Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp- Chapters 24 and 25

cover design by Farah Evers

 
I've been dabbling at this all week, but finally had serious time to devote to writing. Mostly, this was a matter of word crafting, as I had a clear idea of what needed to happen.

So, I crafted, and typed and finally got to the end of the event. Total words, 2895. Whoa! Suddenly, I have two chapters. That's fine, the number of chapters is nothing important.

I'm currently reading a book by one of my favorite mystery authors, Rita Mae Brown. Now that I'm writing mysteries myself, I'm paying more attention to techniques of other writers. Some of her chapters are long and some are short. There's no rule for length. Personally, I try to have each chapter cover either one event or one day, or one emotional package, with something that either adds to the suspense, or perhaps to character development.

This block of words splits nicely into two sections.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 25:

    Clearly, no one had been here for ages. The weeds grew tall and were unbroken around the sad, but once proud old building.
    On the opposite side of the road, the river side, an opening had formerly been cleared to the river. I thought it must have been done to provide river access to the house. A faint trail led through a swath of daisies and Queen-Anne’s lace. Paddy was already poking his way along it, and I followed him. Sure enough, the river was very close, and the bank had been cut to provide a sloping access to the water. If there had been a dock it was long gone, a victim of winter freezes and spring floods.

You can buy book 1, News from Dead Mule Swamp, for only 99¢ at Smashwords, or Amazon