Finally. What used to be the problematic Chapter 18 is now chapters 18, 19, and 20 – and they are all done. 21 and 22 were mostly done, already. A new chapter 23 got injected. It’s not done.
Looking up the link, that took almost four months. Tempus has fugitted. I’m not in any particular hurry, but that’s awful. I have been thinking a lot about where things are going, but thinking is not writing – and it wasn’t four months worth of thinking.
Maybe I needed a break? Maybe it’s the season changing? Maybe I’m just lazy? Whatever the case, I’m going to attempt to write more, even if it is just a little bit each day.
On the bright side, everything’s set for the first human-on-human battle in Chapter 23, which will also introduce the concept of Safe Zones. Chapter 24 (the previous chapter 23) is basically done. Chapter 25 will be about getting Bob (the dungeon) to train Marcy. That might turn into two chapters (a lot needs to happen). After that, we’ll finally get to the harvest. That will mostly be off-screen (because I know very little about farming). I still want to do the cattle drive just for the “we’re not sheepdogs” line, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
The current 25 chapters are 120,412 words in 285 pages. It’s definitely novel length. Now to finish it!
By way of comparison, the last thing I read (Adam vs the Apocalypse Book 1) is 541 pages in 62 chapters (I don’t see an easy way to count words), but the book ends there at 80%. The remaining 20% is an extensive set of epilogs, which are cut scenes from different points of view, and appendicies of character sheets and system data. Total page count is 672.
Super-quick review: Too many point-of-view switches (downside to writing in first-person) and each chapter has a flashback at the end (mostly our intrepid hero, but pov varies there, too) as a cheating way to info dump (it’s not awful, but it is annoying to constantly time-shift).
I don’t have a problem with the epilog content, but I don’t like the use of the word “epilog” because they’re not. They take place in the normal flow of the story, not after it ends. “Bonus scenes” would be a better label for them. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to do that with Marcy’s training or not. It’s definitely not going to be in-line, but I’m not sure I’m going to write it or how long it would be.
Oh! Do I have any rejected cover images left? A few.
This one: I rejected it mostly for the torn jeans. It would also be difficult to get any text across the top. I only need “M.R. RIZES” (or even just “RIZES”), so it could probably be made to work.
