Get your percentages right.
by Linda Yezak
(Nacogdoches, Texas)
Sounds odd when applied to writing, doesn't it? Let me explain.
If you did a pie chart of the percentage of writing time you spent on the beginning, middle, and end of your work, the largest slice--largest percentage--should be in the beginning. Why? Because in the beginning comes the opening line, which should grab about eighteen percent alone. Write it, rewrite it, polish it and make it dazzle. That's the line that'll hook your reader.
Next is the opening scene, another eighteen percent. It must flow and captivate, intrigue and charm. Work it until it can't jog another mile. Then make it do sit ups until it's in perfect shape.
That's thirty-six percent right there. Of the remaining sixty-four percent, a good twenty should be spent in the middle, polishing chapter beginnings and endings. Keep your reader from throwing in the bookmark and calling it a night. Enthrall her with your chapter openings, snare her with the endings. Let the number of pages under her left thumb grow as she repeats the mantra: Just one more. . .
Another thirty percent must go to the climax. If the opening line got her to buy the book, the closing line will get her to buy the next. Don't leave her dissatisfied. Deliver what you promised, complete with the ribbons and bows.
That leaves you with fourteen percent writing time for the area between the chapter openings and endings. Spend it wisely.
