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Post by Starlit Rogue on Apr 21, 2008 11:06:47 GMT -5
How many words do you try for, for each draft?
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Post by Vicki Pettersson on Apr 21, 2008 13:06:23 GMT -5
How many words do you try for, for each draft? As many as it takes to tell the story. Really, that's the proper answer. However, more specifically, my contract specifies between 110-130K. Fortunately for me, I have a great editor who agrees with the above definition because I love to write long. My RD for SCENT was 165K. I cut to 145K. My RD for TASTE was 175K. I also cut to 140K or so. With the advent of some serious deadlines, and with some experience behind me, I now aim low so I can hit around where I need to be. So I aimed for 120K with TOUCH and hit 135K. (What? It's an improvement!) I'm still on the first draft of book4 and I'm aiming for a total of 125K - average length for a long book in my genre - but I'm already at 90K with a minimum of ten scenes to go, including climax (which you really have to deliver to the reader; after all, it's the big payoff, right? And that takes words.). So there's no way I'm going to make it. It feels like it's going to be around 135K or so. We'll see. However, this far into it I'm just pushing words uphill and concentrating on moving forward. Story is all. I can cut later. Help atol? Or was that all just blather? |
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Post by Starlit Rogue on Apr 21, 2008 13:20:02 GMT -5
lol, it helped. I've been working on a manuscript that I put down a long time ago and something Raven said in another thread made me want to pick it back up and I think I've found my muse for a bit. So I was wondering how much I would want to aim for. XD So that helped a lot. XD
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Post by vampyre on Apr 21, 2008 16:02:57 GMT -5
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Post by Vicki Pettersson on Apr 21, 2008 21:18:36 GMT -5
Vampy, Yes! That's me...but w/out the cute butt!  |
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Post by vampyre on Apr 22, 2008 0:21:39 GMT -5
I couldn't find a female version.
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Post by miki on May 3, 2008 8:54:58 GMT -5
125K! *gulp* I have some more writing to do! *note to self--must spend less time online @ message board.  |
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Post by Vicki Pettersson on May 3, 2008 12:17:22 GMT -5
Miki, 80-100K will work well too! Anything shorter than that starts infringing on novella territory. Not the largest market out there.  |
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Post by miki on May 3, 2008 12:42:00 GMT -5
Thanks for that. At least now I have something to shoot for!  *gets ass in gear and motivates self to quit fekking around* |
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Post by deathlynx on May 3, 2008 23:42:36 GMT -5
The Shomi contest was asking for 80-90K novels...As for shorter, I have quite a bit of those, but I'm thinking they can always go into an anthology to support the main series ;D
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suze
Mere Mortal
Posts: 72
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Post by suze on May 19, 2008 9:43:17 GMT -5
Miki, 80-100K will work well too! Anything shorter than that starts infringing on novella territory. Unless you're writing YA. Then 40-60 K will do.  |
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Post by miki on May 19, 2008 12:46:29 GMT -5
Miki, 80-100K will work well too! Anything shorter than that starts infringing on novella territory. Unless you're writing YA. Then 40-60 K will do. I'll keep that in mind...thanks for that! |
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lvlocalgirl
Agent
just killin' time until dawn
Posts: 516
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Post by lvlocalgirl on Jul 16, 2008 1:39:41 GMT -5
Adding to the word count question.
Where is the dividing line between a short story category and a novella?
So min 80k for novel, less for novella and then how many for a short story?
thanks...sorry if it's an obvious question, I just don't know.
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Post by Vicki Pettersson on Jul 16, 2008 8:42:56 GMT -5
lvlocalgirl,
It's rather nebulous, and not obvious at all. I'm writing a short now at 15K, and I don't consider it a novella ... the 7500 word short in the vampire antho is definitely not a novella, but the 25K in HOLIDAYS ARE HELL is novella form. Anyone else hear any different?
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Post by deathlynx on Jul 16, 2008 20:02:47 GMT -5
I'd heard 45-60K as novella, but I don't remember where that figure came from...might be WiWo...
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