A little resolution

[rowyn]

I'm still wrapping up quota for September, but I thought I'd note down a couple of points for myself.

First, if I get to 220,000 words on Prophecy, I'm going to consider the rought draftfinished. 220,000 words is freakin' long for two books and this is only supposed to be one. If I've written 220,000 words, I don't care what plot points are left to be covered; it's over.

Second: as you might guess from the first point, I am too long-winded by far in writing this monster. For example: at the end of August I had 39 chapters left to go (that includes ones started but not finished; I often quit in the middle of a chapter, or almost to the end of a chapter, even, as my inspiration runs out). At the end of September, I expect to have 37 chapters to go. This is not the level of progress I want to be makign. My revised estimate of the draft-completion date, based on the rate at which I am getting the plot-crucial elements written, is that I'll need until March of 2004. And it'll be about 217,000 words. *sigh*

In an effort to Do Something About It, I am going to give myself an alternate quota system and try it out in October.

The alternate quota system works like this: I currently have 20 unwritten chapters, and 17 incomplete chapters. I will assign the unwritten ones a factor of two. This makes 57 "plot points" that I need to write. In order to reach my year-end goal, I need reduce that count by approximately 5 points per week, or 19 per month. October is supposed to be a short month for writing (a week of "non -writing work" is supposed to get done in there), so let's say 15 for October and 21 each for November and December.

So, here's the deal: If my count at the end of Ocober is 42 plot points or less to go, then I will consider myself to have made quota for October, even if I've written less than 7500 words. Similarly, any week in which I reduce the remaining plot points by 5 or more counts as "making quota", even if I write less than 1500 words.

The idea here is not, however, to encourage me to write more, but rather to write more concisely. I'm afraid my current system encourages rambling and sloppiness on my part. I'm not sure if this is right or if it'll work. So I'm also keeping the old system as a fallback. I can either complete plot points, or I can reach the appropriate word count. Either one works.

I'll see how this goes in October. I will generally trust myself not to game the system and cut corners. Even I have to trust myself occasionally. ;)

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Is this your first novel? They tend to run long. :)

[rowyn]

Yes and no. I've started several other novels, or at least, works-that-I-intended-to-be-novels. One such project was conceived of as a five-book series. I finished the first "book" of that. However, this was during my teenage years, and when I wrote then, my books ran *short*. That book was probably in the 30-50,000 word range. The whole five-book saga probably could've fit into one book, looking back on it. :)

Another book, written around the same time period, but not quite finished, was of comparable length; might've run to 50,000 words if I'd finished it.

"Prophecy" is running long in large part because I wanted it to be long. It's of the epic-fantasy genre, lots of overlapping plot threads, lots of convoluted motivations to explore. Still, it didn't need to be this long. Sheesh. :)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Of little interest to anyone but you, bah! I like to find out how you're doing keeping up on things here. And as for the length of Prophecy ... there's a lot going on in it. And the characters are interesting. I don't see things going on like, "Oh, well, I need to pad the space between these two events with something, so I'll just write something to fill space." The things you've sent me to read have been worth reading. And everything is in such small bite-sized chunks! ;)

[rowyn]

Thank you, wuf. :) I do feel like I'm putting in irrelevant details, and that some conversations could easily be cut down, or descriptions eliminated, or whatnot. But it's true that, usually, this amounts to a development that might be explained in 1000 words occupying 2000 instead. Not something like "this whole 6000 word section is totally pointless". :)

And, OK, next time I'll put "Of little interest to anyone but me and Greywolf". How's that? :)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Bwah. Well, yes, you could probably TELL THE STORY in far less words, but would we be really enjoying it quite so much? I think you put far too much weight on the "efficiency" of your words for this. There are things to say, things to be told, and I think they're worth telling at as much length as you have.

As for "of little interest to anyone but me and Greywolf" ... well, obviously, I'm not the one who could speak to that, unless someone else chimes in. ;)

One more person who reads these

[telnar.livejournal.com]

The Master Plan (TM) is far too big a part of your life not to be interesting to those of us who are simply following your current events. So, add me to the list of those who read these posts.

Re: One more person who reads these

[rowyn]

Right, right, I forgot, cut-tags saying "of little interest to anyone else" are, in fact, flashing neon signs signifying "READ ME NOW!!" :D

Y'know, when I look back on my entries saying "I wrote 647 words today! Yay!", even I think they're pretty dull. :)

Re: One more person who reads these

[telnar.livejournal.com]

I didn't say that they were all riveting reading (although some are well written), but they offer some insight into your day-to-day life.

One gets a very different sense of a person's activities by hearing only about the "interesting" things. One of the advantages of an extended visit is getting a chance to know a bit about what someone's life is like when the visitor is not there (the fact that I'm often not really a fan of extended visits for other reasons doesn't matter, since the main disadvantages don't apply here). The writing about writing journal entries provide a sort of long term visitor's window on at least one piece of your life.

