The dreaded chapter four slump
Yes, that is where I'm currently residing. That awkward bit that serves as a transition from setup to deep conflict. Hmm. This is what I have done in the past: Take a break; take a stock; revise my first three chapters; keep writing. Let's hope this remedy works this time round.Writing a romance novel, in my opinion, is harder than writing a regular novel, say, one of the historical novels I've written for Hale. And the reason? A historical is like a thread; it unwinds and you follow it wherever it goes. A romance is like a puzzle; you have the pieces scattered around in your brain and you have to fit them together. Sometimes you have to hack away at pieces that looked very nice and pleasing to get them to fit together. 50,000 words feel like a lot when you type 'chapter one', and heck, at 18,000 words it STILL feels like a lot. Yet at the same time it's not enough time to develop subplots or secondary characters too deeply, so you have to keep everything spare and clean. Every word and sentence has to have a purpose, every character's every action a motivation, and I seem to have an inner radar which beeps most annoyingly when I write something that sounds really good (in my humble opinion) but doesn't fit in the puzzle. Back to hacking away at those pieces...
posted by Kate Hewitt at
7:17 PM
