Shameless Self-Appreciation Thread

[Fyri]

My dudes! I have finished!

9 Ways to Lessen Your Word Count

Here are 9 things you might try in order to shorten your word count to the sweet spot you so crave!

nkvalek.wordpress.com

The list is complete and I have written an article for each thing. Also, it grew into 9 ways to cut down your word count, but shhhh. In five years from now, perhaps I will make a counter-list, how to increase your word count. XD

 

[pmmg]

You put a lot of work and a lot of personality in this, and made a lot of good suggestions. Thanks for posting.

 

[Jackarandajam]

My dudes! I have finished!

9 Ways to Lessen Your Word Count

Here are 9 things you might try in order to shorten your word count to the sweet spot you so crave!

nkvalek.wordpress.com

The list is complete and I have written an article for each thing. Also, it grew into 9 ways to cut down your word count, but shhhh. In five years from now, perhaps I will make a counter-list, how to increase your word count. XD

Tell DONT show?!? gasp, swoon, glance around for fainting couch.

Great article! I agree with you and hope the common advice that anything shorter than 120k words won't get published is going away. I love the tomes, but I think the number of "epics that could have been a novella" is increasing.

 

[Fyri]

Tell DONT show?!? gasp, swoon, glance around for fainting couch.

Great article! I agree with you and hope the common advice that anything shorter than 120k words won't get published is going away. I love the tomes, but I think the number of "epics that could have been a novella" is increasing.

Well, the main reasons they dont go over well is usually 1) cost and 2) reader interest. I think cost will become less of a problem as more and more people are turning to digital and audiobook copies. But reader interest/trust is a tricky one. Readers are less likely to buy a tome from an author they dont know and trust to tell a story well. That probably won't go away. :/

 

[pmmg]

Just anecdotally, cause I don't know that I am representative of anything, but I find that given the internet market (Amazon), I often don't know if the book is a tome or not before buying. I almost always, if not always, look at the sample before buying anything. I want to see the quality of the writing. If I see a lot of errors or clumsiness on the first page, or throughout, I'll probably move on as its not really ready for prime time. Sometimes, I'll buy anyway, but its for other reasons.

The best way to get me to buy without a lot of scrutiny is have an audio book.

 

[Fyri]

Just anecdotally, cause I don't know that I am representative of anything, but I find that given the internet market (Amazon), I often don't know if the book is a tome or not before buying. I almost always, if not always, look at the sample before buying anything. I want to see the quality of the writing. If I see a lot of errors or clumsiness on the first page, or throughout, I'll probably move on as its not really ready for prime time. Sometimes, I'll buy anyway, but its for other reasons.

The best way to get me to buy without a lot of scrutiny is have an audio book.

I'm on a budget and only get one audiobook a month. Your audiobook needs to sell me as well.

However, my method is usually
1) find book
2) Skim summary for interesting bits or turn offs
3) If interesting bits exist, read whole summary
4) Check reviews
5) If reviews look promising, put on list to read/get.

For audiobooks, I judge how long I want to spend dedicated to listening to it. Lately, I've been wanting longer books because I hate sitting the rest of the month with no good stories to listen to, and I also hope that I will still be enjoying it when I get a new audible credit, so that I can start stockpiling books. XD But, yeah, it needs to be good because I have many other things I can listen to if it's boring or frustrating.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Yeah, so in true Irish tradition, I kneecapped someone last night. Also in true Irish tradition, that someone was me. I innocently scooted my chair closer to my desk and drilled my right knee so hard into the solid wooden leg that it launched my baby ultrawide monitor off its stand and right at me.

In true Irish tradition, at that point I was told to spend my cool roll. Monitor was undamaged, desk was undamaged, my legion of toys was undamaged, and even the fresh coat of nail polish I was sporting was undamaged. Just me.

Natural 20. Because it's me.

 

[Incanus]

Passed 39K last night, but the number may be a little misleading, since it is a thin 'half-draft'. In the completed version, this same part of the plot will likely be at about 50-55K.

I'm about 3 short chapters away from the mid-point.

At this point, this is now my second longest story I've worked on. I have a novella of about 37K, and a failed novel that reached 35K.

It's still going strong, despite all the 'blah' of the initial drafting.

I celebrated by splurging on some sushi.

 

[Incanus]

I guess this is the place for me to sort of track where I'm at. I feel like I don't do this often enough to justify a fresh thread.

Recently reached and completed the chapter that contains my mid-point twist. Word count is an estimate, but should be somewhere north of 44K. But this is a thin and woefully incomplete 'half-draft'.

Need to work on some planning for the next stage. I still have plenty of momentum--this thing will get done despite my slow work habits (tortoise for the win!)

I also polished up and submitted a short to an anthology. I think it has a good chance for being accepted; should hear back in under two weeks.

 

[pmmg]

I'm on a budget and only get one audiobook a month. Your audiobook needs to sell me as well.

I have audibles subscription. I think its the 3 month one, where i get a credit every three months...but...those credits do pile up at the rate I read. If I am lucky, I may finish one today...but probably still a few more days. For me, it makes sense (or it did once) cause one subscription payment is pretty much the cost of one book anyway.

 

[pmmg]

Recently reached and completed the chapter that contains my mid-point twist. Word count is an estimate, but should be somewhere north of 44K. But this is a thin and woefully incomplete 'half-draft'.

That is an accomplishment all by itself. Mid point twist...go you.

 

[Incanus]

That is an accomplishment all by itself. Mid point twist...go you.

I agree!

I think it means this story is set on a relatively stable foundation. I'd say it's the second time I've made it this far (out of many tries), but since my first novel didn't have a character arc (and thus, no mid-point twist), it's really the first.

 

[teledhelwen]

I love the concept of this thread.

Today, I found this forum, and it was the result of making moves to be good to myself. <3

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I love the concept of this thread.

Today, I found this forum, and it was the result of making moves to be good to myself. <3

That is a good direction to go. Welcome to Scribes! We're glad you found your way here.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Today I got some quality words in! Got into Canva and made them all pretty. Now to just figure out what's going on, here.

 

[Kassandra]

What a beautiful thread!
Last week, I had minimum progress on my getting stuck at the mid-point of my story, but! I kept my focus on it.
I discovered two major plot holes in my earliest chapters, and I had to delete (hide in a folder) the latest ten chapters as my characters had gone... out of character.

So, now, I have to rewrite everything from ten chapters ago and not let the plot and my own desires take me away from the characters' journey.
It's a very good thing that I discovered this now, and not when I was reaching the end of my book.

I don't know if this is going to help me unravel the problematic scene at my mid-point, but I have a ways to go until then.
I'm happy I discovered this problem, which I wouldn't have if I hadn't taken a look back.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I finally decided to stop writing 'new' ideas as they come to me and decided to finish the ones I'm working on first.
That still means I'm working on four big-ish projects, but that means I have a goal, and I have two projects on the backburner.

 

[pmmg]

See if you can narrow it down to one that you are working on, and more on the back burner.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

See if you can narrow it down to one that you are working on, and more on the back burner.

Tried that in the past, leads to 'burn out' on the one project in most cases. (often not even 3 chapters in) Having limited flexibility gives me options on what to work on keeps me from being 'fully' distracted from too many ideas at one time. I'm making sure I make 'progress' on all four by getting them 'caught up' to eachother before pressing onward. (Currently have to get all my projects to chapter 3, then rotate them for 1 chapter per time)