Writing – number crunching

As I mentioned before, I’m busy on devoting my writing time to finishing a couple of books, so I’ve neglected blog posts.

There are certainly many subjects I’d like to write about, not least the Brexit nonsense and the definition of ‘flee’ in the European immigrant crisis reporting context. But these books demand to be completed.

Annoyingly, both Jen and I – and our daughter Hannah – have been hit simultaneously by the ‘global’ virus. It clobbered us on 27 February and reduced the word-count output somewhat. 

On Wednesday (2 March) we made an appointment to see our doctor for Thursday (3 March) and duly came away with cough mixture and antibiotic treatments. As a result, the word-count yesterday is much better than it has been for four or five days, anyway.

For what it’s worth, here’s a breakdown of word-counts:

Feb

24 – 2151

25 – 2196

26 – 1472

27 – 442

28 – 450

29 – 878

March

1 – 1336

2 – 923

3 – 2439

Despite the illness, that’s a reasonable total of 12,287 words for 9 days. Not as much as I’d planned, naturally (about 4,000 less, I reckon)!

It’s fortunate that I have a plot-plan to work to. There are still plenty of changes/tweaks on the way, but that plan helps me move forward, even when feeling less than fine.

So, my continued apologies for not posting here recently – and for a while hereafter too.

Writing - As long as it gets (2)

Yesterday, we looked at the problem of not having ‘enough’ words for a given novel, and how to rectify this without simply inserting padding.

Some writers have the opposite problem, however – they write, write and write until their tome is well beyond the usually accepted 100,000 words. There’s nothing wrong with this – a good number of debut novels have exceeded this word-count. But you’re bucking against the standard requirement of publishers and agents by writing such a thick novel, thereby lessening your chance of acceptance.

If you see your book growing to huge proportions, then you might like to take a look at this blog I posted in 2014:

http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/writing-tip-its-too-long.html

 

 

Good luck!

 

My book Write a Western in 30 Days has picked up a good selection of reviews, and many of the reviewers on Amazon sites state that it's useful for writers of any genre, not only westerns.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Western-30-Days-bullet-points/dp/1780995911/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428845583&sr=1-1&keywords=nik+Morton

 

http://www.amazon.com/Write-Western-30-Days-Bullet-Points-ebook/dp/B00D6E3T6O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1428832391&sr=1-1&keywords=Nik+Morton

 

 

Words, words and more words

A moderately interesting exercise; this is a word-count of the books I’ve had published under the pen-names of Nik Morton, Ross Morton, Robert Morton and Robin Moreton.

Death at Bethesda Falls – 34,500

Pain Wears No Mask * - 96,000

Last Chance Saloon – 40,000

The Prague Manuscript * - 84,000

Blind Justice at Wedlock – 38,400

The Tehran Transmission * - 90,900

The $300 Man – 40.018

Assignment Kilimanjaro – 80,900

Bullets for a Ballot – 31,900

Old Guns – 37,250

Death is Another Life * - 81,200

Odd Shoes and Medals (biog) – 38,300

Write a Western in 30 Days (nonfic) – 49,700

When the Flowers are in Bloom (anthology) * - 39,900

Blood of the Dragon Trees – 79,800

Spanish Eye - 51,900

Sudden Vengeance – 58,500

The Magnificent Mendozas – 40,500

Wings of the Overlord (due September) – 106,600

Catalyst (due December) – 54,700

  

 [* = out-of-print]

 
Total word-count, 1 million, 174 thousand, 950 words – since 2007. That’s not a lot by the standards of many prolific authors. James Reasoner usually aims to write that many words per year!

They’re my published words in book format, of course. The actual word-count of books produced (including those discarded, and those not published [yet]) will doubtless add to another million.

A writer some years back commented that you really need to write a million words before you reach competency as an author. The search for the writer who said that is an intriguing one, and may have been Ray Bradbury or John D. McDonald; see this interesting article on the subject:

http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2014/03/one-million-words-to-competency-who-said-it-first.html

Naturally, in the above list I haven’t counted A Fistful of Legends (which I edited). One day, I’ll do a word-count of the published short stories, perhaps.

