The chronicles word counter!

[Anne Martin]

Novel: The Eleventh Book
Genre: Literary Fantasy
Word Count: 75,453 (47+ chapters)
Status: I have had more time than usual to write this week, so I've hit my next milestone, 75K. I'm well into the denoument, and I'm setting up a kick in the tail. Now, I'm thinking over 80K again. Chapters 48 and 49 will be substantial, while 50 will probably be more retrospective. 51 will probably have the kick, which might need a short epilogue.

 

[sknox]

67k.

No, I'm not writing backwards, I'm editing. Which can *feel* like writing backwards, and sometimes is. But at least I've made it to the Creepy Monsters Attack part of the book.

 

[Anne Martin]

67k.

No, I'm not writing backwards, I'm editing. Which can *feel* like writing backwards, and sometimes is. But at least I've made it to the Creepy Monsters Attack part of the book.

Didn't Merlin live his life backwards? I've often toyed with the idea of writing a story backwards, where the protagonist lives their time opposite the rest of the time continuum. Actually, the story I'm writing now has my protagonist living inside out. As she lives, she creates a past. She lives in 2030, but the consequences of her actions in many cases affect events as many as 80 years before she was born (as well as in the future). It's time for an update, so ...

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: The Eleventh Book
Genre: Literary Fantasy
Word Count: 80,098 (50 chapters)
Status: I am at the part of my novel that I dread - and most desire. It is time for the kick in the tail. It may last two chapters. I need the kick, as well as an epilogue. (Without the epilogue, the connection to the other books in the series will be left too vague.) I've just had a big reveal, which one might not understand until the final book of the saga (currently named Failsafe) is complete. Kyra is misunderstood and is being punished. That punishment will have ramifications beyond what they intended.

My guess is that I have 3-4K left to go in this first draft.

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: The Eleventh Book
Genre: Literary Fantasy
Word Count: 80,098 (50 chapters)
Status: I am at the part of my novel that I dread - and most desire. It is time for the kick in the tail. It may last two chapters. I need the kick, as well as an epilogue. (Without the epilogue, the connection to the other books in the series will be left too vague.) I've just had a big reveal, which one might not understand until the final book of the saga (currently named Failsafe) is complete. Kyra is misunderstood and is being punished. That punishment will have ramifications beyond what they intended.

My guess is that I have 3-4K left to go in this first draft.

Update! I finished it today at 82,500 words. I'm reminding myself that it is a first draft.

 

[msstice]

Jun 9th: 132046 => 137662

July 14th: 137662 => 139637

I've started on draft 3. Yes, that's what I'm calling it. Well, this thing isn't getting smaller, but I think it will when I start to cut things in the middle. I finished revising Ch 1 and that is 8700 words now. I rearranged things a little to clarify the characters motivations and desires better. world building and plot are the same. On to Ch 2.

 

[sknox]

@msstice, are you moving through chapter by chapter, or are you bouncing around? I have a hard time staying strictly linear during editing.

 

[msstice]

@msstice, are you moving through chapter by chapter, or are you bouncing around? I have a hard time staying strictly linear during editing.

I'm going to force myself to stay linear this time. I think I was reasonably linear for draft2. Draft1 was fairly random.

This time it is important to be linear because I have to mimic the journey a reader will take.

That said, I'm already disliking how I did the chapters: Ch 1ends on a cliff-hanger "out on the range" and then I transition to "back on the ranch" which I think is too jarring. Might break Ch 1 into two, and place old ch 2 in between, before things on "the range" get too exciting.

 

[msstice]

July 14th: 137662 => 139637

July 27th: 139637 => 140986
Revisions for Ch2 and Ch3 have gone very well. I made some tweaks that clarify character motivations and improved the writing in general.

 

[sknox]

72.3k. Doing the heavy work of completing sketched chapters, backfilling on continuity, and generally trying to hammer sense into the plot. Polishing characters and prose will be the primary work of third draft. It's cute, isn't it, how I pretend there's enough clarity for me to say first draft, second draft, etc., when in truth it's just all one long wail.

 

[F.J. Hansen]

Word Count: 115,835
Status: DONE! Well, mostly. A few more rounds of editing, fine-tune the dialogue, and translate a few lines into an alien language.

Update:

Novel: Final Frontier
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count: 114,773 (OpenOffice), 113,309 (Word)
Status: Just finished a round of editing. I was having problems with OpenOffice, so I switched to Word. The two processors seem to count words differently.

 

[sknox]

Word count will vary; just a fact of tech life. Unless it's something like >10% variance, I don't worry about it. The only place where I do fuss is when I'm trying to get a short story in under a publisher's ceiling. That one has driven me nuts a couple of times.

