Word Count: 4093
One of the things I've always struggled most with in writing fiction is pacing my chapters appropriately. When I was younger, I was a big fan of the abrupt, cliff-hanger chapter ending--it was clean, a sharp and decisive cut that compelled you to go to the next chapter and absolved me of having to tie up any loose ends that may have been hanging because that's the POINT of cliffhangers, right?
RIGHT?
I've tried to break that habit in my last few projects. I had moderate success with my draft that I wrote over the summer. As I delve into Nano 2011, though, I'm finding I'm encountering the opposite problem of the Cliffhanger Chapter: the Chapter That Never Bloody Well Ends.
I'm sure we've all been there: in trying to set up the characters, the setting, the very plot foundations, we just drag on and on and ON with what feels like meaningless descriptions and filler. And while the word count keeps ticking up, I can't help but feel like I'm cheating--these are meaningless words I will have to strike out later because they are just THAT BAD. You just want the story to move on already, to get to those exciting scenes and witty dialogue you have playing in your head.
In his book "No Plot? No Problem", author and Nanowrimo founder Chris Baty advises writers not to worry too much about unwieldy chapters, as they will eventually pace themselves out as we find our rhythm and our stories find their voices. This is true, to an extent: pacing gets easier as we gather momentum and we're not trying to get the fledgling story off the ground. I know some people who don't even attempt to break their story into chapters until they've written the whole manuscript and can find the natural "breaks" in the story. Others write until they get bored, then "end" the chapter so they can start in another spot for the next chapter.
In fact, I think I just did that. Hmm.
How do you end chapters that seem to be dragging on too long?
Until tomorrow, keep at it everyone! Good luck!
~Katherine
LOL!! And then sometimes there is the chapter which is 500 words long! OOPS!
ReplyDeleteI think it's best to just keep writing. If a chapter goes on too long, who cares? And if you get bored - I say, stop that chapter and move on with a change of scene right away - so you can keep on writing! :D At least, that is what I am trying to do (and come to think of it...I believe it was you who gave me this sterling advice last year! LOL!!!)
4000 words...yay Kiki!!!! Keep on writing!!