For interest, the three books that are works in progress (Catacomb, To Be King and The Khyber Chronicle), they clock up another 46,900 words!

Writing tip – It’s too long!

This is a companion piece to my blog ‘Writing tip – It’s too short! here

As we writers know, some publishers set an upper limit for fiction submissions. There are several valid reasons for this. The limit can vary from 50,000 to 100,000. Rarely do they want in excess of 100,000. Yes, there are exceptions, though I haven’t found any when searching on my wife’s behalf for her 150,000 romantic suspense novel.

So how do you clip off those extra words, expunge all that precious prose?

Here are ten suggestions:

1. Break the novel into two books. This will only work if the plot and flow of the story permits. The ideal point to break would be where the protagonist encounters a serious obstacle that seems insurmountable. Not the final black moment, but similar. So end on a cliff-hanger. That will inevitably require some rewriting. If you’ve captured the reader for the first ‘half’, then ending in this way is likely to entice the reader to seek out the follow-up.

Some books previously published were chopped up into smaller units because of their size – notably The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant – that ended up as a trilogy (to be followed by others!) Edgar Rice Burroughs ended on a cliff-hanger at the close of The Warlord of Mars, the second in what amounted to a trilogy. Dickens did it all the time with the magazine versions of his novels: leave the reader wanting more. But not all books lend themselves to this kind of surgery.

Be ruthless. Yes, a good author should ruthlessly edit anyway. But many just tend to tinker rather than excise. Follow these suggestions and cut, cut and cut; put the manuscript away for a while, come back to it with fresh eyes and then cut, cut and cut again.  

2. Is every scene doing something to add to the plot or increase our understanding of the characters, or move the story forward? If the scene does none of those things, why is it there?

3. Is all that research that you’ve infodumped really necessary? Can it be condensed without losing the salient points in order to aid the story?

4. Repetition. Time and again I read where the same sentence or two is repeated, though using different words; the sense is the same, twice. Combine, or excise. Same goes for whole paragraphs.

5. Too many characters. This is a tough one. It depends on the type of story, naturally. A saga, or the first in a series, might contain a good number of characters. But do they all do enough to justify being there? Some need to be sounding boards, perhaps, for the main characters; others need to be there so they can meet a grisly demise that will signpost the threat to the protagonist. Fine.

Compare the screenplay of a novel; you’ll notice that some characters have been dropped, while in other cases two or more have been fused into one. (Yes, this is to save on actors’ pay, but it’s also to make the story less complicated). All your characters have to work or they don’t belong; in which case, send them to another work in progress.

 
6. Description. I believe description is necessary to put the reader into the scene. Admittedly, there are authors – and readers – who are happy with minimalist description; or none at all, relying on neat character-filled dialogue. That works, when done well. Though my argument is, it’s a novel that rattles in the reader’s head, not a radio play. Still, there can be too much description. Is all the description through a character’s eyes? Or is it imposed by the author? If you’re writing omniscient POV, then the description may tend to be too rich. If it’s character POV description, keep it tight and relevant, to create mood, foreshadowing or a sense of place and character.

7. Dialogue. Some characters can become irksome, running off at the mouth without let up. These folk need reining in. Does what they say have relevance to the story, to the forward movement of the plot? Occasionally, you can get away with ‘one sugar or two, Vicar?’ when the mood’s appropriate, but be ruthless where possible. Dialogue also falls into the repetition trap – beware, and if found, cut!

 
8. Scene shifts. Scriptwriting gets round much of the tedious bits by scene shifting. Do the same – unless it’s necessary, do you have to relate how your characters get to the next scene? Start the scene with them there.
 
9. Conflict. Without conflict, there’s no story. The conflict doesn’t have to be physical. It can be verbal, psychological, or even caused by the environment. Some scriptwriters arrive at the conflict slowly, letting us get to know the individuals first. That’s fine. But you’ll grab your reader faster and more firmly if you begin with the conflict and then get to know the characters through their actions. Cut the lead up to the conflict – go for the jugular straight away.

