Chapters Six & Seven
Chapter Six is finished.
And it also became Chapter Seven.
I decided to split it. Six is 2793 words and Seven is 3598. If you add them together you'll see what I saw—one large chapter that sticks out compared to the others that preceded it.
I really like how Chapter Seven came out. Lots of fantasy that still manages to move the story forward. The other knights, besides Richard, have become real people to me... particularly a surly knight from Chicago named Sal Vicenzia. I think you'll love to hate him.
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
On to Chapter Eight. It's a Bran chapter, and the last chapter before all hell breaks loose for all involved. Bran confronts his bitch of a hypocrite mother in it, as well as discovers what is going on.
Hope your writing or reading is going well!
And it also became Chapter Seven.
I decided to split it. Six is 2793 words and Seven is 3598. If you add them together you'll see what I saw—one large chapter that sticks out compared to the others that preceded it.
I really like how Chapter Seven came out. Lots of fantasy that still manages to move the story forward. The other knights, besides Richard, have become real people to me... particularly a surly knight from Chicago named Sal Vicenzia. I think you'll love to hate him.
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
On to Chapter Eight. It's a Bran chapter, and the last chapter before all hell breaks loose for all involved. Bran confronts his bitch of a hypocrite mother in it, as well as discovers what is going on.
Hope your writing or reading is going well!
Labels: The Dagda King
posted by Shawn C. Speakman | 5:45 PM
17 Comments:
Ooooo...we get to met other knights besides Richard? Is there a council or something? So many possibilities now. I'm excited!
Azhev: Yes, there is a group of seven and one other -- the Heliwr. You'll meet them all, although only four of the seven have a significant outcome on the story. The others will be in forthcoming books if I am given the opportunity.
Richard, Alastair, James, Sal, Arnaud, Ennio and Danica.
Shawn, you forgot the Irish Knight named Aidan!
:p
Sounds like it's coming together really well. It's neat how the two of us seem to be keeping pace with each other pretty well. I can't wait to get a closer look at the first chunk of your novel!
Did I ever tell you that Colleen Lindsay gave me the go ahead to send her my novel to have a look at when I'm done? If that isn't motivation to get cracking... I don't know what is!
Hope all is well,
~Aidan Moher
A Dribble of Ink
I like word counts too, by chapter and by work day. Always love hitting that word count button (or whatever it's called) and getting the day's progress in a split second rather than the old-fashioned way, which involved me counting with my tongue sticking out and much use of the calculator. If I remember right, Hemingway kept a good word count going, although he considered 50 words a good day if they were 50 good words. I also love splitting chapters--like getting 2 for the price of 1--sort of. Congrats on the agent interest!
Aidan: Poor, poor Aidan. I just couldn't do it. When I make bajillions and kajillions and tajillions of dollars with this book, I couldn't very well use your name and have you take half of that, could I?
Oh wait? I won't make very much on my first book probably? Even if it gets published? Oh. Well. Hmm. How do I dodge this?
Oh yeah. When I started looking for other knight names, I thought Alastair was a great one. So I used that instead. Sowie.
Seriously, I'm happy with the names of the knights. And Bran just met Richard for real this time, in today's writing. It was as conflicted and tense as I was hoping.
About Colleen, I know I sent her to your website last week after she contacted me. Not sure if I mentioned you were writing a book though. At any rate, I say go for it. Colleen has the fire right now, she has a lot of connections, and she knows a good story when she reads one.
She asked for Fell Hammer, but I've come to realize that first book is not the way for me. This one is. I think she was disappointed but understood.
When you are ready, contact me about getting the book edited. I'm sure Rachelle would give it an edit for a small fee, and it would go a long way in strengthening it before being seen. Just a thought you may want to think about.
Jim: Thanks for the encouragement. It is much appreciated now that I am into the middle of the novel.
As for Hemingway, I know Greg Keyes has a similar outlook. If Greg writes three sentences and that's all in a day, they are going to be the best sentences ever. Very cool.
By the way, if any of you haven't read Greg Keyes's current series, do it. The last book, The Born Queen, comes out March 25 and it is utterly fantastic. A super tear jerker. I highly recommend the series as a whole.
Shawn,
I'd love to hear you elaborate a bit more about the process you go through naming the characters in your novel, it's something that's always fascinated me as a writer.
Names are incredibly important and I think they show a lot about the people behind the novels.
I'd love to get Rachelle to take a look at the novel. I've seen the work she does for you and I'm sure it would be worth every penny to get her to take a look at mine.
And for the record, Alistair is a terrific name, especially for one of the knights!
