Book II Chapter Structure

Right, now in Book I the chapter structure was fairly simple and easy to create. There were two parallel plots and each essentially had seven chapters and an epilogue each. Each plot had two point of view each, David and Viera in the first and Priantos and Lash'ir in the second.

However, in Book II there are six points of view and, while there are still essentially two parallel plots, they overlaps, split and intertwine, making it difficult to use the chapter structure employed in the first book.

Here's an idea of the complexity I've talking about, shown with the book divided into ten points in time (showing only the POV characters that are together at those points; "0" (the first point) are the characters' initial locations; open lines represent rough borders between potential parts 1, 2 and 3):

0 - David/Kenji/Kate (Earth) || Priantos (Tita'ji seas) || Viera (her village) || Caylin (fleeing from his village)
1 - David (Darwin) || Priantos (Tel'nir) || Kenji/Kate (Eddington) || Viera (en route to Tirander) || Caylin (Jay'ji capital)
2 - David (Baal) || Priantos (sea of ghosts/Artaeum) || Kenji/Kate/Viera (Tirander) || Caylin (with Aari'ji)

3 - David/Viera (Sacred Grove) || Priantos (via sea to Kij) || Kenji/Kate (Valdin) || Caylin (with Aari'ji)
4 - David/Priantos (Kij) || Kenji/Kate/Caylin (Aari'ji capital) || Viera (Tirander)
5 - David/Priantos (Lost Cathedral) || Kenji/Kate/Caylin (Jay'ji capital) || Viera (en route back to village)

6 - David/Priantos (Aari'ji capital) || Kenji/Kate (Eddington) || Viera (en route to Red Mountain) || Caylin (en route back to his village)
7 - David/Priantos/Kenji (Red Mountain) || Kate (Eddington) || Viera (almost at Red Mountai) || Caylin (his village)
8 - David/Priantos/Kenji/Kate (Darwin) || Viera (Red Mountain) || Caylin (Blood Canyon)
9 - David/Kate (Darwin) || Priantos/Kenji (Valdin) || Viera (captured by Iga'ji) || Caylin (captured by Iga'ji)


So, erm, what should I do regarding chapter structure?




Edit: Here we go! ^^


=Prologue: Caylin
The battle of Ylalam; sent away by parents to live with the Aari'vi.

=Chapter 1:
-David: Converses with Kenji about EMR disturbances. Shifts back to Novusvita with Kenji, Kate and Stephanie; Donathan remains behind.
-Viera: Lives normally in village; a Svia'vi man, Ca'sheek, is chosen as her suitor by her parents; is upset. Journeys by air (via Skylar) to festival in Akavir.

=Chapter 2: Priantos
Deciphers location of next conduit by the Jaylen's words; sends a coded letter back to Valdin, informing the Order of the Arcane what has happened and what his plans are. Purchases Tita'vi ship and crew to travel next location by sea (a week or so before David, Kate and Kenji arrive back on Novusvita). Stops at Tel'nir; hears of battles with Iga (battles of Ylalam and Nalim).

=Chapter 3:
-Kenji: Shifts back to Novusvita with Kate and David, but does not return to Darwin, instead going to Eddington to start his new post as a human ambassador to the Zen'ji; takes Kate along, as was arranged with Novusvita's human authorities by Donathan. Received a Human/Zen'ji vocal translation device(s). Flies with Kate to Valdin. Meets and discussed human/Zen'ji relations with the Valiero'ji king and is maybe told of the Hunters.
-Kate: [Above]

=Chapter 4:
-David: Plans are made for an expedition to easiest-to-reach disturbance: Baal. Flies to Ruins of Baal; finds Jay'jil, encounter with Guardian, alone by chance; chooses to keep information from team.
-Priantos: Continues on into the Sea of Ghosts; is caught up in a storm; the ship strands on Arteaum (a very creepy and thought-to-be haunted island that everyone fears and very few have ever returned from alive). Arteaum stuff.

