Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 209

deciding chapter length

JD asks about chapter length:

“While reading Iron Hand, I developed a question. How do you decide on chapter lengths? And why do you not try to keep them pretty close in length? I noticed often in Frostborn that some chapters are notably longer (often the first chapter) than others. Curious how you came to this decision.”

Usually, I decide how long I want the book to be, and then I work out chapter length by that. Like, I want SEVENFOLD SWORD: WARLORD to have 24 chapters and come between 90,000 to 120,000 words long, so that means chapters that are 4,000 words long. I usually want the SILENT ORDER books to be 10 chapters long and come to about 55,000 words long, so that means chapters that are about 5,000 words in length.

When I start a series, I also decide how many chapters the books are going to be for consistency. The first thirteen FROSTBORN books were all 24 chapters each, and book 14 went to 26 chapters and book 15 to 34 chapters just because it was a huge story and I wanted to make sure that I hit the landing. So, I always plan to be consistent with it.

But…

That’s the goal, anyway. In practice, my chapter lengths tend to fluctuate wildly depending on what’s going on. Like, Chapter 9 in CLOAK GAMES: HAMMER BREAK was way longer than I planned, but a lot of important stuff happens in that chapter – there’s a bunch of action, and then Nadia has several conversations that are really important to the story. The longest single book chapter I ever wrote was Chapter 20 of SOUL OF SWORDS, which came out to 12,000 words. But a lot of stuff happens in that chapter! There’s an army of undead, and a dragon, and two wizards battling it out, and a huge battle.

I also sometimes have shorter chapters, but they tend to have only one important scene. Like Chapter 32 of FROSTBORN: THE SHADOW PRISON is short, but it is really important for setting up what happens in SEVENFOLD SWORD.

So, to sum up – I plan for consistent chapter lengths, but they turn out to be as long as they need to be.

writing progress updates

Had a few emails asking when books will come out, so it’s time for a progress update!

Right now I have four books in various stages of progress, and here’s where they are at:

-SEVENFOLD SWORD: WARLORD. I’m on Chapter 17 of 24 at 85,000 words. Almost 3/4 done!

-GHOST IN THE GLASS. I’m on Chapter 8 of 20 at 37,000 words. Almost halfway done!

-SILENT ORDER #6. I’m on Chapter 1 of 10 at 4,000 words.

-CLOAK GAMES: BLOOD CAST. I’ve finished the outline but haven’t started it yet.

I want to publish SEVENFOLD SWORD: WARLORD in November and GHOST IN THE GLASS in December. After that I haven’t 100% decided what order I’m going to do things.

-JM

Interesting Links #3: Computers!

Many of this week’s Interesting Links deal with computers & technology.

When I started out with WordPress in 2007, I thought that my main focus would be writing about technology, and that I would write fiction as a hobby. As it turned out, things happened exactly the opposite way.

But I still do a lot with computers. Some people go to the garage and tinker with their cars to blow off steam. Me, I fire up a Linux virtual server and tinker with it. I suppose the impulse arises from the same place.

-When I tried to use Google Docs on a Chromebook to write a book, it got laggy and choppy after 10k words. It seems to have improved since then: Google Stuff For Authors Revisited.

-Speaking of Chromebooks, a $1000 Chromebook kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? The Google Pixelbook brings back the $1,000 Chrome OS halo device.

-I’ve played like half of these games: Best RPGs Of All Time.

-I don’t want to upgrade my phone. I have everything set up just so. But when the day comes: What’s The Best New Android Phone?

-Part of the reason I don’t want to upgrade my phone is because the trend of getting rid of the headphone jack is bad: The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are official at $649 and $849.

-Auto-playing videos are really annoying. Here’s how to fix them: Disabling autoplaying videos in Chrome goes viral.

-And speaking of annoying websites, this is not a good business strategy: Some publishers give Facebook and Google visitors a worse user experience.

-I really like the title of this article, and it’s a good mindset for the modern writer: The Arc Of The Indie Author Journey. From First Book To CEO Of Your Global Media Empire.

-This How-To Geek article is about table saws, but this quote is excellent advice for using any power tool: “You always want to treat any power tool with respect, because the moment you bad mouth it, you’ll be convicted of treason (metaphorically) and your head will be cut off (possibly literally).” How To Safely Use A Table Saw.

-I have to admit I got one of these, and it’s a really excellent entertainment and reading device. On balance, I think it’s the best tablet Amazon has ever built: Amazon Fire HD 10 review (2017).

-JM

THE DEVIL’S NOVICE, by Ellis Peters

I just finished reading THE DEVIL’S NOVICE by Ellis Peters, and it was really, really good. Absolutely brilliant book. The story excellently captures the look and feel of 12th century England, it is an intriguing murder mystery, and the author has keen psychological insight.

I will limit myself to just two of my favorite quotes from the book:

Afterwards, of course, there were plenty of wiseacres pregnant with hindsight, listing portents, talking darkly of omens, brazenly asserting that they had told everyone so. After every shock and reverse, such late experts proliferate.

And this, too:

Cadfael passed them with his eyes still fixed on the girl Roswitha, whose infinite blue gaze opened on him like a summer sky. The slightest of smiles touched her lips as he passed, and a small, contented brightness flashed in her eyes. She knew that he could not but admire her, and even the admiration of an elderly monk was satisfaction to her. Surely the very motions she had made in his presence, so slight and so conscious, had been made in the knowledge that he was well aware of them, cobweb threads to entrammel one more unlikely fly.

