Word Count
Posted by CM under Ornithology, Writing on Sun 11 Feb 2007
have about 66,000 words of non-contiguous text. This is the two-thirds mark.
I’ve learned a huge amount writing these 66,000 words. One of the things I have learned is that the important thing is to write whenever I have the chance (note that this is not the same thing as writing every day–unfortunately, I really don’t have the chance to write every day, and the only reason I managed to get some writing done last Friday was that I stayed up until 2:30 AM to do so). And what that means is that sometimes, if I’m not feeling a scene, what I need to do is skip it and write a scene that I am feeling. Eventually, it all comes together.
I’m at the lovely point where things are beginning to come together. Part of this means that I ended up trying to write a scene and discovered that the motivation of the villain who drives the scene is insufficient to support his actions. And so I carried that around for a day, and then realized in particular light-bulb fashion, that I could manufacture a much more entertaining–and believable–motivation for his actions. Of course, I’ll have to clean all that up in the reediting process, but it’s hugely fun.
And there I am. 66,000 words in. It’s kind of shocking.









February 12th, 2007 at 12:28 am
This way of writing sounds…. scary! For me it’s like putting a watch back together. I end up with extra parts.
Alice
Who has tried it before.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I, too, have to write in order or it just doesn’t flow. Now, in the rewrite, I’ve found that I can rearrange the order of a few things to add motivation or move the plot forward, but in the actual writing, I’d be too confused.
Good job on the 66,000 words though! How exhilerating!
February 13th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Congratulations!!
I am writing three things at once. Nothing “fits” yet. It’s ok, though, if I dig through enough author websites I always find someone who validates what I’m doing.
Bottom line….what works is what works….
February 13th, 2007 at 5:55 am
I WISH I were sequential when I write, but I’m not. Maybe next time.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Heh, Maggie. That sounds suspiciously like, “I’ll be sequential once I get around to it.”
February 13th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Congrats! You’re almost to my favorite part. Revising!
February 13th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
For the amount of time you have available to write, that total is amazing.
I wrote a lot of my book out of sequence, too. The bad part about that is that I now am left with just the icky parts to finish. Wah.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
That’s a very good analogy, Alice.
I write out of sequence, myself, and I do find myself with some odd bits and pieces at the end.