a bit overwhelmed.

[valis2]

I've just written the most intense thing I think I've ever written. No, really. I was kind of on the edge of my seat writing it.

This chapter is becoming a monster.

I just reached 6700 words.

And I'm only 3/4 of the way through.

And revising will add more.

*boggles*

And why does this inspiration have to strike when my neck hurts? wah.

Comments

[ac1d6urn.livejournal.com]

*grins, wishes luck, starts thinking about her own 'monster' which'll probably reach 20,000 words by the time I'm done with it* Hope your neck gets better.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks, sweetie.

Most of my chapters are pretty short...2k normally...so 7k is quite a big thing for me. ;)

20k? whew!

[snapesforte.livejournal.com]

Throw some writing inspiration my way, will you? I'm bored, my neck doesn't hurt, and I stillhaven't even finished the first draft of chapter 2.

It's a busy month, I think the thought of what I have to do soon is getting in the way. It's one of those months where you have to go to a zillion birthday parties, et cetera, in only 31 days.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I have this feeling that you'll like this chapter more than most. ;) It is quite intense.

*tosses inspiration over the ocean*

Ugh, mandatory social events. I'm so glad that I'm a hermit and don't have to attend too many of those. *grins*

[aerynstales.livejournal.com]

Yea!!! Wordy is good! (well, unless it's a pwp...then it drives me the writer nuts)

If it makes you feel better The Courtship of Helen Thurlow (our last Holmes fic) clocked in at 113,238 words for 11 chapters. We were so long on at least half the chapters we had to seperate them and post the chapter title with a 1 or a 2 after it! *flails* And our new Holmes fic...Lian tells me during her revision (she gets the first one) it's clocking in at 30 pages in MS Word. *headdesk*

So really...you are doing wonderfully...and if the words are necessary to the plot (not superfluous) then the reader will gobble up each one and not even notice how long the chapter was...and still be begging you for more. :D

*hugs!*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

You guys always make me feel like an underachiever! *grins* 30 pages for the new fic already? Wow!

if the words are necessary to the plot (not superfluous) then the reader will gobble up each one and not even notice how long the chapter was

I keep thinking that, I really do. I showed it to one person I know, and they were complaining about how long it was, and that it was too much to read.

But now that I've read it again, and added so much...this is a pretty crazy chapter, and I think that the few fans I have will be pretty excited by it. w00t!

[aerynstales.livejournal.com]

No feeling like an underachiever!!! You are SOOOO not!

The thirty pages...it's only chapter one! *flails* Oh in case you want to know for random knowledge...about 24 pages is where you max at for one post on SH...*headdesk*

We worried about our long chapters too at first...but then we got loads of feedback as the story wrapped up saying Thanks for all the Long Chapters! So never fear...long and verbose = good. :D

[snapesforte.livejournal.com]

I have this feeling that you'll like this chapter more than most. ;) It is quite intense.

Now I can't waiut to read it.

*tosses inspiration over the ocean*

*catches*

Now I just need a time turner. Oh wait - the 'dream team' broke them all.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

THIRTY PAGES FOR ONE CHAPTER? You are MAD! Mad, I tell you! *laughs* You guys are really amazing. Not to mention verbose!

I'm really really hoping not to have to split it into two. Thanks for the 24 page tip! Though I'm still on page 16. I really hope I don't pass 24 pages...I'm afraid that this chapter would stick out like too much of a sore thumb. ;)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Now I just need a time turner. Oh wait - the 'dream team' broke them all.

*rolls eyes* Were you as irritated as I was when I read that? It felt tacked on, and I had this weird feeling of JKR as control freak, shooting down time turner stories/theories.

[dark-cygnet.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're channeling your neck pain into creative energy with this monster chapter. I'm glad someone is able to write. I trying to work on a fic and ain't nothing happening. :(

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I haven't written much over the summer, so I'm glad to finally be writing now. It just keeps flowing, which is wonderful.

[snapesforte.livejournal.com]

I had the exact same reaction. I had a similar reaction when Ron said something along the lines of 'that shrivelled up hand Malfoy was showing everyone'... erm - nice of her to let us know that Draco actually bought the hand of glory in book 2, during book 2, and not 4 books later.

[cactus-wren.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear your neck is still hurting you. Hope it gets better soon!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Me too, absolutely. I'm glad to have taken tomorrow off!

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

I love it when I realise that something I'm writing actually has me on the edge of my seat. (Though with emotionally intense sections, I tend to start feeling like I've just run a marathon after about 500 words!)

And yes, inspiration always strikes at inconvenient moments - for me, usually when I have a tonne of uni work due the next day. In fact, I'd better go and write down the plot bunny I had today lest it escape me...

How long are your chapters normally? For me, 5000 words is an average, with recent chapters generally getting into the 6000s (and a couple of 8000+ whoppers have happened in the past.) Of course, thanks to habits born of posting on Schnoogle, I am emotionally incapable of writing a chapter under 3000 words....

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Though with emotionally intense sections, I tend to start feeling like I've just run a marathon after about 500 words!

I totally felt like that. I wasn't shaking, but I really had the jitters afterwards and it took some time to wind down.

My chapters are usually around 2000-3000 words on average. A few have gone over the 3k mark, but most of them are under that. I think only one or two have been under 2k.

I'm really thinking that I'll have to split this into two chapters. It might be too much to throw at people all at once. But then I get into the problem of having built tension slowly but surely towards a big finish...if I split the chapters there is a part of the narrative which could be used as the climax of that part, but I'm just worried about the second half and whether or not it will "work" properly without all of the "ramping" of the tension. I'm going to go re-read it now and see if I can split it. Decisions, decisions! ;)

[aramintasnape.livejournal.com]

Wow! Go you! I wish I could motivate myself to write 6700 words!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

By the time I got to bed it had topped off at 7300!

[aerynstales.livejournal.com]

Well, the word today is she's widdled it down to um...28 pages. *headdesk*

After reading how long a chapter is for you...I was curious how long word wise (because I think more in pages than words) our chapters are. The Holmes stories...between 6500 and 11,000 per chapter (we have a few around 13000). The Snape stuff, between nearly 6000 and a little over 8000...but they are one shots.

If you do have to split the chapter in two...find a high tense point...I find that works the best and keeps the reader hungry to continue in the next chapter. :D But then again...I'm a cliff hanger writer...*snicker*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

There is one point of tension in the chapter, but I worry because this isn't a traditional narrative chapter, and it will be a bit awkward to split the two.

I'm hoping that mariannelee will be able to suss it all out for me and end the one or two chapter indecision. ;)

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

I don't think you should split it. Well, I haven't read your fic and you know best, of course, but I'm against splitting chapters just because they're longer than usual. It's as long as it needs to be - and if readers were put off by 6K chapters, there'd be no readership for half the fics out there. In fact, when I find that the new chapter of a fic I'm following is longer than usual, I'm excited. It's like "Yay! I get a bigger helping this time!"

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I was against it at first, but there is this problem with a climactic moment or two, and I'm starting to think that splitting it might be a good idea. mariannelee has the first two sections, and I'm waiting to see what she has to say about it.