The chronicles word counter!

[chrispenycate]

It should be the length it needs to be. If it's really over the top it might need splitting, but much longer works are not merely accepted but sought out nowadays. But a story basically defines its own length.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

It should be the length it needs to be. If it's really over the top it might need splitting, but much longer works are not merely accepted but sought out nowadays. But a story basically defines its own length.

I figured that was the answer. I was just wondering if there are any general recommendations for length.

 

[Dan Jones]

Finally pulled my finger out my new novel, Hole In The Sky. Am at 35K, but have managed about 15K in just under two weeks, whereas the previous 6 weeks had yielded nary a sausage.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

How many words should a chapter be? How many words should a Sci-Fi novel be?

I ask because what I'm working on now began as a prologue but is becoming kind of a short Novel or long Novella and will probably clock in around 50,000 words over 6 chapters.

1. Entirely up to you. Short chapters keep pace up, longer ones help immersion. Mine tend to be c 12-1600 words but I err on the pacy side of life....

2. Again, it depends. Anything over 40k is a novel and I've sold one at 60k before. But usually 90-100k is more normal. As a debut you'll struggle to sell anything over 110 unless it is epic fantasy or Space Opera, which go longer (c125k). But it's all very flexible, especially in the self publishing world. (My novels to date are 160k, 85k, 100k, 90k and 60k. They'll be what they need to be )

 

[Heijan Xavier]

1. Entirely up to you. Short chapters keep pace up, longer ones help immersion. Mine tend to be c 12-1600 words but I err on the pacy side of life....

Would 8000 be a long chapter then by anybody's standards?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Would 8000 be a long chapter then by anybody's standards?

Yes but Terry Prachett never used chapters and others have 300 word chapters. Don't sweat it. Write the book, acquire some knowledgeable readers, then fix it if it's broken

 

[Ashleyne]

After delicate experimentation, I've discovered that I do, indeed, have the capacity to listen to music and write at the same time, without the lyrics distracting me.

Here I am, darkness concealing the mess of my room. My candle sprouts a trifecta of flame ladies dancing together, from this angle. It's just me, the story, and Blondie yelling at me to call her through my headphones.

I'm at 52,000 words, give or take.

 

[Luiglin]

All set in the Dark Lordiverse.

• Untitled Dark Lord - 49k words
• Fodder - 9k words
• Short - 35k words
• The Four - 14k words

I really need to finish one

 

[LittleStar]

Title: All About Alys
Genre: Romance
Current Wordcount: 39,953
Projected Wordcount: 40-45k
Start Date: 1st Jan 2017
End Date : 8th Jan 2017

All About Alys - 1st-8th Jan.

So, it’s been a while since posting here (surely not 2+ years!) But I thought I’d update on the word count. I’ve been busy editing this story over the last long time, and have had several full read-throughs by my partner/free-of-charge editor and a couple of hefty redrafts because of it. Elements added, elements developed, characters changed cut or rethought, and all the stronger for it.

It’s been slow going, with many long breaks I’m between. But I’m finally happy with the result and will be on the hunt for a few kind betas over in the writing group shortly.

Final word count smashes the projected count and weighs in at 86k!

 

[Anne Martin]

It has been like forever. I'm not even sure what I was working on when I last posted here. There is a lot to catch up on.

What have I done since?
I published my short story anthology The Veil of Sheera and other Tales. Essentially, it is self-published. A music publisher friend published it on KDP for me. Available on Kindle and Amazon. (Mature) No one is going to publish an anthology anyway. Are they?

Other projects:
Late Nights with Ezzie Dryar, complete first draft at 96,000 words. It's actually three series posted on WordPress put together into a single novel. Finished Nov 2019. (Late Nights, More Late Nights, and Planet Ezzie)

'Round Midnight, completed last Wednesday (24 June 2020, Yay!), 148,000, again posted as a series of daily chapters on WordPress. It eventually became a sequel to Late Nights, and there may be one or two more coming. It's set up for two more series, but I'm not sure I have the stamina for it right now.

These can be found on my WordPress sites. Both will need major rewrites if I ever want to publish them. There are a few continuity problems, some of which I have already fixed in my manuscript (but not the posted versions). Late Nights was never supposed to be a novel, so it will need significant clean up. FWIW, there is also a related novella written by Ezzie called Eirica Johnstone's Obsession (37,661 words), which could also be included in a possible publication. It is discussed in detail in the first Ezzie series. There is a similar (incomplete) story within 'Round Midnight (four chapters), but that is intrinsic to the narrative. It's historical fantasy fiction, and I'm not sure I want to flesh the whole thing out. Too much research involved.

