Reaching 75%

I’ve said this before, In Pain and Blood won’t stop growing. It started off at thirty chapters, then jumped to thirty-five as I outlined it. Then, it cruised it’s way through the forties and has parked itself at forty-five chapters.

You might have noticed by last Sunday’s post that the chapters themselves have been on the not-so-small side. Chapter Four clocks in at close to 5500 words. I’ve had multiple chapters that skipped over 10k and had to be split because… damn.

All of them add up, which is both cool and infuriating at the same time. I like to know when I’m getting close to a goal. I seem to stick with it better if there’s a defined end. That’s why I like to set ballpark figures. Chapters have a loose minimum goal. Most of the time, a single scene hits it (or, in the case of Chp 4, beats it to death). Other times, like next month’s chapter, there’s more than one scene.

It’s now 156,000. I’m 39k from that goal, which leave me at 75% of the way through. That sounds awesome, right? I should have… What? Roughly eight hundred words per chapter left? More than enough to fill my Camp Nanowrimo goal this July without too much strain.

There’s somewhere between 50 and 68k left to go… I think. Yes, my 75% mark jumped ship on me some time back. I’ve chapters that were considered finished now clamouring for additional material. So they grow. They’re all 4 and 5k now.

And, recently, I broke one chapter that threatened 7000 words. Thing is, I’d already snapped off what would now be the latter third, which is 4k in its own right. That now makes four chapters covering one day…
Which is actually becoming a rather common theme. Even at the start, it takes two chapters to cover a small portion of a night. And, whilst the story keeps within my semi-loose outline, it’s also messing with my plans. I once joked with my family that this single book might reach 200k.