SCC5 Drafting Update
Whew, that was a long chapter. It was the chapter where the curtain was finally started to be pulled back on everything that’s been going on over the whole series. I think it took be the better part of month to write that chapter for two reasons.
First, it’s a lot of information that needs to come together that’s been spread over four books. And because I’m a discovery writer, there’s no master plan written anywhere or outline. There are only hastily scribbled notes, and a few attempts to try and collate all the relevant information into some master documents. So, it took some effort to sort it all out and ensure it was self-consistent.
Second, that chapter turned out to be the longest in the series. Most of the Sunken City Capers chapters are on the order of 2-3k words. That chapter turned out to be 7k. That’s a lot of words for a chapter. I target about 1k words a week, but often land around 2-3k words when I have a good rhythm. So, it took me some to get through it.
But, I’m through it and have launched into the 3rd plot point. I was a bit listless drafting this past week. I was having a hard time finding a rhythm. I think I’m back on track as of this morning—basically I unleashed Isa and Puo to be them snarky smart-ass selves, and suddenly I was cracking myself up and having a grand ole time.
Seem like every time I update this blog, I end up pushing the estimate of when the zero draft will be done for SCC5 to the right. The end of January is looking a bit dicey—I estimate I need another 19k of words to wrap it up, and 19k in 6 weeks for me is above my average. But, but! Christmas is coming and I have some extended time off, so I usually get more words written in those periods. And, and! The last parts of books tend to write fast for me once it all falls into place. So, I’m going to keep the target to be done with book 5 by the end of January and hope for a Christmas miracle.