16: Money In the Bank
11/3/2011
I hadn’t realized it’s been two weeks since I last made an entry here. I’ve been busy writing Chapter Two: Kumbella. It turned out well. Much better than Chapter One: Alena. There was a lot of fixing and tightening on the rewrites of Chapter two, but it’s essentially there now. I’m happy with it. It came in at 11,157 words, which is even longer than the prologue, and has three more scenes than what I’d planned in the outline. The extra scenes are really just dividing up the one ritual scene into three parts though. My total word count for everything so far is 29,145 words. And I’m just now starting Chapter three.
This could be a long book. I’m shooting for 10,000 words per chapter, so with the prologue and epilogue, and fables, it should be under 200,000 words.
For Chapter Two: Kumbella, I finished scene one on 10/20, where Diallo runs into himself. Scene two was a long one, finished on 10/22. Long, but straight forward. Scene three was slightly longer, but much more difficult. The whole ceremony sequence (comprising scenes 3-5) and the dialogue in scene six all required two days of just collating ritual details and mapping out the sequence of events.
The dialogue of scene six was also written out before hand, which actually altered some fundamental story concepts. Like the women’s conversation really being about Alena, not Guma or Diallo. This also made me make Siona the buroho instead of Bulala. So, Scene two needs to be updated to reflect that.
Anyway, the best thing in the whole chapter is scene three, where the village is in complete darkness and the two boys are climbing up the tree and above the fog (ala Jack and the Beanstalk) to see the stars for the first time. Finished this scene on 10/29.
Scene four was Siona’s dance, my least favorite of this chapter, needing a lot more work on the rewrites. Finished on 10/31.
Scene five, the augury/haruspication of the hare was better, but still needs a lot more work, too. Reads like it was written from a recipe of notes, which it was. Finished on 11/1.
Scene six, the women’s dialogue was the easiest since the essence of it was already done. It just needed fleshing out and adding Diallo’s contribution. Finished on 11/2.
Scene seven, the last one, I finished just tonight (actually, 2AM), 11/3. It’s one of the better scenes, but also the shortest and least encumbered by outlines and information filler.
Overall, I’m pleased with the work so far, despite its need for major touch-ups down the road. I only wish the pace was quicker. Chapter Two: Kumbella, alone is 35 pages, and it took two weeks and about 70 hours to write. Two hours on average per page. It’s a bit frustrating on one hand, but on the other hand I’ve got some good writing due to taking care, which will hopefully mean fewer rewrites. I think I even wrote every day, except for one. So, at least I’m staying on task. Adding another drop into the bucket each day.
Present-Day Reflection
6/10/2026
My steps are getting bigger. What I got done in the 70 hours recorded here in that entry was the largest step forward with the main narrative so far. It will all be dramatically reworked, but the skeleton was there. It advanced my sense of the story, its structure, and their world in big ways.
I smile though now as I think of all the hours I spent doing word counts back then. I had no computer, and everything was written with pen and paper, my word count being a painstaking process with each version of a chapter I wrote. It was important for me to maintain an accurate sense of scope, not trusting page numbers alone. Part of me enjoyed the word counts, however, looking upon it as “getting my money” – as if every word was money in the bank of my authorial legacy. As if every word was bringing me closer to my goal.
All those word counts feel meaningless now though, everything back then having been reworked – vastly expanded or deleted – so many times that the scope of things from then reflects nothing about where things stand today.
