Status Report
Aug. 26th, 2004 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonFinished through: Oh golly, I seem to have run out of manuscript!
Word count: 153,458 (No, I didn't cut 2000 words. More on that below.)
Left to go: I've got to write an introduction to a scene--100 words, tops--and do a bit more chapter rearranging, but that's it for the major revisions. I think.
I finally gave in and did the manual word count thing. It's ridiculously easy—I'm just lazy. But that shaved 2000 words off my total. Yowza! I'm going to "manualize" all my stories now. I've got some that are close to acceptable word counts but I just can't seem to whack them down any more. Maybe manual word count gratification is the way to go. :-)
Next I plan to go through my novel just for the sake of cleaning up the language, especially on those first 60 pages I want to send off. I did a certain amount of that this go round, but I was concentrating on a lot of different aspects at once. I think honing in just on the sentence-level stuff would be a good idea. 'Course, I've got to finish the last part of my synopsis, too. The synopsis I have is pretty good, I just didn't revise it for the last five chapters or so. Then there's the dreaded query letter. Must resist the urge to say, "Remember me? I think you'll find this novel is much more brilliant than the semi-brilliant novel you rejected last time. And there's so much more of it to love!" Must resist that at all costs!
Bigger is better, right? Oh, Lordy...
Word count: 153,458 (No, I didn't cut 2000 words. More on that below.)
Left to go: I've got to write an introduction to a scene--100 words, tops--and do a bit more chapter rearranging, but that's it for the major revisions. I think.
I finally gave in and did the manual word count thing. It's ridiculously easy—I'm just lazy. But that shaved 2000 words off my total. Yowza! I'm going to "manualize" all my stories now. I've got some that are close to acceptable word counts but I just can't seem to whack them down any more. Maybe manual word count gratification is the way to go. :-)
Next I plan to go through my novel just for the sake of cleaning up the language, especially on those first 60 pages I want to send off. I did a certain amount of that this go round, but I was concentrating on a lot of different aspects at once. I think honing in just on the sentence-level stuff would be a good idea. 'Course, I've got to finish the last part of my synopsis, too. The synopsis I have is pretty good, I just didn't revise it for the last five chapters or so. Then there's the dreaded query letter. Must resist the urge to say, "Remember me? I think you'll find this novel is much more brilliant than the semi-brilliant novel you rejected last time. And there's so much more of it to love!" Must resist that at all costs!
Bigger is better, right? Oh, Lordy...
no subject
Date: 2004-08-26 07:15 pm (UTC)And don't let its length bother you. I'd imagine an editor or publisher only truly notices the length when they've grown bored with something.
Story first.
Length second.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-26 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-26 07:26 pm (UTC)Ignoring the slight on my godson, she will remember. An it could be she prefers brunettes :-)
Yay for the second go-through! And we know how good you are at trimming when you really put your mind to it.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-26 09:00 pm (UTC)Funny that she liked everything _but_ your godson. I kept wanting to write back and say, "Really, Jeremy's a fine fellow once you get to know him." Too bad it don't work that way, huh?
And we know how good you are at trimming when you really put your mind to it.
True, but I think at best I'll get this down to 150k. Maybe a couple thousand more. *shrug* I'll give it the ol' college try, but I think this story just is what it is. At least at this point in time.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-27 08:35 am (UTC)I didn't mean that you should try to shave meat from those shapely bones, just that I think you'll surprise yourself when it comes time to focus on it.
SB is as long as it is, after all, and *works*. That's much more important than wordcount.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-27 07:58 pm (UTC)Oh, I knew you meant that. And truth is, I did surprise myself. Yesterday, just by cleaning up language in chapter one I cut a half page. Why, if I keep that pace up, by the end of the novel I'll have cut ...17-1/2 pages. That's a big if, though.
SB is as long as it is, after all, and *works*. That's much more important than wordcount.
Thanks. I think that's true. Other than that slow, draggy opening chapter, of course. :-)