(originally posted 4/15/08, Writingscape V1.0)
I ran into this interesting January post from author Liane Spicer today. Note the quote from Dean Koontz: “The first half-million words are just practice.”
As I mull it over, in my mind the number itself isn’t necessarily true, but the idea behind it IS. It takes a while, sometimes an obscene amount of writing to truly find your Voice, that tone that will grow on you, stick with you, excite you and make you recognizable to people even when your name isn’t in front of them. (Then you may have to develop it, which is another post entirely.) Hmm… where might I be in all this? Let’s find out.
Very First novel (now sliced and diced, whole chunks thrown out, subplots on the cutting room floor, freeze-dried, replotted and reconstituted into current Fantasy Novel #1 and WIP Sequel #2): 500,000 words, single-spaced. A monster, but some of the best raw writing that’s ever come out of me, before “The Rules” took hold. What can I say? My muse was insatiable back then. Now you know why all the slicing and dicing had to happen. According to the quote, I should have been ordering my cap-and-gown here, but in all honesty, no. Story had GOOD potential (though unmarketable at the time) and my Voice was forming, but I was not ready for graduation.
Second novel (unfinished collaboration): 30,000
Third novel: 85,000
Fourth novel: 100,000
First novella: 40,000
So. Including the Fantasy Novel #1 rewrite (being marketed now), short stories, teleplays, and nonfiction inbetween, I’m so close to One Million I could sneeze on it. I pinned my Voice down somewhere between the novella and FN#1 rewrite to where it feels recognizably me. I’ve never been more satisfied with it. But I’ll always work at making it better, published or not. Shouldn’t I?
It all must depend on the writer. Some need more time, others need less. What do y’all think? Are you still in rehearsals, or graduated?
*DYNASTIC NOTE: Be on the lookout for Liane’s first novel, Cafe Au Lait, being released by Dorchester and in bookstores September 2008.
