One upon a time there was a youngish girl who got so wrapped up in her book, she wrote 140,000 plus words, before that she had completed a 90,000 word book, and she never questioned that she wouldn't be able to stretch the story that far because, well there was a lot to tell.
I know YA and MG books are allowed to be shorter, but blinking hell, I'm wrapping my plots so tight my characters can't breathe.
Crossed the 30,000 word mark with Horrifiques last night and think I might just scrape my way to 40,000 if I'm lucky. With the second draft, I'm determined to break that beast named Brevity.
14 comments:
May you be armed with the quill of verbosity, Cate. Good luck and flow away . . .
It's strange how that works. Sometimes it's "I came, I saw, I went home." :) Good luck with finding a second wind.
Cate, that beast has been riding my shoulders, too. I'm just past 50K with my book (not even a YA), hoping to finish at 65 and maybe squeak past 70 on revisions.
Yikes.
Yay for 2nd drafts! (and 3rd, 4th. . .)
You got this!
Rebecca, maybe I'll pick one up in the stationery store.
Laura, I think I need a hurricane. :)
Aaron, it's so painful.
Yay, By the 27th draft if I'm not at 80,000 words I'll eat the manuscript. Note to self: Print 27th draft on rice paper.
Onipar, I really haven't. :D
I think you HAVE got it! It's hard, I know, but I do believe it's true that brevity is the soul of wit. I know this because my books are all too long still. :/
I feel your pain, but in the opposite direction.
Katey, I don't think we're ever satisfied.
I picture a lot of vaguely eccentric-looking people standing around gasping for air like stranded goldfish. :)
I wish they were vaguely eccentric - by the second draft - hopefully. :D
40k would be 'in the zone' for YA, but certainly on the small side.
I say, write the book you must, nobody will turn down a great read base on page count.
Thanks, PV and thanks for the twitter follow. :D
I'm the one who knocks off 10,000 plus words in the second draft and again in the 3rd draft. Seems I have a great deal of unnecessary verbiage...
Don't worry too much. What's the quote? "Brevity is the soul of wit."
Thanks, Nora.
Post a Comment