yes.
-Brett
