On my bucket list of things to accomplish while writing the first book in the Children of the Falls series was to hit 200,000 words. Comparatively, the first Harry Potter novel was about 75,000 words, while the longest in the series, The Order of the Phoenix, was over 250,000 words. I had never written a novel longer than 129,000, and I wanted to shatter that standard with something epic.
However, when my book reached 300,000 words—that's right, 300,00!!!—I knew I was running into a problem. I didn't like the idea of beginning a new self-published series under a new pen name with a massive 300,000 word novel. I wanted the series to be more accessible to tentative readers who weren't ready to bite off such a massive novel.
My wife was the first to suggest splitting the book in half, and after I thought about it I realized there was a good midpoint at which I could accomplish that. I knew it would require shifting a few events around and possibly adding a couple extra chapters to wrap things up for a new ending, but the idea was exciting. It instantly gave me two books to start marketing instead of one. It also allowed me to narrow my focus in the first novel and spend a little more time building my characters.
Where Evil Abides, the original book one, became book two, and a new 170,000 word book became book one. This meant I needed a new title. I mulled it over for a few days, but couldn't come up with anything.
After one particularly dream-filled night's sleep I awoke around 6am with a title sitting on my lips. I whispered it, hoping to commit it to memory, and promptly fell back to sleep. Thankfully my brain was able to recall the title and I quickly plopped it onto a new cover for a new book one.
Coming soon: Where Serpents Strike.
No comments:
Post a Comment