In a flurry of activity, the second draft began: powering through thepages; words culled left, right and centre; word count dropping fast.
Or not.
Since I completed the first draft to my novel, not a lot has happened. I managed to detail all my chapters on index cards, allowing me to see the whole picture and easily make changes here and there. I'm finding it very useful, but unfortunately, it's not a lot to show for almost a month's work.
Why the slow down in productivity, especially with late July fast approaching? Work. The full time paid variety. Yes, that old chestnut. Yesterday was the first day in a fortnight I've actually sat down at my computer. My day job has become my night job as well. Not ideal, but not the end of the world either. Things have quietened down now, so I will be taking a week off in mid-May to play catch up - a game I've mastered over the years.
The first task for Draft Numero Deux is to reduce that big steaming pile of words you see there on your right under "Noise Reduction." Two hundred and seventy words is just too much (you think?!). So a culling we shall go. Watch with intense concentration and wild glee as that figure reduces over the next month - bottoming out, hopefully, at 160,000 words.
If I can't get the word count down, I will instead release two books - Steaming Pile of Words - Part One and Steaming Pile of Words - Part Two. If it worked for Steven Soderbergh, it can work for . . . oh wait.
Showing posts with label word count. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word count. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Clinging Onto A Sizeable Chunk
I’ve come to a point in the writing process where I’m starting to have concerns about word length. The old adage goes: quality, not quantity, but there are other matters concerning me besides whether or not my novel is a big thick brick of complete dribble.
After many hours toiling away, I am approaching the completion of the first part of the book. This part constitutes, by my estimation, about forty percent of the storyline. So far, I have written just under 270 pages and approximately 70,000 words – that’s a lot of pages and I’m quite proud of the output.
But here’s the thing: doing the quick calculations based on work performed thus far, my trusty calculator suggests that, by the time I’ve completed my first draft of the novel, it will be 675 pages and 175,000 words long.
Yikes.
The average length of a novel is between 80,000 and 120,000 words and even after inevitable cuts on subsequent drafts (using Stuart MacBride’s stated estimate of 25% cut as a guide – it’s in his blog somewhere but god damned if I can find it), I end up with 131,000 words – i.e. over 500 pages.
Even if I wield my pen like a Kurosawa samurai, taking down words with little prejudice, I will still end up with a novel on the high end of the average length scale.
What’s the problem, I pretend to hear you ask?
Well, the decision on length (cough), unfortunately, comes down to marketing. Will agents and publishers look favourably upon an unknown writer who has delivered a tomb of a book, weighing in at 500 plus pages? Will readers, picking up my novel for the first time, think, “I haven’t heard of this guy before, it looks interesting, but it also looks like a bitch to get through, and my arthritis has been acting up lately, I don’t think I will be able to hold this book for the required amount of time without sustaining some serious damage to my wrists” or something like that?
My story isn’t a broad sweeping epic, although it does contain women doing housework. However, it probably needs to be in the upper echelons of the word count scale for the story to be properly told.
So I have a dilemma. What to do about an escalating word count, if anything?
One of the options I have toyed with is to cut out a sizeable chunk from the book. It’s a hard decision to make, not one that rests easily with me. Without this chunk, the story could probably hold its head above water and be a reasonably entertaining read. With it, my novel will have deeper layers and intricate plot lines and will do more than hold its head above water - it will be setting records at the Olympic pool. More importantly, with this section of the book intact, the novel will remain as I originally intended it to be.
The dilemma remains: do I drop out a good portion of my novel to reduce the word count? At this stage, I’m finding it difficult to make this decision, to lose so much of my original vision for the sake of meeting some market determined word length. They say sometimes you have to kill your babies (i.e. cut out some of the best bits or characters that you have written), but I don’t think I have it in me to murder so many innocent children. Not at this stage anyway.
My decision for now is to soldier on with the intention of writing the complete novel in all its original glory, i.e. including Mr Sizeable Chunk. To hell with marketing. After the second and third drafts are complete, after the 25% has been taken out and the book reads like a well oiled machine with pages flying by faster than you can read them, where quantity has been replaced with quality, where Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing have all been adopted, only at that point will I look at the word count and make a decision.
Then, I may well have to start sharpening me knives.
After many hours toiling away, I am approaching the completion of the first part of the book. This part constitutes, by my estimation, about forty percent of the storyline. So far, I have written just under 270 pages and approximately 70,000 words – that’s a lot of pages and I’m quite proud of the output.
But here’s the thing: doing the quick calculations based on work performed thus far, my trusty calculator suggests that, by the time I’ve completed my first draft of the novel, it will be 675 pages and 175,000 words long.
Yikes.
The average length of a novel is between 80,000 and 120,000 words and even after inevitable cuts on subsequent drafts (using Stuart MacBride’s stated estimate of 25% cut as a guide – it’s in his blog somewhere but god damned if I can find it), I end up with 131,000 words – i.e. over 500 pages.
Even if I wield my pen like a Kurosawa samurai, taking down words with little prejudice, I will still end up with a novel on the high end of the average length scale.
What’s the problem, I pretend to hear you ask?