~Aidan
Mightier than the Sword
Aidan: Read this: Name Hunting.
As Terry's webmaster, I see a lot of emails asking how he finds these perfect names for his characters. "The name Shea fits the character so well. How can I find a name as perfect as that?"
Well, I think that's bunk. I don't think it has anything to do with the choice of name. At all. What these readers are identifying with is the character. They love the character. There are any number of names that would have worked and had the same strength of purpose. Sure, you couldn't call Shea "Burt," but Shea's name could have been many other names and it wouldn't have mattered.
Therefore, what is it?
It's character development. It's building a character that is believable that the reader can identify with on many different levels. If they like the character, chances are high they are going to like the name.
No one looks at Whiskey Jack and thinks, "Wow, that's a cool name." At least I don't. I have a completely different image in my head about Erikson's character if I haven't read him. But since I have, I know how cool that character is. The name helps, but the coolness of the character is defined by what he does, not what his name is.
Just some thoughts. My opinions, as usual.
I think I get you. What you're saying is rather than a cool name fitting a character, the character is what makes the name cool, right?
In some ways I totally agree with you. Shea is a perfect example of a name I'm not sure I would have been drawn to if not for Terry's character. Now, however, it's one of my favourite names and one I hope to saddle a daughter with one day (gender reversal, FTW.)
But at the same time, with my current novel especially, I spent a lot of time researching names, the meaning behind them and their historical importance. Take Rowan Hayes, for instance.
Rowan is pretty obvious. The name is derived from the tree of the same name, a tree that plays a prominent role in many of the Irish legends surrounding the Fey folk. Hayes is an Irish surname meaning Fire which is in reference to Rowan's red hair and also her personality. Some translations also show Rowan also meaning Red Hair, so her name works on multiple levels.
Other character, such as Bardan and Fitheal, work on the same level. Of course, most readers will never take the time to put 2 and 2 together, but I still think it's a nice little treat who take the time to look further into the history I've shoved into the novel!
~Aidan
Mightier than the Sword
Hey Shawn,
A couple of quick questions, that may become more as i lost my train of thought.
1rst, What is a realistic, conservative, estimate for the price range on a first time author? Royalties if the book does moderately decent?
Your friend Amy, is she open to the public, or intimate Shawn C. Speakman connections only?
Alright, that was damn near concise and succinct, lol, very unlike me.
thanks.
sean
Aidan: Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying name etymology isn't important. It's just not something people take the time to look up. Take Kieren as an example: His name means black in some language or other. Since he is evil, it fits. Would anyone look it up to find out? I doubt it. Few would.
Almost all of my character names are a result from ancient meanings. Bran. Richard. Etc. But what will make them cool isn't what the reader's don't know about those names' etymologies, but how the characters are built -- what they do that makes them cool.
The name Allanon, for example, makes non-Terry Brooks readers think of AA. Immediately, the reader thinks, "Wow, this guy must be an alcoholic." What makes Allanon a great character isn't his name but his actions, his drive, his beliefs. *shrugs*
Sean: First, my editor's name is Rachelle. Not Amy. haha
Second, about money. Advances are built around the strength of the first time novel and the marketing platform the writer is bringing with him/her. It depends on the publisher too. If I remember right, the average advance for a first time novel these days is around $8,000-12,000. Then the writer has to earn out that advance with royalties, which is usually around 8-10% for a hardcover book, then 11-12% after 50K copies have sold. Paperback is anywhere between 5.5% to 7.5% of cover price. That's the average writer.
For me, my advance will be a little bigger than that I think. I am bringing a pretty strong marketing platform with me -- ie. people already know my name and want to read my book. I know a few first time writers have had similar platforms and their advance was $30,000 per book on the contract. *shrugs* So it all depends, really.
As for your other question, Rachelle takes on projects depending on her availability and her interest in the book. She enjoys working with query letters, synopses, and manuscripts. She doesn't like fantasy, so it takes a special book to make her interested. She works for a professional publisher, so her rates are usually the standard. But sometimes she'll drop them down a bit if she really wants to do it. We are in the middle of building her a website now for freelance work; we'll see what happens when we are done.
Sean,
He's not Shawn, but Tobias Buckell (successful author and blogger) wrote a nice, detailed post about the subject of how much a first time author can expect to make off the sale of their novel.
It's definitely worth the read for any aspiring writer. It uses the collected data of over 100 published authors and I guarantee it's got more hard fact and depth of detail than anything Shawn would have the time to throw together (we all want him to be writing, afterall!).
You can find it HERE.
