Today I mostly wrote ... the word count thread. Showing 1,251-1,300 of 4,252

[Jim]

Don't keep us in suspense, what's the best length (And also how goes the arm extension project :-) )

[Will]

Tom recommended 65K to 75K. I have enough material to top 80K, so I could combine two pieces to make one novel suitable for querying, with the current WIP the start of a sequel.

[Jim]

Ironically that's the size I normally write and people do mutter about them being a bit thin!
I think they're the best size to get the paperback at a reasonable price

[Will]

The Showing is 196 pages on Kindle, and my shortest full work. It's just 36K.

Children of Time , which has just had a film option and won a major award, is 602 pages. Extrapolating, in round terms that's 110K. It's too big for an indy paperback to sell at a profit, of course.

[Tim]

Got 2000 words done at the weekend. Some of it was editing what I started for last Camp NaNoWriMo, but I've got a good clean chapter 1 out of it (complete with mysteriously disappearing spaceship).

[Jim]

Will wrote: "The Showing is 196 pages on Kindle, and my shortest full work. It's just 36K.

Children of Time , which has just had a film option and won a major award, is 602 pages. Extrapolating..."

Yes, I think the 70k point is the sweet spot for that

[Kath]

Just added 700-odd (some very odd) in what I hope is a final edit of the horror short story. Nearly 12k.

[David]

947 words on the 1st draft today.

[Will]

Over 3000 today on the next scifi.

[Peter]

Will wrote: "The Showing is 196 pages on Kindle, and my shortest full work. It's just 36K.

Children of Time , which has just had a film option and won a major award, is 602 pages. Extrapolating..."

Technically a novel is 40k to 80k nod 36k is classed as a novella.

[Peter]

Kath, short stories are generally 1k to 7.5k, and at almost 12k you are into novelette territory.

[Peter]

Apparently novels are over 40k up to 80k. But some publishers are a bit twitchy about anything over 70k and encourage authors to split them into two volumes. At 96k my publisher suggested splitting my debut novel "Not Too Old for Love" in two, but fortunately didn't insist. I wrote what came naturally and had to live with the length it ended up.

[Kath]

Peter wrote: "Kath, short stories are generally 1k to 7.5k, and at almost 12k you are into novelette territory."

I know, but that's such a dreadfully twee word I can't bear to use it!

[Peter]

Kath wrote: "Peter wrote: "Kath, short stories are generally 1k to 7.5k, and at almost 12k you are into novelette territory."

I know, but that's such a dreadfully twee word I can't bear to use it!"

Emotion beats fact. You gotta love that.😃

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

A novelette must. by law, have a lace tablecloth and an aspidistra on the cover.

[Peter]

Gingerlily - Mistress Lantern wrote: "A novelette must. by law, have a lace tablecloth and an aspidistra on the cover."

Yeah. And yet also sounds as if it has to be uber funny.

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

The thing is, as a reader who now almost exclusively reads on a kindle, and not an author, I have precisely no idea how long any of the books I now read are. None whatsoever. And I have no interest in how many pages "in the real world" they would be either. Only inkling is if it's just not quite grabbing my attention and I start to think this is going on a bit...

[Kath]

It's not compulsory to use all words. There are some I choose to eschew. Novelette is one.

[Tim]

Many authors clearly don't use all the words - quite often I get to the end of a book and there are words left over. Sometimes more than 5% and even more than 10% on occasion!

[Tim]

Words are a precious commodity, so authors, please don't dump piles of unused words at the end of your novels / novellas / novelettes / shorts / drabbles !

[Pam]

Kath wrote: "Yes, there are huge numbers of books, but that just widens our choice. It's just as well that I don't feel about new publications the way you chaps do or I wouldn't read yours!

And why do you writ..."

Well said Kath.

[Pam]

Phew! Got to the end of my editor's comments and sent the MS back to her tonight, with my various queries on it.

[Peter]

I've been through 2 rounds of edits with my debut novel and now waiting to hear from the proofer.

[Will]

With one eye on trying to sell the damn things, I've concluded that I can write four of these 41K novels, sell #1 as a teaser at a discount online and then sell 1& 2 and 3&4 put together as the size of novel the sci fi readers expect.

And have 4 paperbacks for the events, cons, book fairs etc.

[Jim]

hangs together as a plan

[M.T.]

I did some editing and writing today. Only 40 minutes worth but it was good. Will your plan sounds cunning.

[Will]

Oh no, does that mean I have to start eating turnips???

And #3 of the sci fi is just over 10K now.

[M.T.]

Nice. One 13k short in the bag and with the editor, but she has RSI. Meanwhile the sci-fi 'short' is probably going to be 60k. I'll see if I end up adding 20k now and turn it into a novel! It could easily get up to the usual 120k behemoth size, it depends how much detail I go into with the crime solving aspect.

Cheers

MTM

[Peter]

Since technically the minimum word count for a novel is 40k you don't need to add any words to get into that classificaton.