[rowyn]

As for "of little interest to anyone but me and Greywolf" ... well, obviously, I'm not the one who could speak to that, unless someone else chimes in. ;)

Well, judging by the responses on this entry, you're right and I'm wrong: it is of interest to other people. And hey, who am I to argue? I concede the point. :)

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I can frequently fill a day or a week of Sythyry with irrelevant details. Some stories can't support details, but others need them: details give a sense of the world and the people and all, in a way that plot cannot.

[rowyn]

*looks around to see if Greywolf is watching*

Yes, but your details are interesting.

*ducks*

OK, I expect I'm not a very good judge of whether or not my details are interesting, at this point. I think I should take Greywolf's word for it over my own, in fact. He's biased, too, but probably not as biased as I am. :)

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Well, if you'd ever like me to look at your details, I'd be glad to.

[rowyn]

You may live to regret that statement. :)

I plan to email out copies of it and solicit feedback once I've got a semi-final draft together. (That is, when I've finished writing it, and revised it at least enough to be coherent. Right now it's missing scattered chunks in the middle, and various parts no longer mesh with other parts because I changed my mind about what I wanted to do. Sometimes this means that a section that comes later in the book needs to be redone because it doesn't match a section that comes earlier -- but which I wrote later. I went about writing this in the most haphazard fashion imaginable. I understand that "writing out of sequence" works well for some authors, but I don't think I'll be doing it again, m'self.)

Anyway, I'll put you down as one of the people to show it to, whenever I reach that stage. Prolly won't be 'til next summer, though, so you'll have ample time to change your mind. >:)

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Bah indeed. I have to agree. I like reading about you're doing. And I also feel the need to encourage you! So let me get out my poms and ... there we are ... go Rowan!

[rowyn]

I gotta draw you a pom-pom bat. :) *hug!*

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Aaa! I've drawn a pom-pom bat, but I need to scan it in yet. I'll try to remember to do that when I get home. ;)

[rowyn]

OK, so I guess I don't need to draw a pom-pom bat after all. :)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Hey, far be it from me to dissuade you! All I've got is pencil sketches for an 8-frame mini-animation, ala the "spinning SD bat" icon Brenna is currently using.

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

This calls for one thing! *finds pom poms again*

Go Greywolf! Go Rowan!

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Hm. If I had any talent with drawing and animation (I don't -- in fact I have negative artistic skill such that I destroy the blank perfection of unmared paper and or unmodified blank files) I would now be tempted to draw a little animated pony doing its one trick over and over. *grin* Also I see that as much as I like cheering Rowan on I do not like checking my typos before posting. Which I don't! So to myself: Go Brenna! Check typos! Go one trick pony shtick! Yep. It's my shtick and I'm shticking to it.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Well, howsabout this for now?

[rowyn]

Bwahahahaha! :D

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha! That's priceless. ;)

[rowyn]

Now, what trick would a one-trick pony do? Hmm.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Makes me wonder why I don't consider the novel I wrote in junior high my first novel. My first was definitely the 256,000-word monster, Zafiil, which came many many years later in college. :)

[rowyn]

I gotta admit, I don't really count the novella from high school, either. That it doesn't count was the "yes" part of my "yes and no" response. :)

[justbishop.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've got some advice on this point... just write it. Don't worry about how long or short it should be. Don't look at a deadline. That's the best thing about not being published yet -- nobody breathing down our necks saying this needs to be done yesterday. Take your time with it and let the story tell itself. You will most likely have to cut stuff. A lot. I did. King did. Everyone does. So you're in a good place. Either that, or when you start work on the second draft, rework it into two or three novels. The advantage you have there is you'll already have the whole story written, so you don't have to struggle with flow and endings. You can look at the story as a whole and see where the natural break points are. You don't have a monster on your hands, you have options. ;)

As I always say, "That's what editing's for."

[rowyn]

Actually, calling it "done" at 220,000 words *is* giving myself a break. To each her own, as it were. :)

[justbishop.livejournal.com]

When I was writing 112 Bridgeton Drive (which needs yet another draft, but that's neither here nor there), I thought I'd be happy if it ran 80-90 thousand. It's at 102,000 right now, and that's after cutting. But I think it's still missing something, so I'll probably add a couple thousand more words to it once I figure out what.

[rowyn]

When I started "Prophecy", I didn't have any solid grasp on how many words made up a page in a standard paperback. But I guesstimated that about 160,000 or so would do it. It wasn't until some months later that I realized that was, really, quit long relative for a typical book. And it wasn't until around August that I realized "Prophecy" was likely to be longer still. I thought it'd be a stretch to make two novels out of it, but no, it'll probably be easily long enough for two books.

Works better as one, though. Ah well. I'll see what comes of the monster when it's done.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

And then there's Akoma. Target: 24,000 words. Current total: 97,000 words or thereabouts, and still needing to have the sample adventures written out. (But then, I'm supposed to detail an entire continent here, as opposed to some area smaller than Scotland, as per the usual Ironclaw supplements.)

[rowyn]

I knew, from the moment you got this project and said "24,000 words" was your target, that you would be over it in weeks -- assuming you weren't over it already. :D (I seem to recall you'd done some work on it before Rafferty officially got you a contract.) 24,000 words is nothing! Especially for you. :)