Journey Of A Novel

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word-count

Out of my control

Tanya V 17 March 2023

At just over 27000 words written in ten chapters I have a novella. There may be more that I can add, I’ll mull over the story at a distance for the next week or so, but I think that I am done. When I have returned to the keyboard and read, and re-read I delete more words than I add. Writing seems to come down to removing words rather than writing them – for me that’s the case most of the time.

If I had more to say I’d add it but I don’t. I could ‘flesh it out’ but I don’t want love handles padding out my work for the sake of more words on the page to satisfy the idea of what a story needs to be. For the most part I’m done and little shell shocked at the thought of it.

The next step is to put it out there and myself with it. Daunting doesn’t really describe the feeling behind that task but it’s in the right direction.

For years I have tinkered away in my fantasy land growing my creative habits and learning of the craft of writing. This has been challenging and scary and exciting. I have overcome many blocks that have stopped my progress, all of these block I have found to be imagined or fuelled by ignorance from a lack of experience.

Now it’s time for my creative process be taken from my control.

I’m very intimidated at the prospect of not being able to be present with my work at every moment as I give it over to others, but I will. I have found a writing program to apply to where, if they deem your work publishable, it will be pathwayed into the hands of agents and publishers.

All I can do is try and see how I go. Beyond that it is out of my control.

Cataclysmic happenings

Tanya V 17 May 2022

Chapter six 2nd draft is done and it wasn’t easy. When I wrote the 1st draft of chapter six I didn’t have a clear vision of the happenings in the chapter. I knew what I wanted to include as story points but not how it would play out in the writing of it. There are certain interactions, events and characters needed for the narrative to progress which are all big things storywise, what I needed to do though was write matter-o-factly to maintain a feel of progression despite events rather than cataclysmic happenings. Well, that’s what I’m going for and it remains to be seen (or read in this case) if I have captured the feel for the story that I want to tell with the words that I have written.

I rewrote a lot of this chapter. I changed names, edited out sections, rearranged the layout of the chapter, researched with fresh eyes to develop new parts, and laboured for weeks over words while questioning my choices. In the end I sent it to a friend to read and will wait to hear feedback so that I can assess whether the chapter does what I wanted it to do.

For each chapter I have a game plan of writing 3000 words for the 2nd draft which is edited down from 5000 words in the 1st draft, for the 3rd draft I expect to have 2500 to 2000 words per chapter. Chapter six 2nd draft came in at about 3500 words even though I was deleting with each read while being as ruthless as I could.

It’s strange for me to realise that I’ve gotten to this stage. There are three more chapters and then I’m done with the 2nd draft.

Too many words

Tanya V 7 March 2021

I’ve sifted through all of the sections that I had in my chapter one file, edited them in together and created a flow of narrative with them.

The feel of it is makeshift at best but it serves its purpose to take the fragments of story that I’ve been writing and bring them together as one. If a simile could be applied, it would be like a broken vase hastily glued together to resemble the vase it once was. I can see the shape more clearly now of the story that I’ve only had glimpses of in my mind for so long. It has surprised me how much of the story I hadn’t included when I’d written in fits and starts because it makes sense to me to write the narrative in the way that I am now.

My aim has been to make each chapter a tidy 5000 words. I’m currently over 5000 words and haven’t finished the chapter. I’ve written all the way to the end of the chapter but provided no segue to the next chapter so I have some more to write before I can leave chapter one behind. With all of this in mind I think that my word count will be closer to 6000 words, I am expecting to edit heavily when I do a serious second draft though.

There are points of the narrative that I am still circling over in the plot where I have written more than I need to. Working through story points has left me feeling dizzy at times dodging back and forth through the words and having little ability to clearly address too many words when my focus has been locked onto how the narrative reads as a flowing story. I will cull some of these points of the story that stand out to me as too much before I move onto chapter two. It feels right to go back and address these areas, I am hesitant though because I love words, there are too many words for this reason. I’ve over-written some of these parts also because I am creating a turning point in the story, or a crucial moment of some type, something that I want to be significant where lots of words seemingly give the story a physical weight on the page.

With chapter two well in sight I’m mindful of not rushing into it, I want to be able to read and digest the work that I have done on chapter one. I want chapter one to be the most progress made on my WIP with clear insights into what I have done and what I have created to work in regard to the whole novel.