Profligacy of 2.

The profligacy of two versions of the same book. The bigger version could be broken into three books.

"Faerie Punk"

"Iggy's Choice (A Faerie Punk Novel)"

"Ever Punk (A Faerie Punk Novel)"

I'm so prolific I feel like I can afford to finish a book, and then do a second version of it. Well, not a second version so much as an expansion.

I have a hard RULE: Additions and subtractions allowed, major changes are not. But of course, at some point, if I make enough adds and subs, changes happen whether I want them or not.

I'm just a few chapters from the end of Faerie Punk. My guess, if I go straight for an ending, I'll end up at 125K words. A big book, but if it's going to be an ebook, not outrageous.

Before writing the last two or three climax chapters though, I started to making additions. So I've added about 5K in new chapters, and have ideas for quite a few more.

Thing is, if I can finish a book at 125K and it's legit, am I not just being profligate to do more? Am I not just fluffing the story? Are the new chapters even necessary?

I do think the new chapters add a little more depth and obviously complexity to the story. I think they flesh out the characters a little, up the ante on the plot.

So what does "necessary" even mean?

The biggest danger is that I'll make a hash of it. That it will become a tangled mess. I have a history of that: hence the RULE.

So I'm going to finish the book in the next few days. Three more chapters and I'm done.

Then I'm going to set aside that version (minus the 5K in new material) and do the second version with all the new ideas. When I'm finished, I'll look the larger version over and try to figure out if it can be broken up, or if it works as one large novel. Or whether I'm better of with the 'shorter' version.

My guess is the larger version will be at least 150K words, more likely bigger than that.

Right now, I can't see a natural break-up point where there is are satisfying semi-climaxes for three books, yet I have a weird feeling I'll be able to figure it out.

If I can't do that, then I'll either put the entire bigger book out or go with the smaller book.

I guess profligacy is a nice problem to have.