Chapter Template

I have used the book ‘The Guardian’ by Sherrilyn Kenyon and done a template based upon the prologue. There were approximately 1630 words in the chapter.

Backstory: 200 words 6%
Character Development: 400 words 12%
Scene Setting: 400 words 12%
Exposition that moves the story: 1000 words 31%
Dialogue that moves the story: 1150 words 35%
Foreshadowing: 50 Words 2%
Symbolism: 50 Words 2%

1.          Backstory
… a pain so foul he no longer remembered living without it. …even after a millennium, his adoptive father’s mocking condemnation still echoed in his ears. After all, Seth had once been Noir’s most beloved pet – one he’d lavished with gifts in between the abuse. His own family had sold him to Noir when he’d been nothing more than a child. It was something no one ever allowed him to forget. All this because he’d once made a bargain with the only person he’d ever called friend.

2.          Character Development
Noir. Primal God. Lord of all things dark and deadly. His immaculate black suit and crisp white shirt looked out of place in that cold dark room. … his wrist bones protruded through the open cuts the manacles had worn through his flesh.

3.          Scene Setting
… his mouth had been bolted shut by the demons who’d been torturing him for the last… a room with walls that were splattered and stained with Seth’s blood. … his naked body  hung lankly from the ceiling, with his hands shackled over his head. Blinking hard, he stared at his blood on the walls around him. The shadows there seemed to make the bloodstains dance.

4.          Exposition that moves the story
Maybe this time I’ll drown from it. But he knew the sad truth. He was immortal. Death would never save him from this misery, any more than it had spared him from the rest of his violent past.
Noir snatched a handful of hair out as he released him. Pain seared his scalp, causing the vermin in his body to bite even more ferociously as they scrambled towards the fresh blood.
He crumpled to the ground where he lay so weak, he couldn’t even lift his head. No part of his body worked anymore. It had been too long since he last used his muscles.
His resolve set, he braced himself for the new onslaught of pain and slowly pushed himself up on trembling limbs as he felt his god powers finally returning. With every heartbeat they grew stronger. Still, they wouldn’t go to full strength.

5.          Dialogue that moves the story
Noir tsked. “You know you have no choice except to obey me, slave. I own you.” “If you fail me this time, I can assure you that your next stint here will make this one seem like paradise. Do you understand?” “You will do me proud and get what I require, or …” He didn’t finish the threat. He didn’t have to. “You’re disgusting, you pathetic dog. Get cleaned up.”

6.          Foreshadowing
Noir glanced around at the others. “Leave us.”  He didn’t finish the threat. He didn’t have to. … And when the demons returned, he gave them the payback they deserved. May the gods help whoever Noir wanted him to go after. For he would take no pity on them whatsoever.

7.          Symbolism
His immaculate black suit and crisp white shirt looked out of place in the cold dark room – a room with walls that were splattered and stained with Seth’s blood.