I need some ideas on how to come up with more chapters, I have seven chapters with a total of 34,839 words. So far I have enough ideas for four more chapters with a guessimate total of between 13,000 to 28,000 words. So the most I think I can get with hose four would be around 65,000 words and that's stretching it the breaking point.

I would appreciate any ideas for more chapters. Not that I want anyone to write them out just a few ideas that will, hopefully, trigger my own creativity.

The story is Urban Fantasy mystery. My MC doesn't do magic but he does have a certain ability to see things no one else can. He can see through glimmers and see beings who have a natural ability to be not seen, such as demons and angels. And if he concentrates right, he can tell if someone is not telling the truth.

The basic story is that he finds dead young woman who has obviously been murdered probably to hide something. He takes the case to find her killer. At the same time he is having problems with his fiance. He eventually comes to the point where he knows she is lying about something. Because of certain events and the lying he comes to believe that she is having an affair with his best friend. She's not, there's something completely different going on and she can't tell him about it until he's family. His best friend knows about it but that's because of his family not that she told him. At the very end of the novel, after he is almost killed saving the day, she finally breaks down and tells him what is really going on. Yeah, I know the ending already.

It turns out the killer is a wizard who is planning to bring a demi-god into our universe. Right now he suspects that is the wizard's purpose and in the next chapter he will call off the marriage.

This chapter, number eight, has him talking to some other wizards and some how he life is in danger. Probably Nine has him finding and fighting the bad wizard but the guy escapes and he comes to the mistaken conclusion about his fiance. Another chapter is the last one, there's one other but I can't think of right now.

He's talked the girls' roommates and pretty much knows why she was killed and is trying to figure out where the wizard is hiding.

I often find in revisions that I need to add more depth to the settings/descriptions and more interior monologue. I frequently find that I need to add scenes to develop some things, more--the antagonist (who always seems to get the short end in my first draft, which is all centered on the MC), as well as some conflicts or relationships. I very often find (or am told in critiques) that there are places that I told what I should have shown.

But I write differently, usually. I try to do most of all that in the first version. I do have a problem with Show as you do so I may end up adding some more to it, and I may end up putting in more sensory descriptions since I tend to forget that, but I'm not sure if there's 20,000 to 40,000 words in all of that.

I will find out though. my goal is to finish this one and another novel-the one that has the first 13 lines in the novel forum-by Christmas.

And I will keep working on it until I'm done even if I don't think of anything else. It's possible I will be surprised in the first revision.

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I went through the story and added a new start, new characters with their own arc and a new ending.

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Also, it sounds like you are writing a mystery story. That is all the fodder you need to lengthen the story if you are worried it is too short. There is no end of stuff you can add to it. For instance, in detective novels, there are always new characters to go interview, cops who don't like the detective, bad guys trying to recruit/kill said detective, etc. Every one of these interactions could warrant a whole chapter. Here are some thinks I had after reading your brief explanation:

"My MC doesn't do magic but he does have a certain ability to see things no one else can."

Does he know this, or is learning that he has this ability part of the story? If he learns it, how does it interrupt his existing life?

"He can see through glimmers and see beings who have a natural ability to be not seen, such as demons and angels."

Not sure what a glimmer is, but is your MC sure? How would he react if he was a normal beat cop (for example) and started having visions of demons near crime scenes? Just having something like that happen and his reaction is enough to fill a chapter or two. Meanwhile, if he is learning about this ability, there is another mystery (why is he magic?) on top of the main mystery story (whodunnit?) You can interweave clues for each mystery separately. At first, your MC may want to know who killed the girl. Then he sees her dead spirit. Now he is more concerned about figuring out if he is crazy. Then her spirit leads him to a fresh crime scene. He gets promoted (still working on the cop assumption here...) for his excellence. Bad guys figure out he is on to them, try to kill him. Now he wants to solve the original murder again. etc... See? Every one of those sentences could be expanded into scenes for a whole chapter.

"And if he concentrates right, he can tell if someone is not telling the truth."

Again, when does he learn this? How does he use it once he figures it out?

"The basic story is that he finds dead young woman who has obviously been murdered probably to hide something."

How does he find her? (this goes back to his role. Is he a cop? A private eye hired by the girl's parents to find her? A prime suspect trying to clear his name?)

"He takes the case to find her killer. At the same time he is having problems with his fiance."

Are these related? Does she hate his job? Does she not like the death threats he gets? Is she a suspect trying to cover her trail?

"He eventually comes to the point where he knows she is lying about something."

How many false trails did he go down before he learned this? What made him suspect her?

"Because of certain events and the lying he comes to believe that she is having an affair with his best friend."

Ok, that means you need to introduce his best friend early on so there is a build up. Who is his friend? His partner on the force? Just a bowling buddy? The killer?

Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions, I appreciate it.

I can add something about my MC dealing with the cops, one already tried to kill him, one working for the bad guy, I do need to do something more with that.

I have made reference to his best friend being attracted to the dead girl's sexy roommate so it's possible they could start dating. Even if them dating might put a crimp in his believe that the friend and fiance are having an affair. My MC and his friend met her while investigating the case.

