I have to say, hitting the word “END” on a manuscript is especially satisfying. Particularly when it’s a full three days before I thought I would. I just sent it off to my uber-agent and we’ll see what she says. ((AFTER the weekend, ’cause it’s a holiday, people.))
One of the things we talked about at the workshop this weekend was the importance of meeting goals. Different participants had varying views on whether wordcount or time spent writing was a better metric for a goal. Personally, I think you need both.
As James Maxey pointed out, we’re paid by the word. BUT without sitting in the chair, that wordcount isn’t going to go anywhere.
I set a wordcount goal, but I’ve timed myself so that I know how long it takes me to write. I write an average of 1000 words per hour. Which means that if I need to hit 2000 words in a day, that I need to block out a minimum of 2 hours. I’ve been trying to train myself to write fast and clean first drafts because it’s obvious, from looking at friends who are farther along on the career track, that the ability to hit deadlines is a really important trait.
So reaching the “END” point in the manuscript early gives me three extra days to polish the prose. It means I won’t be scrambling and turn in something sloppy. And that makes me a happy camper
A question came to mind: Other than time goals and wordcount goals, what about scene goals? Of course, it’s probably more relevent to scripts, and the scene lengths can be quite different, but have you ever something like plot points as goals? For example: Yesterday I’m going till Jinny bites open an apple to discover a worm and Today I’m going to go until Johnny runs downhill.
I do sometimes work with scene or chapter goals and I know other authors do. For me, and I think everyone is different, the scene and chapter goals are goals within a larger frame. I have my outline, which tells me which chapters I need to write and what needs to happen within them. I know how long my chapters tend to run on average, so that gives me a good guess on what the overall length of the novel is going to be.
Dividing that by my words per hour tells me about how long I’ll need to write the thing. Personally, “I want to finish this chapter” usually goes with “before I take a break,” instead of “today.” Does that make sense?
See, I have almost no internal time sense, so I’ve had to time myself doing things in order to be able to make estimates. Like, I know how long it takes to make a puppet, because I’ve timed myself. My usual way of working is to take my estimate and then double it to account for things that go wrong.
Also, if I need 2000 words, that means that my overall wordcount needs to be 2000 words higher, not just 2000 words written. So if I junk 500 words, then I have to write 2500 that day to stay on track. If I take time off and write 1500 words, then I have to make up the time by writing a little bit more over the next several days.
Speaking of, I did proof the rest of the chapters for you (can’t sleep for some reason) and it’s all stylistic except for one little narrative wiggle in a scene. I’m going to read the whole thing again, though, for continuity check. 🙂
Oh good. I’m going through right now and hunting for my lazy words and phrases. “He looked,” “back,” “just”…
Good! I only notice that sort of thing if it’s awkwardly phrased (and you’ve got a couple that I’ve pointed out). Mostly I’ve just pointed out your dropped words, commas, and quotation marks. I can tell they’re just because you were writing feverishly. 🙂
*streeeeetch* Well, on to continuity check. I got a migraine staying up even though I couldn’t sleep and so I took one of the migraine pills that also conks you out, lol. Does that make me a changeling…? 😀
I’m looking forward to your notes. Once I finish the find/replace pass then I’ll print it out, which I haven’t done yet. I always find loads of oddities when I do that.
Based on what you said above, do you edit as you are writing the 2000 words you have planned for the day? Or do you get through the 2000 then go back later that day, or even later? I know you go through the whole manuscript when you are done, I was just wondering. Some people say just to get the words down, then go back over them later. I find myself cringing at times when I try to do that. I’m probably taking it too literal.
Since you are done early you can enjoy the holiday, and help out your grandma without thinking too much about it. Enjoy!
It’s a mix. I write a fairly clean first draft — aside from the occasional moment of slushiness — but there are also tics that I know I have as a writer which I just let myself do, knowing I can go back to fix them later.
For instance, when I’ve got two characters in conversation I’m apt to use the phrase, “She looked at him.” Which is silly, since you usually look at the person you are talking to, it’s not conveying information. While I try to use something else that does convey meaning, I also know that what that phrase really means is that I want a pause there and some body language. So rather than stopping momentum to decide exactly what that is, sometimes I’ll go ahead and use the shorthand and then do a search for “look” later.
But that’s all just sanding and polishing stuff.
Structurally I try to make darn sure that it’s sound as I’m writing it. I want to nail the emotion, the pacing and the content. That’s what will cause me to junk words, if I miss hitting the beats that I need for the scene.
I’m sure knowing you have these tics helps later. Doing a search for a specific phrase or word would make editing much quicker.
Thanks for the info!