Thanks! Chapters aren't really the issue, it's when my brain churns out about a thousand words that doesn't directly connect to what's coming next or has just been.
At the mo I have a bit where they're investigating a murder in the autumn, then a scene where a character meets some visitors to the city, then a summer festival (I might move it to spring) where the visitors are referred to, and the visitor scene feels a bit stranded if that makes any sense
Ah, right, I'd got the wrong end of the stick. As far as I can see, you're simply writing oddments as the ideas arrive with you, rather than in a strict linear this-happens-next order. I agree with sknox that when you get a scene screaming at you, it's important to write it straight away -- if only as a set of rough notes -- because sure as eggs is eggs if you don't, it'll get lost somewhere. And jumping between scenes from all over the place is certainly something I've done, but usually because I'm stuck somewhere and it's better to write a scene 20 chapters ahead that I've had an idea for rather than sit looking at a blank screen and getting worked up over it.
However, there is perhaps a risk that with this technique you'll end up only writing the easiest, interesting, bits, and when they're done, you run out of enthusiasm for the bits in between. I'd therefore suggest that until you're as experienced as sknox you try and write a little more linearly. Which means in this case sitting down and doing a bit of plotting to link the scenes together ie work out what everyone is doing between the end of the investigation and meeting the visitors and the spring/summer festival. You don't necessarily have to write all the intervening scenes, and they probably won't need to appear in the novel, but you do need to know what has happened to each and every character over the months. In that way, you can create the links in later scenes by referring to those events. So make a list of possible things they've done, work out the repercussions of each, and see which best fit with the novel's overall themes.
@The Judge I will try and remember your table, something like that may be useful when revising but while I know where I am going I am very much pantsing the middle
Sorry, I didn't mean to sound all "How dare you forget that wonderful table I produced for you?"! It was simply that, for me, was the easiest way to explain what I meant, and having it in the post was easier than referring to it in the other thread.
But just to clarify, I'm a pantser from start to finish, with only very occasional plotting to get me out of a hole. But I don't make that table at the end, it's started when I start writing. Quite literally, I'll note down the details -- day/date/time/description -- as soon as I start a chapter/scene, and when I've finished writing for the day I'll add the word count. Next day, if I work on the same scene I'll note what the new word count is. The table grows as I write the chapters. If I suddenly jump to a scene later in the book, I'll leave a few lines, come up with a likely chapter number and add those details. If I edit word count down, I make the change here; if I split a scene, I make the change here. I've therefore always got an up-to-date note of exactly what I've written and where it fits in, and I can look and see where possible problems are from a structural point of view as I'm writing. It's also much easier to create as you're going along, rather than ex post facto (and I'm all for the easy life!).