Current work:
I've just started another completely unrelated story, probably a novella, called Writer's Block. I'm 3 chapters in, again serialized on WP. It's officially at 3836 words, but there is another 1000 or so in draft, to be posted tomorrow.

If there is anyone waiting on news of The Cult of Hahn (probably not), it is dormant at 78,667. I'm not serializing it anywhere to keep it publishable. It is my goal to take it up again this summer. It has two big gaps and one small one. About half of it has undergone a few rewrites, but I know the rest of it will require some. Goal number one is to have a complete draft from beginning to end. It will probably end up a between 90-100k.

 

[msstice]

Book 1: +741, -78 => 106254

I'm happy with today's progress. There was an emotional scene that I wasn't sure I could pull off. I don't know if I did pull it off, but I made myself shed a tear, so at least it worked on one person. We'll see if I have the same reaction when I reread it in 6 months.

PS. Oh God. 2020 was TWO YEARS AGO NOW?

 

[HareBrain]

PS. Oh God. 2020 was TWO YEARS AGO NOW?

That can't be true. The late 90s were only a couple of years ago.

 

[F.J. Hansen]

Novel: Final Frontier
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count: 105,852
Status: In progress. Coming to the end of Chapter 24 of 25. The story is picking up again after a series of slow scenes that I felt were needed to show off the world that is the focus of the final chapters and give my characters a reason for doing what they do at the end.

 

[msstice]

Bk1: +892, -165 => 106985

I finished the chapter on a fun, dramatic note. There will likely be two more chapters after this. The main action is over, this is the denouement, it establishes that the problems have only been temporarily been solved and sets wheels in motion for the next book.

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: Out of the Frying Pan
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count: 33697
Status: I'm in trouble. I think I need to go back and do some serious mapping. An Earth-size planet (Hel) rotates slowly (45 days) and westward. I keep having my characters moving in the wrong direction between two points on opposite sides of the planet, and I can't keep my head straight between where it is day or night. I keep treating it like it is flatworld and night and day switch off and on like a lightswitch for the whole hemisphere. One problem is that 22.5 day "day" is warm and dark, while night is cold and light. (Their sun has passed through the event horizon of a singularity and they are now spiraling the drain themselves.) The planet used to have a similar cycle to Earth, so they still keep their clocks the same (even after 800 years). I'm getting myself in such a muddle, that I am tempted to put it aside and work on ...

Novel: Failsafe
Genre: Literary Fantasy(?)
Word Count: 24,794
Status: I put it aside to work on Out of the Frying Pan, but now with the problems I'm having, I am considering going back to it. It is the fourth novel in a series. The first half of it is pretty well mapped out, but I need to make a definitive plan for the ending, which will end the series. I had hoped to let it simmer for a little while, but the other book needs so much reworking that I find myself torn between them.

I'm tempted to just let them both simmer and work on something new, or go back to another incomplete series.

 

[AllanR]

Just crossed the 20k mark of The City of Eternal Spring
It's starting to feel like a story as the characters, setting and plot all develop. It's a magic realism/urban fantasy set in the 1980s in Cartel controlled Medellin, Colombia.

 

[msstice]

Bk1 +540, -2 => 107525

I have to see if the ending is getting too long. I'm trying to introduce the kernels for the next book as naturally as possible, but I suppose there is a risk in that.

Technique wise, I'm following Hemingway's advice to "leave a little in the tank" for the next writing session.

 

[SurrealSisyphus]

Novel: ‘The Cost of Salvation’
genre: Fantasy
word count: 458 (Hope to be 600 tonight)
status: Rough draft. Writing up the prologue, then I'll storyboard the plot beats to get us up to the second threshold. Mostly it will be establishing the new world juxtaposed to the old world. Need to re-read Sanderson's essay on devising magic systems.

 

[SurrealSisyphus]

Double post, but I'm proud enough to make another post rather than an edit: Clocked in at 651 for the day. Gonna try for two hundred a day thanks to msstice's title.

 

[HareBrain]

Bk1 +540, -2

How do you keep track of additions and deletions separately?