~Aidan
Mightier than the Sword
P.S. Let me apologize in advance for stealing your thunder, Shawn.
Aidan: That's fine. I like concrete numbers. What I gave are an industry standard as per Rachelle's experience, education, and reading PW. I'll check out Tobi's numbers tonight when I am home.
Ahh, yeah. I didn't mean to try to contradict you or undermine you, I was just working on that at the same time you were posting your info! I was a little startled when I hit the submit button and saw your big informative post just above mine!
Thanks for your thoughts on names, by the way. I definitely agree with you that, in the end, the most important thing is to have a great, well developed and interesting character first and foremost, the rest (good name included) will fall into place.
I'm almost done the first "part" of my novel, and once I clean that up a bit I'll send a spiffy PDF your way to have a look at. It draws an end to the first act and has Rowan first setting foot in the Fey world. I think it ends on a good note, leaving the reader with questions they'll want answers to.
~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink
Thanks for the good info guys.
Wouldn't it figure, I finally put in a short well thought out question/comment, and I make up a name--amy. Don't know where I got that, must have been talking to an Amy while writing it.
Soooo, Shawn, any chances we'll be seeing another excerpt anytime soon, or howsabout you aiden, any chance of something like that sneaking out of the fey and hiding on mightier than the sword?
Its always nice to see what kind of quality other aspirings are putting forth.
thanks guys.
Round 3 (err..umm..maybe 110) of query letter questions.
Hey Shawn,
I've mulling over your advice on good vs bad guy plots in the querry, I just read the 3 sentence pitch of Aiden's over on his blog, all of which...naturally enough, got me to thinking.
Part of the attempt here is the bare bone essential of your story. Yet, it seems like for some very talented individuals out there they could write a novel over an onion that would be interesting b/c they can write! While there are aspiring writers out there that could have the best plot in the world, and still not write a quality, worthwhile book.
Yet, given the simplistic (take that tongue in cheek) nature of writing a query, both Paul the plumber and Scott Lynch may turn in very similiar querys to an agent.
How much can/or does the agent take this into consideration? Is the query a quick, yes this fits what I am looking for, i'll give an excerpt a try (again assuming we all adhere to the correct guidelines) and take it from there? Any idea of how many query's per given time frame an average agent reads, how many sets of sample chapters? Is it a situation where they will sit down and struggle through it, or if they aren't digging it a few pages in are they likely to say.....great premise, poor craftsmanship, NEXT..?
alright, have a great weekend. Time for me to sneak out of work and go home for some writing, relaxation and maybe Video games.
Sean: I doubt I'll post another excerpt from my book. At least not until it is finished. One, I don't have the time to format it the way I like. Two, I want to keep my later possible marketability in tact until I can talk to an agent or editor at a prospective publisher.
As for your other questions, you shouldn't worry about it. Honestly. I understand why you want to know -- I've been there -- but trying to figure out your odds will only drive you crazy.
An agent receives hundreds and hundreds of queries a month. Hundreds. Out of those, I can't tell you a percentage of how many times they ask for actual pages, but I guarantee it is a very small percentage. I've seen this myself from people who ask for my help, but most writers have no idea how to write a query letter let alone a great one. That results in an agent saying "no" to the vast majority of received query letters all by itself.
What you say is true though: Paul the Plumber and Scott Lynch can have the same chance if they write the same query and the agent is looking for what the query leads them to believe. But the proof comes in the form of actual pages, and an agent knows within two pages whether or not the person can write.
Great story ideas alone mean nothing. Great writing alone means nothing. It is the combination of both that gets the agent, the book deal, and the chance to be a bestselling writer. The agent wants both, and if they read the first few pages and don't like it, that's it. Your chance is gone.
Do you understand now why I am such an advocate of getting a manuscript professionally edited? Why a query must be top notch? Why the opening of a book must be flawless? You only have one chance to impress. If you impress with the query, the agent will ask for pages. If the first few pages are great, they will continue to read. If they get to the end and like what they've read, they will talk to you about it.
But they say "no" to hundreds of people a month. Keep that in mind. That's why researching all of this in advance -- who the agent is, who they represents, what they like, how to write a great query, getting your manuscript looked at -- is so important.
Sean,
I'm playing around with the idea of giving one of my early interludes a good edit and releasing it over at Mightier than the Sword. I'm not entirely sure whether that'll actually happen though.
It'll probably come down to how many people seem to want to read it.
I'd love it if you (and the other Shawn) dropped by Mightier than the Sword and gave some thoughts on the little elevator pitch I threw together!
~Aidan
Mightier than the Sword
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