10. Tangent. If you don’t watch them, characters can go off at a tangent and take the plot with them. It’s interesting as you go, but is it necessary to the story’s main flow? Yes, you need sub-plots, but you can have too many of them. Be ruthless with the sub-plots and leave them only if they serve a purpose.

 
Finally, don’t discard. That might sound contrary, considering the purpose outlined. If you’re going to excise vast chunks of prose, that’s good. But cut and paste these chunks and save them elsewhere in another document. You never know, some or all of them may prove useful at a later date in another work in progress. If nothing else, it doesn’t seem as if you’ve entirely wasted your time on all that prose! [Whenever I decide to edit, I always start with a new copy, so I’ve always got the earlier version, in case I have an aberration and go too far!] Remember too that the time spent on those words wasn’t wasted; the simple action of writing improves your style every time, every day.
 
Of course, if you have a plot-plan and stick to it and monitor your word-count as you work, you’re less likely to exceed by too much that upper limit. I would estimate that 5,000 words over isn’t going to be frowned upon.
 
Truth is, you can always add more; the obverse is also true, you can always cut more.
 
Nowadays, of course, if you feel you cannot cut your prose to meet the upper limit of a publisher, you can always resort to self-publishing at reasonable cost – though bear in mind that usually every extra page of your masterwork will cost more in production and postage.

***

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This book is a very useful guide for anyone wanting to write genre fiction – that is, any genre, not only westerns. Those aren’t my words, but the opinion of reviewers on Amazon.

 

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Writing tip - It’s too short!

10 ways to add more words without simply padding.

Recently, a correspondent wrote to me expressing concern over the fact that she had finished her book: it was aimed at a particular publisher but it was too short. This is not unusual; a number of publishers stipulate a minimum word-count. The old adage that a story is as long as it takes cuts no ice where minimum and maximum word-counts are concerned.

However, no reader wants to wade through prose that’s there for no good reason, words that do not serve the story.

So how can you actually add words without resorting to padding? Well, you could try one or more of the following suggestions:

1)      Have you got a sub-plot? Most novels are sustained by the presence of one or more sub-plots. These can involve minor characters or the protagonist’s circle of loved ones. The sub-plot has to move forward too, however, and may even heighten the conflict for the protagonist. If you haven’t done so, think about injecting a sub-plot.

2)      Is the sub-plot adequate? So you’ve got a sub-plot (or more), but are they doing enough? Does the sub-plot have the same depth of emotion and intensity as the main plot? Is it raising the suspense or threat to the protagonist? Add more depth, maybe.

3)      Characters’ descriptions. Some writers – and readers – are happy to go with minimal or no character description. Yet description helps create character. The way they look, the clothes they wear tell us something about them. And description helps the reader get immersed in the story, ‘seeing’ the images better. This doesn’t mean you have to opt for a shopping list, showing what the protagonist and others are wearing, though that can work from a certain character viewpoint (say, an observant detective). Clothes, complexion and eyes – all add colour in the mind’s eye of the reader.

4)      Emotional responses. Our characters are all emotional creatures; they respond to what happens to them: or should. Too often I’ve read an early manuscript that throws many an obstacle at the protagonist and all he or she does is ‘sigh’. Emotional responses involve an internal and an external physical manifestation, whether that’s the empty feeling in a stomach or the sweat of palms.

5)      Scene descriptions. If any kind of interaction between characters is involved in a particular scene, then the reader should have a mental image of that place – be it a room, a railway carriage or a stagecoach. Have you done enough scene description? Can the reader ‘see’ where the characters are in relation to each other? This is particularly important in fight scenes.

6)      The senses. We all know we should use all our senses when characters experience their world. But do we? Have your characters done so? Besides adding depth, using the senses adds another layer of believability, and further involves the reader.

7)      Dramatic scenes. I’ve come across more than a few scenes that lend themselves to dramatic interpretation, but they’re over before they’ve begun. Of course you can’t describe every scene in a dramatic context. But where two characters conflict verbally or physically, then ensure that you’ve gleaned all you can from this – the protagonist’s emotional responses, any additional conflict that arises from counter-arguments or blows, and so on.

