On Chapters, and When to Break Them

Many authors I know write books with chapters. I don’t. Before the people who read my books start pointing fingers and calling me a liar (pants on fire), allow me to explain. I outline my books before I write, often in great detail. (That is, I thought it was great detail until I heard Jeffery Deaver at last September’s Colorado Gold–his fifty-page outlines put my ten-pagers to shame, but I digress…)  When the outline is finished, I write the entire manuscript from start to finish without any breaks–except for the kind that involve removing my fingers from the keys. The result is one file, in

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