=Chapter 5:
-David: Stops at Eddington colony. Follows Guardian's instructions to the Sacred Grove in Akavir. Finds that a national festival is taking place in Svia'ji capital; Viera present. Tells Viera of his encounter with the Jaylen; Viera reveals that she has been betrothed to some guy of her parents' choice. Viera convinces Svia to allow David into the Sacred Grove. Enters Grove; finds next Jay'jil.
-Viera: Unexpectantly meets David there; is told of Jay'jil journey, helps him enter the Sacred Grove. Says goodbye to David; stays for the rest of the festival.

=Chapter 6: Priantos
Ship repaired; leaves island and passed through the Pillars of Sevari. Reaches the straights of Harden'dell (or whatever).

=Chapter 7:
-Kate: Visits Aari capital with Kenji. Meets Caylin. Takes Caylin back to the Jay'vi by his request when they move on to the Jay'ji capital. Kate gives Caylin her communicator as a parting gift. Heads back to Eddington.
-Caylin: [Above]

=Chapter 8:
-David: Continues on expidition; travels to Kij. Ambushed by Hunters; saved by Priantos. Finds next Jay'jil in Kij with Priantos. Travels to the Lost Cathedral; followed by Hunters. Enters Cathedral; finds next Jay'jil; Hunters killed by Jaylen.
-Priantos: Reaches ruins of Kij (is unaware of the Lost Cathedral, so assumes the Jaylen's instruction were to go to the next best place in Harden'dell, Kij). Finds and saves David from Hunters. Finds the Jay'jil of Kij with David; the Jaylen informs him that he is in the wrong place; figures out the location of the Harden'dell conduit (he probably heard stories related to the Lost Cathedral from the native Col'tun'ji before or shortly after this scene). [Above stuff].

=Chapter 9:
-David: Follows Jaylen directions to Red Mountain. Stops at Aari'ji capitol, Arreine; narrowly escapes Iga'vi attack on the city.
-Viera: Before leaving Akavir, Viera has a dream (similar to those David has - the ones induced by the Jaylen) about, basically, what David is doing and plans to do and where he's going and stuff. The next day, news reaches the island that the Iga'ji have attacked the Aari'ji capital; Viera impulsively leaves the island, seeing that her dream was coming true, and starts flying to Red Mountain.

=Chapter 10: Priantos
Continues to Red Mountain; followed by Hunters/Iga. The Battle of Red Mountain (thanks to Kenji organizing human forces to stop the Iga'ji). The Chamber of Fate.

=Chapter 11:
-Kenji: Convinces Eddington colony authorities to distract the approaching Iga'ji forces. Flies to and saves Priantos and David as they exit Red Mountain; returns to Darwin. (Kate does not occompany him, instead staying at Eddington.)
-Caylin: After Kenji and Kate leaves, he joins a war party heading for the land the Iga'vi invaded. The Battle of Blood Canyon; Jay'ji wins. Captured by surviving Iga'ji soldiers.

=Chapter 12:
-David: Flies back to Darwin with Priantos and Kenji.
-Priantos: Returns to Valdin with Kenji. The Battle of Valdin Begins without warning shortly after they arrive in the city; Kenji sends live feed to Darwin. Surprise meeting with Tiard.

=Epilogue: Viera
Arrives at Red mountain too late - David and Priantos have already flown back to Valdin and the battle itself is over; is ambushed and captured by remaining Iga'ji before she can leave.

Lawdy, no idea. I suppose just alternating between each characters POV in a certain order for each chapter would work out well enough. Otherwise things would just get too complicated.

That would be the simplest solution, but would make it difficult to show each part of the story without having a crapload of chapters...

Perhaps we should establish different plot lines per part:
1 - David's expedition (David); Priantos' journey (Priantos); Eddington (Kenji/Kate); Kalin in the Aari'ji (Kalin); Viera in Akavir (Viera)
2 - Search for the Jay'jil (David/Priantos); Aari to Jay (Kate/Kenji/Kalin); Viera in Akavir (Viera)
3 - Search for the Jay'jil (David/Priantos); Back to Eddington (Kate/Kenji); Battle of Blood Canyon (Kalin); Viera's decision (Viera)

My thoughts are that we have three universal POV's present in each part, and one different fourth POV in each part. David and Priantos will definitely have POV's in all three parts, but who will be the third (Kate, Kenji, Kalin or Viera?) and in which parts will the remaining three have their POV's?