Well, the decision on length (cough), unfortunately, comes down to marketing. Will agents and publishers look favourably upon an unknown writer who has delivered a tomb of a book, weighing in at 500 plus pages? Will readers, picking up my novel for the first time, think, “I haven’t heard of this guy before, it looks interesting, but it also looks like a bitch to get through, and my arthritis has been acting up lately, I don’t think I will be able to hold this book for the required amount of time without sustaining some serious damage to my wrists” or something like that?
My story isn’t a broad sweeping epic, although it does contain women doing housework. However, it probably needs to be in the upper echelons of the word count scale for the story to be properly told.
So I have a dilemma. What to do about an escalating word count, if anything?
One of the options I have toyed with is to cut out a sizeable chunk from the book. It’s a hard decision to make, not one that rests easily with me. Without this chunk, the story could probably hold its head above water and be a reasonably entertaining read. With it, my novel will have deeper layers and intricate plot lines and will do more than hold its head above water - it will be setting records at the Olympic pool. More importantly, with this section of the book intact, the novel will remain as I originally intended it to be.
The dilemma remains: do I drop out a good portion of my novel to reduce the word count? At this stage, I’m finding it difficult to make this decision, to lose so much of my original vision for the sake of meeting some market determined word length. They say sometimes you have to kill your babies (i.e. cut out some of the best bits or characters that you have written), but I don’t think I have it in me to murder so many innocent children. Not at this stage anyway.
My decision for now is to soldier on with the intention of writing the complete novel in all its original glory, i.e. including Mr Sizeable Chunk. To hell with marketing. After the second and third drafts are complete, after the 25% has been taken out and the book reads like a well oiled machine with pages flying by faster than you can read them, where quantity has been replaced with quality, where Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing have all been adopted, only at that point will I look at the word count and make a decision.
Then, I may well have to start sharpening me knives.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
It's Raining Words
Since Harrogate, things have been going full steam ahead on the novel front. After my one on one sesh with Greg Mosse, I fiddled (stop laughing, you in the back there) with the plot and made the opening a little more dramatic. I then decided to hell with procrastination, I'm starting!
Since then, not too many weeks ago, I have almost written 100 pages. Not to say that the words are flying off the tips of my fingers with the utmost of ease; far from it. Some days writing feels like trying to grapple for the end of a strand of hair caught in the bath plug hole - quite difficult and gooey. Other days it just rains words, hallelujah, it's raining words.
Overall, though, the experience thus far has been good. Most of the time I feel like I am writing absolute bollocks, but there are days when I finish by 2 hour stint in the morning feeling pretty chippa about what I've put on the page. And the bits and pieces of the plot are fitting in nicely.
At this stage, the process of creating this novel involves me getting up at 6am every weekday and committing to 2 hours of non-stop writing (except for eating breaks and the breaks that involve the other end). I'm writing to a plot but only as a guide. Many changes have already been made, but none deviate too far away from the original idea. Weekends I try for 5 hours in total, bringing the weekly slog to 15 hours. I did that for the first time last week - hoorah!
As you can see on the left hand side, I've included a little page counter, indicating how many pages I have produced for my first draft so far. It's ticking away quite nicely, almost reaching 100, which is a great personal achievement, especially for someone who has spent a year thinking about writing a novel and who thought that actually sitting down and doing it may never happen (yep, those tyres seem to be at the right pressure).
As I reach 100 pages tomorrow, I will stand and raise my bat to the generous crowd who are on their feet, giving me a warm round of applause. I will then mark out my crease, take centre, scan the field and face the next ball.
Long way to go yet but at least I am enjoying it!!
Since then, not too many weeks ago, I have almost written 100 pages. Not to say that the words are flying off the tips of my fingers with the utmost of ease; far from it. Some days writing feels like trying to grapple for the end of a strand of hair caught in the bath plug hole - quite difficult and gooey. Other days it just rains words, hallelujah, it's raining words.
Overall, though, the experience thus far has been good. Most of the time I feel like I am writing absolute bollocks, but there are days when I finish by 2 hour stint in the morning feeling pretty chippa about what I've put on the page. And the bits and pieces of the plot are fitting in nicely.
At this stage, the process of creating this novel involves me getting up at 6am every weekday and committing to 2 hours of non-stop writing (except for eating breaks and the breaks that involve the other end). I'm writing to a plot but only as a guide. Many changes have already been made, but none deviate too far away from the original idea. Weekends I try for 5 hours in total, bringing the weekly slog to 15 hours. I did that for the first time last week - hoorah!
As you can see on the left hand side, I've included a little page counter, indicating how many pages I have produced for my first draft so far. It's ticking away quite nicely, almost reaching 100, which is a great personal achievement, especially for someone who has spent a year thinking about writing a novel and who thought that actually sitting down and doing it may never happen (yep, those tyres seem to be at the right pressure).
As I reach 100 pages tomorrow, I will stand and raise my bat to the generous crowd who are on their feet, giving me a warm round of applause. I will then mark out my crease, take centre, scan the field and face the next ball.
Long way to go yet but at least I am enjoying it!!
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