Chapter one done

Yep. That concludes chapter one. To celebrate that I've added a small app where I list finished chapters, all one of them.

I've also done some of what I set out to do.

Characters introduced. Check.
Initial relations between characters in play. Check.
The Big Surprise. Check.

Characters outside of school. Oops.
Families. Mostly oops.
Supporting cast. Mostly oops.
Some actual action. Oops.

During an earlier life I did "finish" two manuscripts. At least if you accept that the act of writing "The End" counts as finishing. But both two were 130K :ish word length works. And the pacing is different in a full length novel.

Even though I threw out my concerns about overusing coincidences with the garbage (the pacing in this work just doesn't allow me to keep those to a realistic level) the story still flows along glacially.

Or does it?

From an LN point of view. Probably. I'm doing less of in media res and more of exposition. Basically I'm setting up the rules of the game, and after one chapter I'm not even done.

From the point of view of a full length novel (say 400 pages paperback). No. The story is sprinting along while stuttering. I'm stacking scene onto scene with only a minimum of narrative glue between them. Even though it might look like nothing happens we've established inter grade conflict, strangers in a strange land, violent pasts, rumour mongering on an industrial level, not one but two high school fan-clubs and even hinted at superior athletic abilities.

After two or three weeks of school, in one chapter.

For me that's rushing it, even if I'm trying my hands at this style. And it shows that I don't really feel at home. There's a lot less dialogue compared to the LN I've read. There's also a lot less incomprehensible internal dialogue (well, incomprehensible for a westerner at least) that no character would have time to reflect on given the situational context given.

Basically, if I slide in the stairs I think "SHIT!" before getting butt hurt. I don't wax poetically about the polish of the marble, whether my panties are going to show or not and, if so, if my love interest will have the bad taste to pop around the corner to see.