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Word Count Status: Chapter Two: Before: 1379; Now: 1520. And I am not finished with it yet. Some chapters are easier to fatten up than others. Since I’ve been over chapter one so many times … I guess there really wasn’t anything else I had to say. Still, it did increase. And it’s been revamped.

If you’d like to read the new again and improved again chapter one, head on over to my website and find it on the Writings page under THE PROTECTOR.

Word count has been on my mind. It was since I started writing THE PROTECTOR. It just happened that a lot of the earlier chapters had a similar word count and once I noticed that I tried to keep the subsequent chapters in the same area, word count-wise. It was a conscious effort. As were the general shortness of the chapters and the no-scene breaks rule. And of course those decisions weren’t willy nilly either.

I wish I could remember the magazine or website that had the article on new reading habits of modern readers. We all know that attention spans have decreased and life has become hectic. Many people read on their train or bus commute to work. Shorter chapters lend themselves perfectly to quick reading. And since it’s a fact that people had to break in the middle of a chapter … they move through a book with shorter chapters quicker.

“Oh, just one more. They’re so short. I can do one more.”

Now I just have to find the agent/editor/publisher who’s also read that article…