Why they are a litmus test and have resulted in more re-writing than any other editing aspect.
Or checkout the ‘Hollywood Heist’ backlot.
Vegas Vacation (1997)
Image: Warner Bros.
"With the first stage of his reconnaissance complete, it was time for Notarbartolo to return to Italy, where his team of expert lock pickers, safecrackers, and alarm specialists awaited their briefing."
-ending of Chapter one, Flawless (2010)
Chapter endings were originally flagged in my mind as something one could 'go back and fix at the end'. I was wrong (again).
A story is a string of events inextricably linked and dependent, where the removal of any one scene would render the entire thing senseless. Like domino rally. As a first timer I'm listening to all the advice, such as, "If you can remove a domino and your book doesn't fall apart you should remove it." (I think that was David Mamet, in better words).
I've had several occasions in this editing process where I've gotten to the end of a chapter and realized there was nothing especially compelling me to turn the page, other than because the author (me) said so. There wasn't an urgency around anything the character had to go do in order to further achieve her desire. The next chapter happened because it was 'tomorrow'.
Do you know why other people's vacation photos are so boring? Because each one in no way depends on the next. Holding a high bar on the chapter ending tells me whether I'm missing the connective tissue between scenes that makes it a story. Often I've got to reverse engineer it. My thought process usually looks something like this:
"okay, I can't just say "she fell asleep" so...let's have her remember that there's a clue in an old note she made in her work calendar. okay, so she has to check that out asap at the office tomorrow in order to know what to do...but wait, if she needs a clue then i have to make her uncertain about something...okay, that thing earlier, let's make it so instead of her knowing that other thing, let's say she doesn't know...but then..."
You can kind of see the kind of rabbit holes I have to go down and then climb back out in order to make sure my chapters end good. Well.
I saved down draft 7 of Act 1 today. But don't worry, My chapter endings are starting to hold water.
Now I know: the chapter ending is your canary in the coal mine. And so do you.
Charlie
--
Hollywood Heist Tracker (expected pub: Late 2021)
(you can checkout the Hollywood Heist backlot here)
“Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese proverb
The ~84K Manuscript (Ch's 1-64)
9/9/2021: Chapters 1, 2
9/1/2021: Chapter 8
8/26/2021: Chapter 15
8/19/2021: Chapter 14
8/12/2021: Chapters 12,13
8/5/2021: Chapter 11
7/29/2021: Chapters 9,10
7/22/2021: Chapter 8
7/15/2021: Chapter 8
7/8/2021: Chapter 7
7/1/2021: Chapter 6
6/24/2021: Chapter 5
6/17/2021: Chapters 3,4
6/10/2021: Chapter 2c
6/3/2021: Chapters 2a, 2b
5/27/2021: Chapters 13, 14, 15 Line Edits
5/20/2021: Chapters 10, 11, 11b, 12 Line Edits - making sure the scenes turn
5/13/2021: Chapters 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Line Edits - scrubbing the act for psychic distance
5/6/2021: Chapter 14, 15, 2a, 2b, 2c Line Edits - Meet the team & back to the opening
4/29/2021: Chapter 10, 11, 12, 13 Line Edits - the Jeff meeting
4/22/2021: Chapter 8, 9 Line Edits - Jenny at Home, back at work
4/16/2021: Chapter 7 Line Edits - Jenny at the Cabaret
4/8/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Act I - working on line edits
4/1/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Act I - Finally have the structure of the opening chapters down.
3/25/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Act I
3/18/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - research, short bursts of edits, and relocating office
3/11/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Big research week mining Blockbusters by Anita Elberse
3/4/2021; up to ~24,000 (Ch’s 1-15)
2/25/2021 up to 21,725 (Ch's 1-14)
2/18/2021: up to 17,703 (Ch's 1-11b)
2/11/2021: up to 13,384 (Ch's 1-10)
2/4/2021: up to 11,702 (Ch's 1-8)
1/28/2021: up to 6,414 (Ch's 1-6)
---[Editing Phase]---
1/21/2021: 83,613 Manuscript Complete
1/14/2021: 82,934
1/7/2021: 80,206
12/31/2020: 76,555
12/24/2020: 72,120
12/17/2020: 69,067
12/10/2020: 65,514
12/3/2020: 61,790
11/26/2020: 58,864
11/19/2020: 54,252
11/12/2020: 50,756
11/6/2020: 47,695
10/29/20: 42,097 (-250 in editing)
10/22/2020: 40,488 (-900 in editing)
10/15/2020: 38,327 (-887 in editing)
10/8/2020: 34,458
10/1/2020: 28.099
9/24/2020: 24,397
9/17/2020 19,167
9/10/2020 12,112
9/3/2020: 9,093
8/27/2020: 7,206
8/20/2020: 6.074
8/13/2020: 3,157
--reset, re-starting on draft 4---
8/7/2020: 0...
7/31/2020: forget the word tracker for now, alright?
7/24/2020: 11,373
7/17/2020: 11,373
7/10/2020: 11,373
7/3/2020: 7,955 words
Have some thoughts? Feel free to drop a comment or hit me up: charlie@charleskunken.com
Other Posts In The Hollywood Heist Series
Please judge.