With thirty-eight chapters and a prologue, TAU CETI is an epic tale, with this final draft starting at 159,000 words.

I’m fairly certain I’ve finalized the chapter titles now, although this image will also show some of the extra pieces.

“Plot Points to Consider” isn’t story content, but notes to myself, a checklist of sorts as I go through the text once again. “Apocrypha” is material that probably won’t be in the published story – subplots, the excised first four chapters, and paths the story ended up not taking. The contents of “Where To Put These Pieces?” may end up being in the Apocrypha.

I’m also not convinced that the prologue is staying. I change my mind about this often, but lately I’ve leaned towards relegating it to the Apocrypha.

Removing those takes the word count down to a more manageable 132,000 words. The other 17,000 words, or at least as many of them as end up in the Aprocrypha folder, may end up being some kind of bonus content for any truly dedicated fan. Maybe.