....after I read through my daily devotional, trolled facebook, played 3 silly matching games on my ipad.
Well I should probably check my messages on NaNo, emails, and read through the other blogs of the Nanites I'm following.
Gotta get one more cup of coffee....done....
Okay NOW I'm ready. I might have just lazed around the last two hours, but now it's time to get it on! Today my goal is to finish up the first chapter of the book and put in some more environmental details. I'll try to put some more "show" instead of "tell" in my descriptions.
~ * ~
I spent between the hours of 10:30am - 2:40pm writing on NaNo (with breaks). I've topped off my wordcount at: 5350 words! Looking back at what I have written, I'm now struck with a new question. Perhaps some of you writers out there can help me answer it:
QUESTION: How long are "chapters" supposed to be for a Young Adult (YA) book?
Basically up to this point, I've just written what comes to mind, that also follows my plot points. But I haven't made a mental decision about where a chapter should start and end. I've just smashed all my words into one document. Would anyone have advice on chapter structure?
EXCERPT FOR THE DAY
This one might be tough to pinpoint, since I spent most of today writing my little fingers off. But here is a part where my main character Jason is talking with his sister. WHICH her name might change once I think of something better. Suggestions are welcome :)
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“Well I know what is more
important,” she frowned. “Why didn't return my calls anyway?”
Jason explained to her about
the expedition to the abandoned media store and his amazing discovery of a
fully-working DigiPad. He also explained that he nearly died because she screamed into his cellphone and
almost made the ceiling collapse on top of him. Adding a little more drama to
his story was a mean effort to make Shiri feel partly responsible.
She just stared at him. “Wow that is a good reason
for not calling me back.”
“Really? That’s your first reaction? I almost died today.”
“Well…obviously you didn’t. So good for you!” She
smiled sweetly and cleared her throat. “But seriously, I had a very important
reason for calling.”
“Thirteen times?” Jason asked dryly.
“I didn’t count. Anyway…”
His sister looked down and
reached into the pocket of her flowered tunic, pulling out a badly folded scrap
of paper. She held it out to Jason, motioning for him to take it.
“This is what I wanted to tell you about.”
Jason took the paper with a
certain air of unease. Was this a letter? Getting one was really uncommon,
especially when it was delivered with such traditional methods. He took the browned paper and smoothed it out
on the table in front of him. The paper had been used multiple times, the
smearing of lead and eraser marks creating a dark layer on the paper. Jason
began to read the writing, but didn't get very far until Shiri started to
narrate.
“Uncle Shawn just got this letter today from the
Mayor in the Eastern settlement. They were doing some renovation and expansion
of the farmland. That’s when they hit some type of metal object and whatever it
was, it’s weight caused the ground to collapse underneath. It fell into a
sinkhole and maybe into a connecting cavern."
She paused to take another breath.
“The Mayor decided to investigate the hole and they already found a few
artifacts from the old world.”
Okay she had his attention now.
Jason started to read the letter again in earnest. Shiri knew that he needed
more time to make out the words than she did. He appreciated her polite silence
as she gave him a couple minutes to read. Then she started flicking her
thumbnails. Shifting her weight, she peered over his shoulder to judge where he
was reading from. As soon as she took another breath, he knew she’d skip
straight to the punchline this time.
“They found a map,
Jason!”
He kept re-reading that part of
the letter and kept silent. His reaction must not have been what Shiri was expecting,
as she grabbed a wooden stool nearby and planted it next to his left. She sat
close to him and pointed to the letter.
“A map,” Jason muttered to himself. “I can’t believe
it.”
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