Plot point reached earlier than expected

[Agentt]

So, does this ever happen to you that you want to leave a chapter, say, at an cliff hanger, like,
He had an idea, a plan, something that would change his entire life. He smiled as he foresaw the events his brain child shall bring forth.


But, it has only been a couple hundred words and your MC reached this conclusion, immensely short of your 1k or 3k long chapter.

So well, really what to do here?

I did considered wasting a bit of time, but 300 words of filler seem a bit unnatural, and I have to do a time skip here, so I can't continue with the introduction of the next scene,

 

[HyperiousTheSun]

I would just end it where I can, even if it's just a couple hundred words.
That or add it to the next chapter and not torture your pitiful readers with cliffhangers.
Another alternative is to add details and fluff before you get to the core idea/plan and cliffhanger.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I would just end it there if it is only a couple hundred-word difference. The other option is that you continue writing after the fact to meet your desired word count. This allows you to avoid the unnecessary cliffhanger and continue with the story. plus, filler is usually never good. The exception being the ones from Avatar.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It's the opposite for me.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

It's the opposite for me.

yeah, same for me. most of the time I have the idea that I'll reach a specific plot point by let's say part 25 of my story. however, I don't actually reach it until part 48. then the story becomes way longer than I initially intended and now I have to work on the story even longer in order to reach a good conclusion. my accidental time travel story started out with me believing that I would finish it by 400 pages. Now it's at 1078 pages and it's finally nearing the conclusion.

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Eh, I hate leaving cliffhangers, at least intentionally. I don't really want to leave my readers hanging. Though sometimes I write so much that a cliffhanger becomes inevitable, at that point I just let it be as long as it feels natural. (I always try to "complete" a chapter, made me go over the average word count by 1k+ a couple of times).

 

[ThrillingHuman]

You have plot points?! Ah, too dazzling, this sporadic writer can't stand this level of commitment

 

[BlackKnightX]

So, does this ever happen to you that you want to leave a chapter, say, at an cliff hanger, like,
He had an idea, a plan, something that would change his entire life. He smiled as he foresaw the events his brain child shall bring forth.


But, it has only been a couple hundred words and your MC reached this conclusion, immensely short of your 1k or 3k long chapter.

So well, really what to do here?

I did considered wasting a bit of time, but 300 words of filler seem a bit unnatural, and I have to do a time skip here, so I can't continue with the introduction of the next scene,

That happened to me too. I would just keep the story moving in that chapter and then end it with another cliffhanger, instead.

I know it feels frustrating because you just want to end it the way you want, but the other cliffhanger is also fine, isn’t it?

 

[ElijahRyne]

So, does this ever happen to you that you want to leave a chapter, say, at an cliff hanger, like,
He had an idea, a plan, something that would change his entire life. He smiled as he foresaw the events his brain child shall bring forth.


But, it has only been a couple hundred words and your MC reached this conclusion, immensely short of your 1k or 3k long chapter.

So well, really what to do here?

I did considered wasting a bit of time, but 300 words of filler seem a bit unnatural, and I have to do a time skip here, so I can't continue with the introduction of the next scene,

I was planning on gradually explaining something over the corse of 15 chapters or so. Yet ended up doing the vast majority of it in a short dialogue… Hopefully it was not to much of an info dump…

 

[ConcubusBunny]

I'd end it there especially if the fluff I have planned adds nothing to the story and just distancts the readers from the plot.