He was careful not to look back, for it had dawned on him that she would confidently expect him to.

-JM

Buy 2 Get 1 Free

SEVENFOLD SWORD: CHAMPION is part of a big sale at Kobo today – buy two books, get one free. Check out this link for details!

-JM

SILENT ORDER: AXIOM HAND available

I am pleased to report that SILENT ORDER: AXIOM HAND, the third book of the SILENT ORDER series, is now available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords.

The galaxy is at war, and a death at the wrong time and the wrong place can destroy an empire.

When several junior officers are murdered, Jack March is sent to track down the culprit. The trail leads him to a decaying world and a brutal war between two crime syndicates.

But one of the crime syndicates has a secret ally that could slaughter billions.

Starting with Jack March…

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-JM

FROSTBORN retrospective: audiobooks

I had a bunch of long-distance errands to do today, so I listened to the FROSTBORN: THE EIGHTFOLD KNIFE as I drove around.

Listening to your own audiobook as you do stuff is a unique experience, let me tell you. I felt like listening to a dungeon crawl, so I listened to the bit when Ridmark and company started exploring Urd Dagaash. I say it’s a unique experience because I suspect it’s one not many writers get to enjoy.

Also: after fifteen FROSTBORN books and two SEVENFOLD SWORD books, it was really amusing to listen to some of Ridmark’s and Calliande’s early conversations.

Books On A Shelf

On Saturday I went wandering through the city for a while, and I wound up at a Barnes & Noble. It was fairly busy since it was a Saturday, but there weren’t that many people in any individual aisle of the store.

As I walked through the SF/F section, something occurred to me.

For a long time, one of the metrics of writerly success was to be able to go into a bookstore and see one’s books upon the shelf. It was repeated so often that it became something of a cliche (kind of like people saying how ebooks would never replace the “feel” and “smell” of paper books). If you had your books on a bookstore shelf, you had made it.

Except…how many people would go through the SF/F aisle on any given day? Books on a store shelf don’t do you much good if there’s no one there to actually see the books on the shelf.

This last weekend, I gave away 154 ebook copies of FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT via Amazon. I am entirely certain that is more people than will walk through that aisle on a single day. Also, that is 154 people who gave their entire attention (however briefly) to FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT in order to download it. I guarantee that isn’t happening a bookstore aisle.

In the past five years, I have given away more copies of DEMONSOULED and CHILD OF THE GHOSTS than people who will visit that bookstore during its life.

So, I think “my books on a shelf” has passed its useful life as a measure of writerly success. Better instead to write three books and make the first one free. You’ll get your books in front of far more eyes than if they’re sitting on a shelf in a bookstore.

-JM

SEVENFOLD SWORD: WARLORD progress!

12 chapters down, 12 to go. Halfway there with the rough draft!

Of course, the halfway point was 61,600 words. I’m beginning to suspect that WARLORD will be on the longer side.

Also, this seems like a good place to mention that WARLORD will have a new POV character: Justin Cyros, King of Cytheria and bearer of the Sword of Earth.

If Justin lived here in the 21st century, I think he’d be a big fan of Nietzsche.

-JM

A Limited Storytelling Scope

I was talking to a new-ish writer recently, and I told him that I thought his difficulty lay in that he was trying to write too big of a story. Not everything has to be a SONG OF ICE AND FIRE style epic with a billion POV characters. You can have a really intense story with a limited scope.

The new-ish writer disagreed, but I think I can prove my case below.

I recently watched Skyfall, considered to be the best of the James Bond movies, and I agree with that assessment. Skyfall is indeed the best of the Bond movies, and an excellent movie in its own right.

Yet what makes it so?

I think that two things make Skyfall as effective as it is – first, the limited scope of the story, and second, the strength of the relationship between the characters, both the protagonists and the antagonists.

First, unlike previous Bond movies where a maniacal supervillain plots to destroy the world or incite war between the Americans and the Soviets, the stakes are much smaller in Skyfall, but nonetheless just as intense. The villain, Silva, desires revenge upon the British intelligence agency MI6 and its director M in particular. Bond’s stake in the conflict is threefold – 1.) he is loyal to MI6, 2.) he is loyal to M, his mentor figure, and 3.) he is loyal to England. By carrying out terrorist attacks against MI6 to discredit M, Silva is setting himself up in opposition to Bond. Therefore Bond is fighting not to save the lives of abstract millions he will never meet, but his comrades and his mentor. It’s a much more personal conflict than a fight against a supervillain with a grandiose scheme involving giant lasers or orbital nukes or an earthquake machine or whatever. That makes the stakes much smaller, but interestingly, far more intense than a movie where the villain wants to start World War III or collapse the economy.

Second, the main characters of the film have a close and often adversarial relationship. Silva desires straightforward revenge against M, even as he still craves her approval. Bond has sharp disagreements with M over her cavalier treatment of her agents (which comes back to bite her in the movie), but is nonetheless doggedly loyal to her, and risks a great deal to save her life.

These plot threads come together not in the exotic locations Bond movies are known for, but instead in the crumbling mansion of Skyfall on the gloomy Scottish moors. Here M, Bond, and Silva have their final confrontation, while Bond faces his traumatic past in his childhood home.

It is both the limited scope of the story and the high stakes, I think, that makes SKYFALL the best of the Bond films.

-JM