Chapter Eight
Today I finished Chapter Eight. It was a Bran chapter, as I said, and it's the one the reader gets a broad glimpse of what's going on in the story.
These kind of chapters are tricky. How much information is too much? Is there such a thing? Should a writer lay out the entire story so the climax is defined, or should the reader learn as the protagonist learns... as the story progresses? Is there such a thing as letting too much out of the bag too soon?
Most of that is a fine balance.
The background and history: there needs to be enough that the reader is interested in learning more, but not so much they are bored with expository ramblings. I took great care setting this chapter up, deciding before I started what information needed to be in it and not much else. The rest of it can be related as the story moves forward. I tried to tease the reader. Hopefully it will work.
Most books have a chapter like this. In The Sword of Shannara, it is Chapter 2 I believe, where Allanon tells Shea what's going on. In Song of the Fell Hammer, it's around Chapter 20, where the High King tells Sorin what is going on. In The Elfstones of Shannara, it is Chapter 8 where Allanon reveals Wil and Amberle to the Elven Council. Every book has it at a different place but they all share something in common—it must be handled with care.
So I tried.
I am now over 1/3 finished. The count as it stands now:
Prologue: 3173 words
Chapter One: 4060 words
Chapter Two: 3244
Chapter Three: 3660
Chapter Four: 4144
Chapter Five: 4547
Chapter Six: 2793
Chapter Seven: 3598
Chapter Eight: 4939
The next chapter is a Bran chapter. It will be a lot of fun to write; a lot of foreshadowing I've set up in earlier chapters comes to fruition in this one. It will also be the last Seattle chapter. I'm kind of sad about that. I've felt quite comfortable writing in a city I know. All chapters after this will be wholly made up.
But those chapters are going to be great fun to write, because the real story is about to begin.
These kind of chapters are tricky. How much information is too much? Is there such a thing? Should a writer lay out the entire story so the climax is defined, or should the reader learn as the protagonist learns... as the story progresses? Is there such a thing as letting too much out of the bag too soon?
Most of that is a fine balance.
The background and history: there needs to be enough that the reader is interested in learning more, but not so much they are bored with expository ramblings. I took great care setting this chapter up, deciding before I started what information needed to be in it and not much else. The rest of it can be related as the story moves forward. I tried to tease the reader. Hopefully it will work.
Most books have a chapter like this. In The Sword of Shannara, it is Chapter 2 I believe, where Allanon tells Shea what's going on. In Song of the Fell Hammer, it's around Chapter 20, where the High King tells Sorin what is going on. In The Elfstones of Shannara, it is Chapter 8 where Allanon reveals Wil and Amberle to the Elven Council. Every book has it at a different place but they all share something in common—it must be handled with care.
So I tried.
I am now over 1/3 finished. The count as it stands now:
Prologue: 3173 words
Chapter One: 4060 words
Chapter Two: 3244
Chapter Three: 3660
Chapter Four: 4144
Chapter Five: 4547
Chapter Six: 2793
Chapter Seven: 3598
Chapter Eight: 4939
The next chapter is a Bran chapter. It will be a lot of fun to write; a lot of foreshadowing I've set up in earlier chapters comes to fruition in this one. It will also be the last Seattle chapter. I'm kind of sad about that. I've felt quite comfortable writing in a city I know. All chapters after this will be wholly made up.
But those chapters are going to be great fun to write, because the real story is about to begin.
Labels: The Dagda King
posted by Shawn C. Speakman | 8:52 PM
10 Comments:
Sound great, Shawn.
Looks like chapter 8 was significantly longer than the others. Though I suppose that's the nature of the beast when you have to convey so much information to the reader in one go.
I'm right at the same point, Chapter 8 even, where I'm having to decide how much Rowan should learn from a certain mythical figure. I'm leaning towards keeping it lean and letting things come together slowly as the story coalesces. The history I'm working with is all based in real world myth, so I'm trying to decide it I should let the reader seek that out if they're interested or use it to back up the story.
Thanks for the comments over at my blog. I'm going to get working on my little elevator blurb now and try to spiff it up a bit.
~Aidan
Mightier than the Sword
Aidan: Yes, Chapter 8 is longer. It is on the cusp of being too long. But it's all dialogue, and I need to get some space between me and it before I go back and see what sentences I can chop out or reword to gain some back.
I'm about to get into my fun though. You know how you are having so much fun with your leprechaun? I am finally getting to my backstabbing fairy who befriends/uses Bran. That character, who is still nameless, will be great fun to write and I am really looking forward to it.
But once I finish Chapter 9, I will stop writing for about a week. It is during that time I will be reading four or maybe even five ancient texts so that Annwyn is as believable for new readers as Celtic historians. We'll see how close I can get.
Good luck with your elevator blurb. The skeleton is there along with some meat; it just needs some slight help and you'll be set. I'd tell you to put it down and wait until after you are finished with your book. But as a writer who has gone through what you are right now, I know it would be futile. *grins* Good luck!
Congrats on the Chapter Shawn, see you in March.
Mark
Incubus: Indeed, Mark! I'll be there for sure. Should be a fun event. I wonder how many people will show up for a graphic novel...? Maybe Aidan will come down...?
Hey Shawn,
You could always get Terry Brooks'--master of the info dumps-opinion. Haha, your comments about the sword of shannara sparked a nostalgic twinkle in my eye to some of Allonon's epic monologues. Those were amazing, actually the most amazing part was that it was interesting and didn't overwhelm the reader. Or at least not me. Ahhh, those were some great, giant, blocky paragraphs.
That last sentence I just wrote inspired me to ask a question that is in constant consideration in my editing. Where do you come down on commas used in adjective chains. It was a cold windy stormy night, or.....it was a cold, windy, stormy night.
I'm going with the latter, but I see the no comma look quite a lot.
Shawn,
Where is the event? It might be worth taking the time off work if it's down in Seattle.
Perhaps We could get together with Terry for that lunch he owes me.
~Aidan
Mightier than the Sword
Sean: I did consult Terry about info-dumping and when it is a good place to do it. He said what I already knew; it depends on the story and where it works best. He used his own work as an example and told me to go with what feels right.
And what feels right could be wrong. haha
Anyway, it's fun talking about that. Fell Hammer had too much dumping in the middle and that is certainly one thing I need to fix. It happened mostly because I hadn't fleshed out the story and world all the way, at least to the point of knowing when to write certain hints and suggestions to the reader. I'm not having that problem now because of the heavy research early on.
Aidan: I don't know about lunch but I can check with Terry when he gets back in mid-March. The event is on March 25th at the University Bookstore, probably at 7 like usual. Come down. It should be fun.
Hopefully there will be a lot of people down there. Several of the guys from my work were planning on going, but we had a round of layoffs, and now I'm not sure what's happening.
But I'll be there.
We just hit the 100 page mark on the project I'm working on. We've "info dumped" once and it totally was my fault. I've already got the whole sequence re-worked in my head; but as I've said before, I don't want to start working on "past parts" until we're done with part one, least we never finish! ;)
Cheers!
Way to be. Keep at it :)
Incubus: See you there then!
Stephen: Welcome to the blog and thanks for the encouragement! I should finish Chapter Nine today.
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