The end of a busy week - writing as relaxation - Word count 57,259 (wp) 74,000 (pr)
Saturday, November 18, 2006, 8:13 PM
Wow, what a week. There just aren't enough hours in the day. There's so much going on in my life right now I'm amazed I have time to write at all, let alone plough through as many words as I have since starting this blog.
20,000 in two weeks, and that's word processor count, not the more generous printer's rule.
At the current rate of going my first draft will be complete by the end of November. I'm already feeling a little bit sad about that. I've experienced that peculiar emotion before, where you work on a project so intensively over a period of time that it become a pillar in your life. When it's done, no matter how much you longed for it to be over with, you still miss it. I can sense that coming on as my novel approached its climax.
We're still not quite there yet. The protagonist and antagonist are mid confrontation, our hero being in mortal peril, and after that the villain will make his final move. After that, it's the big finish.
Going by word processor count, I'd say it'll wind up between 70,000 and 80,000 words. By printer's rule that should clock in at over 100,000. Let me just explain that I've been basing the printer's rule count on my manuscript being in 12 point courier, double spaced with a one inch margin, which leaves a rough count of 250 words per page if each page is full. If i average out the words over ten fairly dense lines, for instance, then do the sums to bring that up to 25 lines, then the average is actually 235 words per page, which reduces the word count somewhat. I'd be really curious to hear from anyone else on how they calculate word count because I'm really not sure how to describe the length of this novel to an agent or publisher.
Regardless, the manuscript will be exactly as long as it needs to be - not a word more, not a word less.
20,000 in two weeks, and that's word processor count, not the more generous printer's rule.
At the current rate of going my first draft will be complete by the end of November. I'm already feeling a little bit sad about that. I've experienced that peculiar emotion before, where you work on a project so intensively over a period of time that it become a pillar in your life. When it's done, no matter how much you longed for it to be over with, you still miss it. I can sense that coming on as my novel approached its climax.
We're still not quite there yet. The protagonist and antagonist are mid confrontation, our hero being in mortal peril, and after that the villain will make his final move. After that, it's the big finish.
Going by word processor count, I'd say it'll wind up between 70,000 and 80,000 words. By printer's rule that should clock in at over 100,000. Let me just explain that I've been basing the printer's rule count on my manuscript being in 12 point courier, double spaced with a one inch margin, which leaves a rough count of 250 words per page if each page is full. If i average out the words over ten fairly dense lines, for instance, then do the sums to bring that up to 25 lines, then the average is actually 235 words per page, which reduces the word count somewhat. I'd be really curious to hear from anyone else on how they calculate word count because I'm really not sure how to describe the length of this novel to an agent or publisher.
Regardless, the manuscript will be exactly as long as it needs to be - not a word more, not a word less.
posted by Stuart Neville at 8:13 PM
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