[Alicia]

Have spent the last week learning how to do ads on Amazon - there was much to learn.

I wrote the ads over the last couple of days, and finally got the last one approved by Amazon (about half failed on the first try) late this morning (it's 1:30 PM here).

I now have 27 ads running - if they run well, I am committed for a lot of money, presumably to be returned in the form of sales to complete strangers, and possibly some KU borrows. I never wanted to write copy, but it had to be done - I'm going right back to writing, and will poke the things in the late evening.

There is a learning curve. Aargh!

[Jim]

be interesting to see how it does for you. Hope it's a success, I'll have to see if I see the ads :-)

[Kath]

I've written about thirty words - the same thirty I wrote, then rewrote for the last three days.
Yep, it's blurb time!

[Tim]

I'm about 3k into a new novel for Camp NaNo. It might not sound a lot, but it's more than I wrote all last year, and so far I've managed to write something every day this month except one.

[Alicia]

I now have 37 ads running, approved by our corporate overlord, long may it prosper.
All four kinds. ONE of them ought to do something.
I am told that it may take days for some of them to get going, so I'll save the data every night, but not plan to DO anything for at least several weeks.
I'm also told it is hard to get Amazon to actually spend your ad budget. Hoping to find a sweet spot.
Going back to writing.

[Alicia]

Tim wrote: "I'm about 3k into a new novel for Camp NaNo. It might not sound a lot, but it's more than I wrote all last year, and so far I've managed to write something every day this month except one."

Getting started is harder than keeping going (if that's grammatically correct). Congratulations - and keep it up.

[Alicia]

Kath wrote: "I've written about thirty words - the same thirty I wrote, then rewrote for the last three days.
Yep, it's blurb time!"

Ah. My sympathies. Having just rewritten mine completely, I feel your pain.

[Pam]

Alicia wrote: "I now have 37 ads running, approved by our corporate overlord, long may it prosper.
All four kinds. ONE of them ought to do something.
I am told that it may take days for some of them to get going,..."

Well done Alicia. All a bit over my head at the moment.

Got back the editor's comments, worked on implementing them and putting in queries where I didn't understand - reached the end of chapter 27 and then closed the document, meaning to back it up. Machine crashed and subsequently found the document was corrupted and the autosave backup wasn't there (other docs, not that one). All the recovery things I tried from the internet didn't work so ended up redoing the whole thing.

Since then am having some problems with my back and was stung by a bee so have a poorly foot. Not that I'm asking for sympathy ;-)

[Kath]

Aww! Asking or not, you deserve it! I hope tomorrow treats you better.

[Alicia]

Pam wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I now have 37 ads running, approved by our corporate overlord, long may it prosper.
All four kinds. ONE of them ought to do something.
I am told that it may take days for some of the..."

I agree with Kath sending you an abundance of sympathy. Wish it could be actual help.

[Tim]

Been out all day visiting friends in Windsor (lovely lunch in a pub just off the Great Park). Managed to get 300 words in before I went though, and after a bit of a sit down in front of the TV with a cold drink & an ibuprofen or two, I might be up for some more...

[Kath]

You go, lad!

[Tim]

Bit over 800 words today, to finish the chapter. :)

[Alicia]

Yay! A finished chapter is a thing of beauty.

All I got done was to figure out an epigraph and what information it needed to convey (well hidden) to the reader, and a bit of research.

Worth it, as these things have to dovetail, and it is, I believe, the last of its kind for this book. I would have figured it out back when I wrote the characters, but I didn't know what I would need then - I was extremely lucky that it fit neatly within the right universe.

But maybe three words.

[Will]

Sci fi #3 is now knocking on at 17K.[

Why did Mary not confess before that this stuff was just so much fun to write???

[An]

Stats just done -- 63 days , 76K, 1204 words daily, 15%(i do hope less) to the end.
Very-very hard work was that for me but I'm pleased to get know how "maybe" the full-time authors work.

[M.T.]

Will wrote: "Sci fi #3 is now knocking on at 17K.[

Why did Mary not confess before that this stuff was just so much fun to write???"
I did! I wrote some non fiction this week and did a bit of plotting about Driff and co. Also need to address the nearly finished 60k K'Barthan long short. But I have one day to work in next week. Then it's the holidays. Might get a bit of writing in but nothing that requires much concentration.

Never mind. We're doing a road trip to Spain. Should be fun.

Cheers

MTM

[M.T.]

Well done everyone. Dead impressed!

[Pam]

Alicia wrote: "I agree with Kath sending you an abundance of sympathy. Wish it could be actual help."

Thanks Kath and Alicia! The toe is a lot better now anyway.

The book has been back and forth a bit more since the last update and I am expecting/hoping that the next one I get back from the editor will be the finalised MS. I then have the fun of formatting .... so getting nearer being self published.

[M.T.]

Go Pam! :-) I have the edits back from my short story so I'll be working on that tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

[Pam]

Thanks MT!