I've written (the first draft of) the first chapter of the Jecheon novel. Chapter one is called "Arrivals," but I have no overall title for the book. That probably won't come to me until much, much later.
It's 3,215 words (six pages in MS Word). So, it's about the normal length for a modern chapter. I'm beginning to get concerned about the length of this book, though. Here's my working outline (I'm outlining three chapters in the future, so each time I finish a new chapter, I'll be updating the outline):
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Chapter 1 (Arrivals): airport to bus ride 3,215 words (drafted)
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Chapter 2 (Florals):
picked up in Wonju by Mrs. Cho & Diane, Family Mart, Apartment unpacking,
phone call home, not sleeping and staring out the window
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Chapter 3 (Procedures):
hospital visit, "Italian" lunch, visa pictures and photo-shopping, electronic store
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Chapter 4 (Lessons):
10 hours making plans under Julia, home for an hour, welcome dinner
Four chapters and we haven't even taught a single class. There's a good chance things will speed up in the middle, though, when we start getting more accustomed to things (just like in real life). What do you guys think?
Let's say it's a longer novel and ends up at about 40 chapters... roughly 3,100 words per chapter... that's 124,000 words total... about 350-400 words per paperback page... so, 310- 355 pages.
Alright. That's about normal. I'm just worried about whether I can end the year 350 pages. I'm probably going to have to be a little creative. How does one market a book that's 90% memoir and 10% fiction or so?
I'm thinking that I'll make a Google document of the chapter to post on here as soon as I have a couple of folks read it.
I'm pretty excited. But, at the rate I'm writing it'll take me 2.4 years to finish it. I'd better work a bit harder.
There's a lot of math in this post.
Just for fun, here's a picture of folks protesting at the Chase bank on Hawthorne:
The white dog's sign says, "I'm more of a person than this corporation."
I am so excited that you are getting into your writing mojo. I am not a writer, but I think you should just let it flow and tweek and adjust it at the end, but like I said I am not a writer, so don't know if it can work that way. Just keep it flowing!
ReplyDeleteLove the sign on the dog, by the way.
I think it will turn out really well Casey..like your mum, I don't have the basics of book writing down...but I think the introductory pages/chapters are just fine, in fact important to set the stage...I REMEMBER your post of being in the car and just staring and wondering what you were getting into..I think those little things are important because it helps the reader to connect on a personal level as well as the story....hugs xox
ReplyDeleteDo you have a publisher yet? I have a connection with a REALLY nice young lady at Friesen Press..I made contact with her whilst I was tossing the idea around to write a book..let me know if you want her details xoxox
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