Ugh... No idea. My brain hurts now. Since Viera seems to always be off alone in her parts, she should have her POV as the third. No idea how you'll do the 4th POV though in the final part, since that'd leave out one of the plot lines. Or something.

I can leave out Kate/Kenji going back to Eddington as nothing actually happens there, aside from Kenji rescuing David and Priantos at Red Mountain (by the way, do you know Book II's storyline yet?), which we'd obviously be able to mention in David or Priantos' POV.

Okay, then we could do it like:
Part 1 - David, Priantos, Viera, Kenji
Part 2 - David, Priantos, Viera, Kate
Part 3 - David, Priantos, Viera, Kalin

Thus we now have the POV's sorted. Now how to arrange the chapters...

Yeah, I know the storyline.

Sounds good.

No idea on the Chapter arrangement. You could just alternate from one POV to the next in some specific order, I guess.

Or have said order but in each chapter, maybe? (Multiple POV's per chapter.)

Hmm. That'd be neat, I suppose.

Alternately, I could try using your chapter arrangement - with a total of 12 chapters - and see if I still get everything in.

Prologue - Kalin: Fleeing from village.

Part 1:
Chp 1 - David: Return to Novusvita; expedition to Baal; finds first Jay'jil
Chp 2 - Priantos: Sea journey from Tita'ji; stops at Tel'nir; continues through Sea of Ghosts; stranded on Arteaum (mega-creepy moments here); manages to leave at end of chapter
Chp 3 - Viera: En route from her village to Tirander, where there's a huge national festival; it is revealed that she's effectively engaged to some warrior guy
Chp 4 - Kenji: Spends a few days at Eddington before starting diplomatic journey to capitals; visits Valdin first (I think. Might be in part 2, though); visits Tirander, meeting Viera there by chance

Part 2:
Chp 5 - David: Flies to Eddington; leaves team there; flies to Tirander (having solved the Jaylen's riddle-like directions); meets Kenji, Kate and Viera there; upset by Viera's engagement; enters Sacred Grove, finds next Jay'jil; continues on to Kij; meets Priantos
Chp 6 - Priantos: Meets David (after reaching Kij by sea); finds next Jay'jil together; continues to Lost Cathedral; ambushed by Hunters; Hunters killed by Jaylen defenses; finds next Jay'jil
Chp 7 - Viera: Still at Tirander; starts heading back to her village after festival; has Jaylen dream involving David and Red Mountain; abandons her family and betrothed mate and starts flying (via Skylar) to Red Mountain
Chp 8 - Kate: Kenji and Kate reach Aari'ji capital (after visiting basically all the others aside from Iga's); meets Kalin there by chance; Kalin convinces them (Kenji has a Zen'ji/human translation device that I'll introduce near the start of the book) to take him back to the Jay'ji; Kate and Kalin sort of connect; reaches Jay'ji capital; Kate gives Kalin her communicator before they leave; returns to Eddington

Part 3:
Chp 9 - David: They head to Aari'ji capital; city attacked by Iga'ji; they manage to escape and flies to Eddington; meets Kenji and Kate there; learns of Iga'ji forces heading their way, though they couldn't possibly know their whereabouts... unless they somehow had access to human communication networks / get intell from the human satellite orbiting the planet - there must be a mole
Chp 10 - Priantos: They continue to Red Mountain; whole Chamber of Fate thing; finds next Jay'jil; almost captured/killed during Battle of Red Mountain (human forces vs. Iga'ji); rescued by Kenji
Chp 11 - Viera: Journeys to and reaches Red Mountain; finds battle field; captured by Iga'ji
Chp 12 - Kalin: Reaches village with Jay'ji forces; takes it back; proceeds to former Iga'ji/Jay'ji border (a jagged hill range with one pass cutting through it - Blood Canyon); Battle of Blood Canyon; victory; gets captured by surviving Iga'ji forces (which is how the communicator Kate gave him will come in handy in Book III)

Epilogue - David, Kenji or Priantos (not sure who): David, Kenji and Priantos reach Darwin; Kate still in Eddington; Kenji takes Priantos back to Valdin; once at the city; they are met with a surprise attack from Iga; Kenji sends a live feed of the events to Darwin (via his eyes; the information is sent via a brain/PDA link); Priantos has a surprise encounter with Tiard. The End. For now...


