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It’s not always easy to know where to end a chapter.  Naturally, you need a strong hook that will make  readers want to turn the page even if if they’ve promised themselves that they’re just going to read one more chapter before turning off the light.  There’s also an issue of length.  It’s perfectly fine…

Sometimes events can take a bit of time to settle when you’re in the middle of a major revision.  As I dove into Chapter 15, I suddenly realized that Calyn would have told the Master of Horse and Hounds about the rather dramatic introduction of two new characters upon her return to Polengar.  And that meant…

Chapters 13 and 14 were revisions.  Certain things needed to be tweaked because of new events, but the skeletons could remain essentially the same.  Chapter 15, though, will be new material.  A lot of what used to be there will have to be dumped.  But part of being a writer is the willingness to “kill your…

I’m cutting my personal writing time short today so that I can watch Italy vs. Paraguay in World Cup soccer.    Ever since our family lived in Merano for about three and a half years, we always cheer for the Azurri on the international stage.   In fact, my son wanted to play for them when…

Chapter 12 of Calyn’s story only needed a few tweaks here and there to reflect the new opening and the addition of new characters.  I spent the morning reviewing and smoothing Chapters 11 and 12.  I often do this a the beginning of a new writing week to remind myself of exactly what’s been going…

I met my self-imposed deadline to escape from Chapter 9.  Then I discovered that it was actually Chapter 11.  I don’t usually doublecheck my chapters for continuity until I’m prepping them to go out, but I’d been scrolling up and down and noticed the discontinuity.   Chapter 12 only needs tweaks.  Maybe I can get through…

I probably spent a half an hour today trying to figure out when Calyn would hang up a lantern.  Sure, this was coming at a rather tense moment for her, but I’d like to power forward and build a little bit of  momentum.  So I’m going to try a blog pledge and see how that…

I did it.  I found a way out of Chapter 8 when the right combination of words finally clicked into place.  The lock opened.  Escape.

Just over two weeks ago, I was pretty optimistic about wrapping up Chapter 8 and moving onto the introduction of two new characters in Chapter 9.  Well, I did manage to pull together a scene to open Chapter 9.  But then I went back to Chapter 8 in order to bring it up to the…