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: Out of the Frying Pan (working title)
Genre: Literary Science Fiction
Word Count: 33,819
Status: Wow, I've jumped right up to 33K. Well, no. This is a story I started right around the time I joined Chrons. I even posted half the first chapter for comments then. I have made several attempts at continuing it, hence the 33K. While poking around for what to do next, I decided that this is the project. There is some significant world-building involved, and I have at least corrected the continuity errors that had already appeared. Unlike some of my novels, I know the ending, which makes it difficult to serialize on my WP site, but I've got 33 chapters ready to post before I have to consider that. Hopefully, by then, I will have written several more. I might write the ending and try to fill the gap, but that will slow down the serialization.

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: Survivor Guilt (working title)
Genre: Literary Science Fiction
Word Count: 12,859
Status: And you thought I was working on Out of the Frying Pan. I was nearly up to 40K, but there was something wrong. I wasn't concentrating on it, and I felt like I needed a new challenge. OothFP is a universe in itself, which will end when the story does. Without making a giant leap, there can't be a sequel. Survivor Guilt didn't start as a sequel, but it's now the third in the series that starts with Writer's Block. Actually, it started with the second book. Writer's Block is a prequel. This, too, is a separate story in the same universe. I need to rewrite the "2nd" book and continue the 3rd. Yes, there are about 15K of a true sequel. I also need to change the title, because there is a reader who has read it under my real name, and who make frequent this place. (I still haven't made her corrections yet.)

Celidh McKinnon is a miracle. She survives a train crash and fire without a scratch. She is the only survivor and nobody can figure out how. She knows. She was dead instantly, yet her reaping angel was startled by her red wings and accidentally nicked her with her sword, healing her forever. Celidh, known by her friends as Eileen, isn't just any angel. She is one of the oldest and is mentioned in Revelations. Now she has to deal with being human and angel at the same time - human while awake, angel (a special one) while her body sleeps. Her humanity has a purpose, but she doesn't know what it is yet.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Time moves on. Hobson's Choice is finished. (Detective / spy) Now I'm 126 k and on the final chapters of Freaksville. (science fantasy). Also 36 k into The Long Road Home, which I started a week ago. (Urban sci fi). And the first draft of the Pirate's Son is done. (Detective / Adventure) Druid's first draft is done too. (Urban fantasy). The way I'm going at the moment, I'm going to be editing until next Christmas!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[sknox]

79k or so, on The Tower of Guard. It's looking like the finished product will be closer to 90k than to 80k, which is fine. I knew this one would be a bit longer than The Signet Ring. But there's still deceptively far to go from here to there, for I must tread the dreaded Road of Revision.

 

[msstice]

I'm still working on draft3, but I've elected to go the messy route. My word count kept getting bigger and I finally decided that a particular story arc did not fit with this book. I had a lot of fun scenes and character development in that arc, but I decided it was too much of a detour and the plot is easily patched not to have this detour, so I'm ripping it out (I think it's about 30K worth - I haven't removed the files, so I don't know yet).

The decision was hard for me, because I enjoyed writing that bit and it was a lot of work, but I always knew it was a digression from the main tale for this book. I feel better now. The concept that I ripped out might fit in the next book, and I might keep most of the plot.

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: Survivor Guilt (working title)
Genre: Literary Fantasy
Word Count: 30,407
Status: I've decided to use NaNoWriMo to get a big push with this. I've been writing below the required pace, and I probably won't be up to 80K by the end of November, especially since I have a large freelance job coming that is going to get in the way. Celidh is learning what being an angel and human at the same time entails. To make it more difficult, her best friend has puzzled out what was different about her and why she suddenly looks 30 years younger. In this universe, angels and other spirits appear how they picture themselves. I don't know about you, but when I dream, I'm young, probably 16-18, although I once dreamed that I was about 10. Celidh will stick with 16 - at least for now. I think the Philharmonia Orchestra would notice if their principal trumpet player suddenly looked 10 years old. She can just about get away with 16.

 

[msstice]

July 27th: 139637 => 140986

Oct 30th: 140986 => 153900

I haven't yet physically taken out the text for the discarded arc, but I am firmer in my belief that this was the right thing to do. My writing feels freer and the plot more fluid. I have to rewrite a few chapters because of a different reason (the plot decided to tweak itself) and the existing writing is inhibiting me a bit, so I think I will just toss them and rewrite afresh, copy pasting bits back (or referring to them) as needed.

 

[Anne Martin]

Novel: Survivor Guilt (working title)
Genre: Literary Fantasy
Word Count: 40,700
Status: I've reached my next check-in point. I've got some decisions to make in my plot coming soon, so things may slow down.