The Muffler's Misery: Part 4 Complete

I bet you want to know how it's going, but after last time, you're too afraid to ask in case I start wittering on about decorating again. Look, it's the only way you'll find out, so please ask away.

Did I hear you ask how it's going? Very well, I must say.

The hallway is now a glowing banana split colour, and the spare bedroom is a lovely shade of berry smoothie, although I had a change of heart for the colour in my main bedroom. It's no longer continuing the fruity theme, but the room now sports a wall in proud peacock. Yes, that's a colour, not a personal description.

Next, I'll continue the banana split theme up the stairs and on the landing, then maybe a berry smoothie wall in the other space upstairs. Then back to the dining room for a splash more blood orange, leaving a final decision on what colour to theme the kitchen, maybe a brighter shade of orange,

Still awake? Oh, OK, I'll show pity on you and talk about The Muffler's Misery.

The first draft of part four is now complete. How did my predictions pan out? Well, not great, I'd say, although the action was just about spot on.

The name: Originally, I intended to call it The Council, but just before starting, I changed that to The Butcher. That was stupid. It's now named The President, which makes much more sense.

The length: I predicted that part four would be shorter than parts one to three. As you'd expect, it turned out to be the longest so far, at 17,000 words. That puts me at a total of 64,500 words. Overall, I'm expecting it to be a little short of 80,000 words.

The chapters: I got this right! There are four chapters, and they're called Constitution, Communication, Election, and Revelation.

So what's to come in part five? I've renamed this one from The Muffler to The Oracle. I mean, it's the same thing, but I think it fits better from the Portsea perspective.

This will also have four chapters: Consolidation, Incursion, Confrontation, and Culmination. There will probably also be an Epilogue (matching the Prologue at the novel's opening), but I may change my mind about that depending on how the final chapter goes.

I'd been a little unclear about the flow of this part until about three days ago. I knew the final chapter; I knew where things and people had to be, but I wasn't sure how to describe the opening. Naturally, the solution came to me at 2:30 in the morning, when I should have been sleeping. It ended up being the first time I've done Wordle at 4 am, and impressed myself in getting it in three.

I'd better get on with it then. But first tomorrow, more banana split!