The Accountable Writing Bar for bragging rights or sympathy hugs...

[Bones]

I have approx. 42,000 words written of a story.  I've found it really difficult to write during the summer because the kids are around during the day so I have to write at night.  I'm just too tired by then to really get much done.  I've set a goal of 500 words per day but I've already blown it a time or two. 

As for chapters, I have no set rule. In fact, I'm just using chapters right now to sort out POVs.  I plan to combine several chapters when I edit.  But I've read books where a chapter would pop up and it would be a page and half followed by a thirty page chapter and it didn't really throw me.  I agree with Kali -- the story itself presents the pauses organically so striving for uniformity in chapter length might not be the best thing overall.

[Kali]

Having much fun with Camp NaNoWriMo this month.  I'm trying not to make the fairies goofy or silly, and for the most part they're not.  They take their lives quite seriously.  But sometimes...  They get into arguments and the insults are all on the level of "big dodohead" and "so's your old man".  They make me laugh.

Keeping up with the word count has been pathetically easy so far.  I stop every day when I'm over the goal for that day, regardless of how much more I could write.  This is all about having fun writing and not about pushing myself to see how much I can do.  I'm breaking every "rule" of writing so far, but one's Inner Editor must take a break during any NaNo so it's ok.  Things like... Oh, I infodump like crazy and spend a page or more on backstory stuff; I'm making up the fairy-verse as I go, so when I mention that the King is checking on everyone after the winter, I spend close to a thousand words just talking about fairy hibernation patterns.  Things that would *never* make it past my fingertips if I were Writing Seriously.

It's just too fun.

[Dresdenus Prime]

Well as of now I have around 52,000 words and I'm about halfway through my first draft. Things slowed down quite a bit with the Holiday but I did purchase the program WriteWay (www.writewaypro.com) and I'm loving every second of it. It's really helping to organize my thoughts and make me think about all the little questions that I sometimes forget.

I'm really excited about my story. There are a couple familiar elements to it but I think what's important is how fresh and entertaining I make them when compared with anything else that's similar.

I set an August Deadline for the finishing of my first draft but I'm not sure I'm going to hit that.(Insert crazy 23 month old son who likes to keep daddy from writing )

I know this isn't an easy business, and I may send this manuscript out to 100 agents and get nothing back, but ever since I started writing, I love it. I have an entire series planned out for what I'm currently writing, and I have a gigantic fantasy story that I think will be amazing.

Well, back to the writing board! Future updates TBA! 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Through pass completed Friday on the thing I want to be working at but am not supposed to be working on.  it took seven hours and I kind of forgot to have dinner, but it was satisfying and I hope now I will be able to focus on the thing I am supposed to be working on.

[Enjorous]

Just passed 30k on my main project and 5k on a supplemental project. Work is going slower than it was at the beginning of the summer, but I have one month to mad sprint to the end. I'm okay with that.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

This past Friday was mostly going through a set of edits of the form "we need to see more of X's emotional conflict" and breaking them down into "I can get that in naturally in chapter 7, chapter 11 and chapter 20", and then applying some of the simpler ones.  Not generating a great deal in terms of measurable new words but a productive day's work for a'that.

I do like half-day Fridays on summer time, but next Friday is unfortunately the last of those I get, and my beloved who lives with me is off for a fortnight crack of dawn Saturday morning so I'll probably write Saturday next week instead.

[Darwinist]

10,000 words typed, another 10-15k sitting in a notepad waiting to be typed.

What's an acceptable length anymore? Nanowrimo is like 40k, but that's not considered a full novel. Anyone care to weigh in?

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

What's an acceptable length anymore? Nanowrimo is like 40k, but that's not considered a full novel. Anyone care to weigh in?

Sellable for an unknown is generally considered 90-140kwords.  Established writers get more leeway.

[Enjorous]

3000 words today, and 2000 yesterday. My brain is rather mushy right now. I hope that when I read over them tomorrow I hope they turn out to be good words.

[KevinEvans]

We got a story into the magazine submission pile. Received the rewrite suggestions, and are waiting a week to do them, as we are really burned out on the story. Back to the revision pass on 2011 novel #1...

Regards,
Kevin

[Nickeris86]

Finally started work on my dark fantasy novel but hit an a wall, as some of you may have seen, on what perspective to put it in (first or third person). I have written out the opening of the story in both perspectives and am looking for some feed back on which reads better.

Anyone interested in helping a poor frustrated writer out *big ol puppy-dog eyes*

[Lanodantheon]

Word count for my Epic Swords & Sorcery Fantasy Western is still at zero. However, I decided to compile my notes(written up at breaktimes at work in e-mails from myself, to myself) into a couple of word documents.


I ended up with around....50+ pages of pre-writing notes including at least 10 outlines.


That half a year's worth of notes + the Genre Expectation Thread I posted a while ago dclearly illustrates I have the Western stuff  down cold in my designs.


Also started listening to the podcast, Writing Excuses  and what's one of the last things they mention on the episode I heard?


"Probably the biggest stigma you could attach to a book is to say it's also a 'Western'"......FFFFFFFFFFFFFF...................




So I'm listening to more of that show AND going back over my notes so I can make sure the Fantasy comes first. By the end of the week I will probably have another 10 pages of notes, all of which relating to putting Magic, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons and things that think Mortals look yummy onto the Frontier. 

[Snowleopard]

Now would probably be the time for this story Lanodantheon - Cowboys vs Aliens will have joined the two genre's in peoples minds and made it more acceptable to the general public and the powers that be.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Now would probably be the time for this story Lanodantheon - Cowboys vs Aliens will have joined the two genre's in peoples minds and made it more acceptable to the general public and the powers that be.

Unless the general tone of most Cowboys vs. Aliens reviews that I've seen being "nice idea, nice title, shame about the movie" convinces the powers that be not to play around in that direction right now.

I hit into the first of the awkward chewy line edits last night.  A couple of hundred words new, something moved from chapter 4 to chapter 1 to ramp up the tension a bit earlier, and a note to tie this in a bit more to the first major climax when I get there.  May try some more after dinner tonight.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Also, if my dream last night is to be trusted, there is no setting so peculiar or world so alien that you can't do a redaction of "Famous Blue Raincoat" in it.  I am seriously wondering whether that's the direction I want to take the subplot in... volume 5 of the Thing I Want To Write, which as I am half way through Volume 2 now is not a decision I need to make any time soon.