 

8)      Show, not tell. There are times when the story needs to move forward faster, usually past those boring bits, but don’t ignore the fact that by showing the reader how your protagonist feels in any given situation involves the reader more than simply telling what the character feels. Dig into your character’s emotional responses to the events they encounter.

9)      Enliven the flab. There may be some flab that’s necessary to describe what’s going on. Bring these sections to life with metaphor, improved choice of words, and perhaps by personalising the description from a character’s point of view.

10)  Examine the ending. In many instances, the endings can be rushed. You’ve got to the end and you want to be finished with the story. Don’t rush it – but don’t linger longer than necessary. But ensure that you’ve employed all the above ploys in the ending; in other words, be certain that you haven’t skimped.

All of the above suggestions will increase the word-count. But these extra words have to work too. The writing has to remain tight, where every word counts – towards a story of clarity, where character and scene live for the reader.

That’s the long and short of it.

Writing tips - Size isn’t everything

“How many words are right for my novel?” That’s a familiar question raised by beginners. There will be as many answers as there are words, I imagine. My take on it follows.

We’re talking novels here – not novellas, novelettes, or long short stories.

A novel tells a story and you should use as many words as it takes to tell the story well. That’s the basic, rather glib answer, but it’s also valid, too. To tell the story properly, you need characterisation, a sense of place, imagery that immerses the reader into the fictional world, conflict, a beginning, a middle and an end. Usually, some change has to occur, whether in the protagonist’s life or worldview or in other characters’ lives.

Most publishers’ websites provide a useful guide to the word-count they’re looking for, and really you should attempt to comply with their requirements if you’re aiming for those publishers. Don’t try to be the exception.

Chuck Sambuchino talks at length about writers trying to ‘be the exception’. Truth is, there are a good number of authors who are the exception to ‘the rule’. But there are thousands of unpublished authors who thought their lengthy tomes were the exception too, and they’re still unpublished… The article is here.

Chuck provides a guide to the desired length of commercial and literary adult novels – say, 80,000 to 110,000 word might pass muster, anything longer might not. Certain genre fiction might differ – westerns, crime and sci-fi/fantasy, for example. Young adult seems to fit into the 55,000-70,000 bracket. Note the word 'might'...

At the outset, unless you’re aiming at a specified word-count required by a publisher, I feel that you shouldn’t unduly concern yourself with the number of words. Write the story, get the pacing and all the other aspects right, finish the novel, then self-edit, self-edit and self-edit to make each word and each scene count. When the writing does exactly what you want it to do and creates images in the mind’s eye, grabs your emotions, and doesn’t take forever to end, you’re probably ready to review the word-count. If it falls short of a publisher’s minimum requirement, examine each scene – have you wrung every ounce of emotion and drama from it? If the book is still too long by their requirements, put it aside for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes (meanwhile, work on your next book); if those fresh eyes still can’t see any non-essential scenes and repetitive dialogue, then search for another publisher that might fit better – or send it off anyway. Truth is, a book is never finished, it’s abandoned. The knack is not to abandon it too soon; be honest with yourself and be sure that you have honed it as well as  you are able.

The gate-keepers – agents and publishers – don’t know what they’re looking for with regard to content. They want to be lost in a story – whether that’s an engaging character or two, a believable created world or an absorbing theme that won’t let go. Truly, the word-count shouldn’t matter if you can supply what they want. Yet experience tells them that invariably, a long book usually means it hasn’t been edited adequately.

My wife Jennifer’s (as yet unpublished) romantic suspense novel The Wells Are Dry is 150,000-words long, even after much heart-searching editing and cutting down; yet its narrative flow doesn’t feel like it’s a long book. The same can be said of books by George R.R. Martin and Ken Follett, for example; they write hefty tomes, yet they’ve mastered narrative flow, keeping the story moving for the myriad characters, so it doesn’t seem like those 1,000-plus pages are long.

If you honestly feel you can’t cut another scene or word and you reckon the reader will lose herself in the work, then you’re in with a chance of acceptance, no matter what the word-count. Having said that, if you stick to the publisher’s requirements, you improve your chance of acceptance.

***

Some examples

49,000 words

 

 

52,000 words                  80,000 words

 

81,000 words