I’ve been quite quiet lately, but that’s because I’ve been busy writing.
I have a completed first-draft manuscript for the first book in the sequel Paul Robertson saga - provisionally called “The Sweetheart Saga.” That first draft is 161,000 words.
I have also written 144,000 words of the second book in the saga.
That’s 300,000 words!
And that’s in addition to the work I’ve been doing on the social media companion to A Healing Love.
But I have a problem. And that problem is structure. Right now, book one feels as if it has two climaxes, both of which ought to be the end of a novel. One of those endings comes about halfway through the book, and the other comes about 40,000 words before the actual current ending of the book.
And the actual current ending of the book feels a bit… weak.
Moving on to the second book, it also features what feels like the ending to a book, which comes about 55,000 words into the current manuscript.
I think you can see what I’m getting at here.
I haven’t written two epic novels in the saga; I’ve written the first three and a half books of the saga. Book one would be about 78,000 words, pending my revision process, which usually adds words rather than deletes them.
Right now, book 2 is about 44,000 words, which is low, but that’s fine because it gives me plenty of room to add more detail to a really important part of the story.
As currently written, book 3 would be about 100,000 words, which is fine. There’s a lot going on in it.
Book four, which isn’t finished, currently stands at 60,000 words.
So what I have is four ‘normal’ size novels, each one with a climactic ending that leads into the next book.
It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?
So, because I haven't used Polls on here yet, let's do one. What should I do, stick with two epic books, or split into four normal sized books?