Chapter 3: Pre-thoughts

I finished chapter 2. It has been a hassle but I wanted it to be near perfect. My first chapter opens with a blast and immediately drags you into the story. The second chapter sort of lets the reader settle in (at least, that is what I hoped to achieve). I still had to make sure it was interesting enough to let the reader read on. Having said that I think I might have actually achieved that. I know that there are going to be far more crucial chapters (such as the one with the big reveal) but for me the beginning is also very valuable. It’s the first few pages, the first few lines that makes the reader decide whether they want to read on or not. The great thing is, now that I got that out of the way I can focus on the story more (which is what chapter 3 is all about).

I came across a slight problem though. In chapter 1, I introduce 3 characters, then in chapter 2 I introduce 4 more. 3 of them don’t reappear after that chapter but it means that I have already hurled 7 different characters at my reader. It doesn’t have to be a problem but then there are also four countries with weird names and four castles with hard to remember names. As I started with chapter 3 I realized I introduced yet another character in the beginning of the chapter. And then another, and two others. Then, the fourth chapter, 3 others. Most of them make an appearance later on and actually become quite valuable for the rest of the book but I am just afraid the number of names will confuse my reader.

I guess the challenge with chapter 3 won’t be so much as repairing the cracks in the storyline or fixing the language here and there but to decide whether I should remove certain characters, or introduce them at a later stage. For instance, one of my characters receives a flute from her father with which she can call a ‘creature’. Let’s just call it a creature, because I don’t want to spoil too much of the story here ;-) This gift becomes important later on in the story but I am not certain if introducing this character already in chapter 3 is a good idea.

Another idea is to remove a certain part of chapter 3. The relevance to the story is minimal, it is basically used to show more of the personality of two of the characters. Since one of the two is a new character which won’t make his reappearance for another four chapters it might not be a bad idea. It would kill me if I have to do this for the next few chapters but at this point I feel like the story will be suffering if I bring in more characters and don’t actually get anywhere with the story. I remember when reading Lord of the Rings for the first time that I thought Arwen and Eowyn were the same person. It was only at the end of the second book that I realized they were different characters. All through the second book I had thought of Eowyn as a stupid and selfish woman when in fact I should have admired her bravery. I’d rather not let that happen to any of my readers!

Oh, the troubles of being a writer :-)