My MC does have a friend who works in the morgue and they've talked but I can get them together again. Yeah, I know cliche-ish. A lot of UF PIs have such a friend but he needs to get info about the dead girl and have someone he can deal with on the force.

He's a new PI, I've debated about making him an established PI of supernatural happenings or if this is his first case which happens by accident. Dealing with him learning of his abilities is out since he grew up with them. But he seems to be developing a new ability, one to control lightning. At least the lightning created by the wizard, there's been a series of freak lightning storms lately.

Right now the three of them are at a fantasy con. Something is going to happen to put his life in danger but I haven't quite figured out what. It's behind the scenes in a back room so no one else knows that anything happened. And something happens to separate him from the other two, I could use his friend talking to the dead girl's roommate, who is there.

Again Thanks. This does help.

And I'm posting the first 13 lines in the novel section if anyone is curious.

You could also try telling the story from another POV, giving you another way to look at the same events (and introduce a sub-plot.) If you don't want to overwhelm your main POV, make it less than 30% of the main POV, but it would be a way to add count.

If you're writing for YA, 65k words is fine. 65-80k is generally what is looked for in YA, though I think there's slightly more leeway in fantasy, but not much (sub 100k for certain.)

Thanks for the suggestions KayTi.

I'm not sure if splitting up the chapters, I wouldn't doubt that a couple need to be broken up, would help increase the length.

Your other idea with the POV could though. I need to think about it.

I don't think this one is a YA novel. I have another one that I am very slowly revising that could be, I think, and a fantasy that is at least three-fourths of the way done that might also be but not this one.

Does the publisher you are angling toward have a magic number or something?

If you feel the book is done at 65K then adding needless material may throw your pacing off.

Pyre Dynasty

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Would it be crazy to say there is nothing wrong with a short book?
Does the publisher you are angling toward have a magic number or something?

If you feel the book is done at 65K then adding needless material may throw your pacing off.

As to extending I wonder if you have fully explored the resolution, or as I like to call it the consequences.

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As I understand it shorter novels are usually novelas or novelettes, one is a bit longer than the other I believe. There are such things and every now and then there's even a anthology with three to five. But they are also supposed to be a lot harder to sell to a publisher. Of course with electronic publishing that might be changing, I hear there are shorter ebooks out there, but you would probably have to find one of the new e-publishers.

I hope my resolution takes a chapter and a half to two whole chapters. I have to wait 'till I get there to say for sure. And to see how long each chapter will be. I expect the last one to be from 3500 words to over 7,000. I will most probably add to it when I actually type it out--I always do with scenes.

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I need some ideas on how to come up with more chapters,

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First verify your issue is a lack of story. Maybe you write in too much of a summary form and have plenty of story but need to actually write in scene.

If that's not the issue, then you need to verify you actually have a story idea that can generate 40 to 60 dramatic scenes. Meaning you have a story problem that is big enough for plenty of reversals, obstacles, conflicts, etc. It's a big hard problem that's going to take a number of steps to complete.

If it's not, then it's not. Maybe you can change it. Maybe you can't. But it's likely to not just be an issue of inserting more chapters. It might be a total rewrite because you core idea was too small to begin with. And you can rarely change the core issue without having to change major parts of the story.

More importantly, I'm betting you need to learn proportion. To do that, get a book you love. The type of story you're trying to write. Maybe you love HUNGER GAMES. Maybe some other book. Buy a copy to mark up.

1. Analyze scenes and plot. Read and mark where scenes begin and end and how big they are in pages and word counts. Mark the inciting incident and all the plot turns after that. In another color mark subplots and their main plot turns. Some might have just one turn and be done, some might have more. Do the WHOLE FREAKING BOOK.

On a sheet of paper write up the ouline of the book, one line per scene. Note which plot turns are minor and which change the nature of the central problem--ieee, they killed uncle Ben! What?? My Dad is a Jedi?!! Yes, we need to save princess! what?! Darth Vader is my father?!!! Note any reversals/rugpulls/major surprises. Tally up the number of scenes and average length of the scenes. Tally up number of major plot turns. Identify where they occured in the word count of the book and the page number. Identify the same for the incidint incident.

2. List out all the key conflicts you saw between the lead and himself or herself, other characters, and the setting.

3. Analyze proportion of action, dialogue, interior monologue, exposition, description, and backstory. Use a different color for each. Do this for 3 chapters. Tally up percentages for each.

Now compare to your book. Not to fit your book to that one. But to see if there are significant differences. If there are significant differences those might be areas where you need to adjust your approach.

Thanks for the suggestions johnbrown.

Sometimes writing is work, especially when your learning.

A glimmer, which is probably spelled wrong, is a spell to disguise someone. Depending on whose universe , some people--beings can do it on their own while other people need some object to that has been spelled or filled with essence as one writer calls it. As he has stated in most of his books, using essence is not magic.

Anyway, using a glimmer you can look like an Orc, a Hobbit, John Wayne or President Obama and it would be perfect. Better ones include smell and sound, the best ones include touch.