Chapter Breaks

Chunking the text -- or, rather, re-chunking -- into optimal chapters is proving to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. I've done one pass, but suspect I may have gone too far: there are now 52 chapters instead of 35. That feels like too many. Started out just aiming to fix a couple of the original 35 that felt too long, not in terms of draggy scenes (I've fixed/trimmed those to the best of my current ability, although there's always the possibility I will find more to cut if I look at it again in, say, a week), but in how many pages are flipped before that refreshing half-page of white space. Perhaps I got a little carried away?

Wish there were some way to get a bird's eye view of the entire thing without completely losing legible text. Don't think there's any kind of computer function or human eye -- or brain -- capable of that.

Haven't made a rock-solid decision yet about the chapters, a reliable sign I'll have another go at it at whatever point I can face the task again. Could be soon, 'cause the only other thing I really need to do is get a frickin' synopsis done. Ugh. Don't know precisely what it is about even thinking about synopsizing that hits the procrastinate button so firmly. It's been on the list for months, and I still haven't squirmed butt into chair to get it done.

Well, I did play around with it a bit yesterday, from my narrator's point of view. Just to see if that would help me get into it. The result (which only got halfway through the story) could be a fun addition to my author webpage, if/when I ever get around to doing something about that, but is not useful for a submission packet.

On the progress front, I have produced a generic query letter ready to be customized for whichever agents end up on my "most desired" list, and a somewhat playful author bio in support of my non-fiction credentials. I think I'm happy with 'em, but they're still fresh. There's a chance I'll cringe when I look at them again after they've aged a few days, and realize they're awful.