Book 2

MK Fowler is currently at work on a sequel to “The Biggest Adventure in the Littlest World”.

01-24-2013
I’m almost done with the 2nd edit, and somehow managed to add another 1k words so it’s at 56+ now. And I think this will be my last post to this progress page: I have a title and am working on a cover drawing. I’ll move all of that to the blog soon. While I’m working on the drawing I’ll be doing another edit. So far I’ve had amazing feedback from all my readers. Thank you!

12-29-2012
First edit done at 55,500 words. Second edit pending, and I wrote a glossary for the first time, which the book now clearly needs.

Saturday, Dec 22, 2012, 10:00 a.m. PDT
I have a first draft! 54,500 words.

Three and a half months later / 541 words
Interesting to finally be at a place in the book where I know most of what will happen. I can even write ahead!

PART 3
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Chapter 16: Home. Summer. Twish! / 2,647 words and working
The end is in sight, and I’m thinking Twish isn’t going to make it into this book. Update: Twish is in the book! But it isn’t the name for book 2.

Chapter 15: A missing red ball / 4,850 words and working
The penultimate chapter.

Chapter 14: Nothing was ever going to be the same / 2,807 words

Chapter 13: The beginning of the (real) end / 2,517 words

PART 2
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Chapter 12: An unlikely ally / 3,773 words
Finally over 40,000 words!

Chapter 11: Prison / 2,852 words
I love this chapter.

Chapter 10: Getting to the end / 3,319 words

Chapter 9: Where did Michael go? / 3,437 words
Blank slate! Let’s see how we can upend this one.
Update: The 30,000-word mark always seems like an achievement, and a point by which many things should be falling into place. Yes, and no.

Chapter 8: Feint / 2,840 words
Is it OK to say I have no clue what will happen in this chapter? Terrifying.

Chapter 7: Back / 2,668 words
And here we go.


PART 1
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The preceding chapter didn’t end as I first planned, and I’m anxious to see what happens next, but this seems like a good point to pause and revisit a few areas. The jump to part 2, chapter 7, is a huge one and needs a lot of thought. Housecleaning will help.

Chapter 6: “What should we do?” / 3,091 words
Ashley finished her book! And chapter 6 is being a brute. I know how it will turn out but I don’t yet know if I am doing this too early.
Update: Whew.

Chapter 5: Much confusion and despair / 2,702 words
The first few paragraphs of Chapter 5—one sentence in particular—startled me. Most times when I start a chapter I have a general sense of how it will all turn out but I don’t have that yet for this one. In other news, everyone needs a buddy like my friend Tracy, and you have to start with being born on the same day (I thought he was seriously kidding when I found out). He’s been reading behind me and is just making me feel very, very good. Thank you so much, Tracy!

Chapter 4: What happened to Claire? / 3,423 words
So I’m slowing down a little. I’ve set a reasonable goal of roughly 250 words a day, which means I should be done by December, barring any unusual plot twists. No more writing furiously through the weekend and neglecting everything around me. What’s interesting is that I write faster now, almost like I’m honing everything in my head so it all comes together quickly when I do sit down to pound away on the keyboard. But there are those little surprises which happen when the characters ignore me …
Update: Well, that little resolution above lasted for all of one day. My poor family.

Chapter 3: The Council / 5,089 words
This one surprised me. It kept on coming and parts of it were hard to write. Claire did something unexpected in this chapter which made sense to me by the end.

Chapter 2: Underdom, Visit No. 2¼ / 4,215 words

Chapter 1: A creepy place / 3,574 words
I just went back and looked at the revision history on this document and was startled to see I began work on this on July 18, 2012. It’s now December, and my plan is to have a first draft by Christmas. Which means this will have taken me 6+ months to write. The previous one took a year and a half, with a break in there somewhere.