z

Young Writers Society


Is it normal to have chapters 1, 21 and 22 done?



User avatar
347 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 25558
Reviews: 347
Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:16 pm
OliveDreams says...



Please tell me it's a usual occurrence to have chapter one done/finished/voila...and then skip 2 or 18 more chapters and have chapters 20 and 21 complete?!

I love that I know a million and one places where I want to take my characters but it's filling into those transitional areas in between that I'm finding more difficult...and also more reasons to procrastinate!

GAH.
"There is a dead spot in the night, that coldest, blackest time when the world has forgotten evening and dawn is not yet a promise."
  





User avatar
1272 Reviews



Gender: Other
Points: 89625
Reviews: 1272
Mon Jun 10, 2013 7:01 pm
View Likes
Rosendorn says...



You're dealing with writers. The words "normal" and "usual occurrence" do not compute.

The bottom line is, the best way to write a story is however words get on a page. If that means bouncing around, working from both ends at once, and generally being messy with how stuff happens, that is the best way to write a story. If you have to work chronologically, then you work chronologically.

So long as you're writing, that's all that counts.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





User avatar
308 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 25520
Reviews: 308
Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:30 pm
AlfredSymon says...



And just to add something more technical to what Ms. Rosey said, your chapters may or may not change. You've already written chapters in the middle part of the story, right? I presume you've already got all chapters planned out, which is most likely the case in this one. As you write the preceding chapters, you might suddenly get an idea that you want to base another chapter on. Or maybe you suddenly realized that one chapter can be merged with another. As I've said, the numbering of the chapters might change.

But anyways, chapter numbering has no effect on reader nor writer, so it's all good. What matters more is how you've divided those chapters, which is another story.
Need some feed? Then read some! Take a look at today's Squills at In the News.

The Tatterdemalion takes a tattle!

"Stories are like yarn; just hold on to the tip and let the ball roll away"
  





User avatar
192 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 19207
Reviews: 192
Tue Jun 11, 2013 6:18 pm
EloquentDragon says...



(I don't have any idea about what your story and its chapters are about but...)

Also keep in mind that, if chapters 2-20 are merely transitory, well, they shouldn't be. Especially in fantasy. If you have great locations and settings, figure out ways to incorporate them into the plot. It's asking a lot of your readers to wade through 18 chapters of just... travelling, with nothing else going on.

Again, I don't know if that helps at all or not, but it's my two-cents anyways. ;)
No more countin' dollars... we'll be countin' stars.

Enter, if you dare.
  





User avatar
1220 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 72525
Reviews: 1220
Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:43 pm
Kale says...



I rarely write my stories in order. I usually start at the end, flesh out a bit of the beginning, jump into somewhere in the middle, and then hop around until I have everything filled in. Except when I don't. I am horribly inconsistent in my methodology when it comes to writing fiction.

In any case, there are many roads to a single destination, and so long as you end up with a cohesive and coherent story, you're doing fine. The most important thing is to write, and so long as you're doing that, you can't go wrong.
Secretly a Kyllorac, sometimes a Murtle.
There are no chickens in Hyrule.
Princessence: A LMS Project
WRFF | KotGR
  





User avatar
58 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 803
Reviews: 58
Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:10 pm
spinelli says...



It's certainly not normal, but what is?
  








Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
— Mark Twain