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Young Writers Society


Checklist to perfect each chapter



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Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:45 pm
adamr says...



Right. Ladies and Gentlemen, a good achievement when your a unpublished author is to finish a chapter. Many will consider themselves more than an amateur but until your publisher--
So to recognize that you've got all of your juice of of every chapter you've gotta assess several aspects of your novel. So together, as a community, we should attempt to make a checklist in order for other writers to assess so that they try and land their work at a good stand. I'll begin:

The events in this scene-- who does this affect?
What is everyone thinking in this scene?
Any cause and effects?
Anything else?

Please add.
  





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Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:51 pm
Lilyy03 says...



I think a good thing to have at the of chapters is something surprising that'll keep the reader wanting more.
  





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Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:51 pm
Shafter says...



Okay, I have a few more to add (I have to look at this list myself, it might actually come in handy!):

Does the scene open with mystery/intrigue/a question?

Does the scene have conflict?

Does the scene move the plot forward while developing the characters? (By the way, a movie that does a masterful job of this is Spiderman, the first one. Every scene simultaneously developes the characters and furthers the plot.)

Does the scene end in a cliffhanger, even a small one?

Does the scene leave the reader asking numerous questions?

.
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Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:53 am
Emerson says...



Does the chapter give a room for pause, so to speak? (Not EVERY chapter can be throat-chokingly amazing with shock and surprise, unless you plan to be an annoying best seller....)

Shafter gave a lot of good questions...

What changes do the characters undergo in this chapter? What affect does that have on the development?

How is this forwarding to the climax? Has anything happened that you as the author did not plan?

Was this a filler chapter (events just occurring to pass the time in the novel, or to give information, but not forward to the climax.) or a plot-moving chapter? Character development chapter?

Could this chapter have been written better? <- could be said about anything!
β€œIt's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
  





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Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:18 am
Myth says...



This is definately something I'll look over for my current project. Thanks guys.

Shaf, I have to talk to you more often :wink:
.: β‚ͺ :.

'...'
  








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