One of the fun, yet odd, things about first drafts is watching your subconscious tell you stuff. For me, at least, it can change dialog tracks, add or avoid action scenes and just generally rampage around my story.
Now, your subconscious is not always right. Mine understands emotion but doesn't understand plot or story structure. But it is darn good at knowing where to plant a hook.
My plan (and outline) for The Mageborn Mechanic was twenty chapters of about 5k words each. 5x20 = a book that hopefully comes in at under 100k words for once. Tonight, my subconscious stopped me at around 2k words for a chapter. It stopped me just before the big fight scene I had planned for the second half of chapter 4.
Stop there, it said. And it was like my fingers froze. I looked down at the page, re-read where I'd stopped. Yeah, it was a pretty good hook. I as a writer and and a reader desperately wanted to keep going.
That is an excellent place for a chapter change. Now I get to start off chapter 5 with a big, magic-filled fight.
Heaven knows I'm going to have to do some revisions in this novel but I think if I listen to my subconscious, I may just get the hooks right in this one.
And on an unrelated note, I was reading Hellsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden yesterday. The man has a real gift for description. Pick it up, even if you're not a Warhammer 40k fan. If you like action-packed, detailed sci-fi action, you'll love it. I'll have a review up for it as soon as I'm done.
Now, your subconscious is not always right. Mine understands emotion but doesn't understand plot or story structure. But it is darn good at knowing where to plant a hook.
My plan (and outline) for The Mageborn Mechanic was twenty chapters of about 5k words each. 5x20 = a book that hopefully comes in at under 100k words for once. Tonight, my subconscious stopped me at around 2k words for a chapter. It stopped me just before the big fight scene I had planned for the second half of chapter 4.
Stop there, it said. And it was like my fingers froze. I looked down at the page, re-read where I'd stopped. Yeah, it was a pretty good hook. I as a writer and and a reader desperately wanted to keep going.
That is an excellent place for a chapter change. Now I get to start off chapter 5 with a big, magic-filled fight.
Heaven knows I'm going to have to do some revisions in this novel but I think if I listen to my subconscious, I may just get the hooks right in this one.
And on an unrelated note, I was reading Hellsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden yesterday. The man has a real gift for description. Pick it up, even if you're not a Warhammer 40k fan. If you like action-packed, detailed sci-fi action, you'll love it. I'll have a review up for it as soon as I'm done.
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