Hello, dear readers!
So the good news is I've passed a big milestone in the first draft of A Generation's Secrets: it's now past 75,000 words (and going). For perspective, novel length begins at 50,000, so it's been a novel for quite some time now!
Now for the more frightening news. I'm only at page 19 (and a half-ish) of an 81 page outline. So...yeah. I don't know that I can apply that proportion to the word count and say accurately that this book is going to be a novel of more than 300,000 words, as different parts of my outline are in different degrees of detail. But it wouldn't entirely surprise me if it was. By comparison, A Season Lost was around 225,000, so I suppose an extra 75,000 words isn't entirely outlandish. That also means, though, that I may still have the length of ASL ahead of me to write -- eek!
I always knew this one was going to be long -- there are some plotlines that have been running for quite a while that finally reach culmination in this one. If it hadn't been for hitting the year without a summer chronologically and that needing due attention, they probably would have happened in the third book. So now there's just that much more to cover.
When I was writing A Season Lost, I was worried about the length even when the first draft was around 200,000 words. The feedback I got during the beta posting, though, convinced me that it needed some areas fleshed out -- it needed even more. On AGS, I'm just operating on the assumption that if folks have made it this long, they're on board for as long as it needs to be, so that does make it easier. I'm still going to try to keep the pace moving, but I know a part of these novels has always just been about enjoying time with the characters and with that time in history, so there will be elements of that. It's safe to say, though, that more happens in this one than any of the other books so far. Based on my plans for books 5-7, I do think this one will be the longest in the series (although book 6 might prove me wrong...we shall see), so it's not as though they will just keep increasing in length. They'll each be the length they'll need to be.
So bear with me. I am working on it, and I am making good progress, but I'm endeavouring to write the equivalent of multiple novels!
So the good news is I've passed a big milestone in the first draft of A Generation's Secrets: it's now past 75,000 words (and going). For perspective, novel length begins at 50,000, so it's been a novel for quite some time now!
Now for the more frightening news. I'm only at page 19 (and a half-ish) of an 81 page outline. So...yeah. I don't know that I can apply that proportion to the word count and say accurately that this book is going to be a novel of more than 300,000 words, as different parts of my outline are in different degrees of detail. But it wouldn't entirely surprise me if it was. By comparison, A Season Lost was around 225,000, so I suppose an extra 75,000 words isn't entirely outlandish. That also means, though, that I may still have the length of ASL ahead of me to write -- eek!
I always knew this one was going to be long -- there are some plotlines that have been running for quite a while that finally reach culmination in this one. If it hadn't been for hitting the year without a summer chronologically and that needing due attention, they probably would have happened in the third book. So now there's just that much more to cover.
When I was writing A Season Lost, I was worried about the length even when the first draft was around 200,000 words. The feedback I got during the beta posting, though, convinced me that it needed some areas fleshed out -- it needed even more. On AGS, I'm just operating on the assumption that if folks have made it this long, they're on board for as long as it needs to be, so that does make it easier. I'm still going to try to keep the pace moving, but I know a part of these novels has always just been about enjoying time with the characters and with that time in history, so there will be elements of that. It's safe to say, though, that more happens in this one than any of the other books so far. Based on my plans for books 5-7, I do think this one will be the longest in the series (although book 6 might prove me wrong...we shall see), so it's not as though they will just keep increasing in length. They'll each be the length they'll need to be.
So bear with me. I am working on it, and I am making good progress, but I'm endeavouring to write the equivalent of multiple novels!
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ReplyDeleteI can honestly say the longer, the better IMO. I agree that just spending time with these characters is a good chunk of the fun, especially because you've done so much with them and given us such wonderful OCs.
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you! Glad to hear you're on board with the longer the better plan. :-)
Deleteabsolutely seconded; the longer the better! your writing is beautiful and so crafted - thank you!
ReplyDeleteso glad to hear that, thank you!
DeleteI was thinking about you today and wondering how things were coming along. Obviously, I am late to this post but I too am one of those who love 'the longer the better'! It does not put me off in the least and allows me to spend more time with our favourite characters!
ReplyDeleteI am even later! I was having issues with the spam filter on my blog and did not realize it so legitimate comments have been held up for quite some time. I've been going back through and just thought I'd say hi :-)
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