I'm thinking I might have to move Viera's chapters after Kenji, Kate and Kalin's chapters.

Mhm. Sounds good, me thinks.

Still, that structure means that David finding the first Jay'jil and Priantos' experience on Arteaum will essentially be at the start of part 1, where they were supposed to conclude the part...

Hmm... Well, I guess you should just have the different POV chapters going in whatever order makes sense.

I figured out a batter solution:

Prologue: Kalin

Chapter 1: David & Priantos
Chapter 2: Viera
Chapter 3: Kenji & Kate
Chapter 4: David & Priantos

Chapter 5: David & Priantos
Chapter 6: Viera
Chapter 7: Kate & Kalin
Chapter 8: David & Priantos

Chapter 9: David & Priantos
Chapter 10: Viera
Chapter 11: Kalin & Kenji
Chapter 12: David & Priantos

Epilogue: Viera

Smart. Sounds good.

Only with Viera and Priantos switched for chapters 1/2, 5/6 and 9/10.


I have the sudden unavoidable urge to reorder Book I to the same kind of 3-part, 12-chapter system... Will do that later.



Edit: Yay. I finished figuring out the chapter structure of Book II (see OP).

Hooray, book planning.

No progress since then, though...

Darn...

Right, due to the lack of any sort of progress, let's put up a detailed list of everything that has to happen in each chapter, starting with part one:

(Nowhere near done.)


=Chapter 1:
[David: Converses with Kenji about EMR disturbances. Shifts back to Novusvita with Kenji, Kate and Stephanie; Donathan remains behind.]
-David realizes that there's much of the Jaylen cities that are mysteriously unknown. He tries to get grants for an investigation into the EMR disturbances, but is inexplicably rejected. Somehow convinces Marcus to let him in the Jaylen cities' secrets. Goes with a team to Baal.

[Viera: Lives normally in village; a Svia'vi man, Ca'sheek, is chosen as her suitor by her parents; is upset. Journeys by air (via Skylar) to festival in Akavir.]


=Chapter 2: Priantos
[Deciphers location of next conduit by the Jaylen's words; sends a coded letter back to Valdin, informing the Order of the Arcane what has happened and what his plans are. Purchases Tita'vi ship and crew to travel next location by sea (a week or so before David, Kate and Kenji arrive back on Novusvita). Stops at Tel'nir; hears of battles with Iga (battles of Ylalam and Nalim).]


=Chapter 3:
[Kenji: Shifts back to Novusvita with Kate and David, but does not return to Darwin, instead going to Eddington to start his new post as a human ambassador to the Zen'ji; takes Kate along, as was arranged with Novusvita's human authorities by Donathan. Received a Human/Zen'ji vocal translation device(s). Flies with Kate to Valdin. Meets and discussed human/Zen'ji relations with the Valiero'ji king and is maybe told of the Hunters.]

[Kate: The above.]


=Chapter 4:
[David: Plans are made for an expedition to easiest-to-reach disturbance: Baal. Flies to Ruins of Baal; finds Jay'jil, encounter with Guardian, alone by chance; chooses to keep information from team.]

[Priantos: Continues on into the Sea of Ghosts; is caught up in a storm; the ship strands on Arteaum (a very creepy and thought-to-be haunted island that everyone fears and very few have ever returned from alive). Arteaum stuff]

Okay. Looks good. What do I do?

Erm... Wiki articles?

Well, yeah, but I was thinking of contributions to this thread.


Woohoo, having a life all weekend. Went to a party and all that jazz. Which means I won't be on much.

Ah.

Mmh. Then I have to tutor a few of my friends in Math, because I'm the best and they don't understand what we're doing.


Anything I can do in terms of helping with book planning, seeing as wiki articles are really boring and I'm bad at writing?

Well, seeing as I spontaneously have to work today all of a sudden, you could try listing everything you think should happen in each chapter. Or write Wiki articles.