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July 30, 2009
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This chapter has quite a story to it. It first started out as Chapter 217. It was going to take place before
Wayland comes to demand the Tome. It was after I realized why Chapter X didn't feel quite right, because it
didn't advance the plot enough, that I decided to switch this chapter with the Wayland chapter. That way I
could still have Melfina in her shop, making scrolls with the aid of the shadow wisp, but I could also have her
contemplating what it means that Wayland knows she has the Tome. I thought that was enough. I was wrong.
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I wrote the chapter, and it came out pretty good. I got to show off her relationship with Reagent and Wisp.
I was able to get her to think about pretty much all the people in her life, and what she thinks about them,
and what she thinks they think about her. And I got to end with her deciding she needed to go to Lord Luna
for help. That version of the chapter, which I thought was done, was just above 1,000 words.
At this point, the chapter was just Melfina's thoughts all randomly transitioning into each other. All the
paragraphs dealing with Melfina trying to avoid thinking about something, and the imaginary battle in her
mind weren't in the chapter. And all the paragraphs that started with "She sighs," also ended there with
no follow up to them.
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At this time, I was in the middle of revising all of Volume 1. I got to see how all those chapter flowed into
each other at the end, and how 111 and 112 flow into each other really well building up to the finale in 113.
And I saw one huge problem. I switched 217 and 218 to give this chapter more of a purpose to the overall volume,
but I didn't take into account what that would do for the flow of the story as a whole. We had the announcement
that Wayland was going to get the Tome, and then we have Melfina sitting in her shop making scrolls. The chapter
had an eventual purpose, but it was just a random series of thoughts strung together. We're nearing the climax
of the Volume and there is no suspense at all.
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Then about 3 hours before the night hit midnight and the date became the 30th, I figured out how I could salvage
the chapter. "There is was." That line was already written, but everything about Melfina trying to avoid thinking
about was only implied after the fact. I needed to use that to create a semi-mystery to lead up to that line.
Her thoughts are a random series of thoughts, but by telling the reader that she's trying to avoid thinking
about something, all of a sudden it makes sense why. By adding that, the chapter all of a sudden had coherence.
The randomness was taken out.
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Now I had a chapter that felt like a chapter. I was building up to something and the reader could come along with
me. But the problem of this being close to the end of the volume was still there. So during that same revision, I
already had the line about Melfina thinking about scenarios of fighting against Wayland. Why don't I actually write
out a scenario? Much like a dream sequence, this allowed me to fit in actual action into the chapter, even though
none was taking place. That was the true final touch that the chapter needed. The deadline for posting was coming
close, and I finally reached a point where I could be satisfied with what the chapter accomplishes.
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I thought I had a completed chapter that was just over 1,000 words, but with those realizations and additions,
the chapter ended up almost twice as long. That kind of thing doesn't happen very often, but I'm glad it did
this time.
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Word Count: 1,784
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