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

[meg_evonne]

Restarting the locked out thread:

This is a home for lonely writers to post how much they've written, home for posting that you've finished a work, home for a 'kick-me-in-the-butt' cause I've been lazy.

Congrats Kevin on so many projects and for finishing your re-edit for a mag editor.

As to me, I think I'm in the 'kick-me-in-the-butt' category recently. Personal things...  I'm good with it, no kicks needed honestly.

Hit the keys everyone!

[Dresdenus Prime]

I have about 40,000 words at the moment, and things are going fairly well. I'm new to the writing game so one day I'll just type our whatever I can get onto paper and other days I decide to revise early. I recently polished my first chapter and I'm pleased with it.

It's getting more exciting now because all the big sequences I originally planned for the story are about to start happening. Sometimes I have trouble filling a chapter to the length I set for myself, but two days ago I wrote my 12th Chapter and not only did I exceed the number of pages, not only did I do it in less than 24 hours, but I never even got to the topic the chapter was suppose to be about, so that was pretty awesome.

Right now it's just a matter of staying consistent, because I might be writing a lot this week, but I didn't write at all last week. Definately needed that kick in the butt.

How's everyone else doing? 

[Nicodemus Carpenter]

A new thread right in time for my new project. Auspicious? Guess we'll see.

Got 714 words of narrative written today, exceeding my goal by 214.  Unfortunately, every word was almost immediately rendered useless since the brainstorming session that followed altered the plot sufficiently that the scene not only won't make it in the book, but also could never have even occurred in the new timeline.  Two steps forward, three steps back, snafu.

The new continuity brought another scene to mind, so I'm gonna go get it out of my head and onto the page.  We'll see how long this one lasts.

Edit: 273 words of pure crap.  That'll have to do for the day.  My brain is gonna be sore in the morning.

[Kali]

My current fun project is based on a short story I wrote awhile ago.  Which, come to think of it, springboarded off of a writing prompt posted here, I think!  It's basically fairies in the modern day, the little bitty kind of fairies.  It's an enjoyable write, plenty of opportunities for sly bits of goofiness without turning it into one big joke.

[Wordmaker]

With my first novel coming out next year I've been working on a follow-up, currently somewhere about 12,000 words in, I think. I'm also writing a YA modern fantasy as a sort of chill-out project, to give me a break from my primary series.

[Dresdenus Prime]

Wordmaker I can't wait to read your book! Let us know when there's a definate release date!

Kali it's funny you say you're working on a Faery story. My friend is doing the same thing, with the small faeries.

Nic I had to do a rewrite as well. I had written 11 chapters, and when I went back to look over somethings, I decided chapter 1 somewhat sucked lol, so I rewrote the whole thing before continuing on. I'm past the halfway point of chapter 13 now, and the more I finish the more excited I get.

Keep on trucking guys! I have so many plans. A series based off the book I'm writing now. A hardcore fantasy tale, a science fiction trilogy. It's hard to stay focused on one piece of work but I gots to!

[Sir Huron Stone]

Okay, just kinda wondering: If i'm writing on Microsoft Word 2010, how many pages should each chapter be?

[Snowleopard]

Whatever seems right.  Terry Pratchett and some other author's have had as few as a half page as a chapter.

[Wordmaker]

@Dresdenus: Will do!

@ Sir Huron Stone: I usually aim for around 4,000 words per chapter, which usually brings me in around the 10-page mark before formatting properly. I prefer writing short chapters though, so that might not be your style.

[Dresdenus Prime]

Okay, just kinda wondering: If i'm writing on Microsoft Word 2010, how many pages should each chapter be?

I'm glad you asked this. I had been wondering the same thing. I also like to make my chapters short. Right now in my first draft they average between 10-17 pages. As a reader I prefer short chapters. If I only have a short time to read or I am reading before bed I like knowing I can read through an entire chapter rather than having to stop midway.

[Kali]

For me, it's about the rhythm.  There's a certain... moment when I know I want that pause.  I can tell in the re-read.  I say this with the caveat that I do NOT put in chapter breaks until it's fully written.  I put in a double-space to indicate I know there's a pause or a passage of time, like overnight, but I don't make it an official chapter break.  After it's done, I read, figure out what scenes need adding or trimming, do that rewrite, and then I look for places where the chapter breaks seem natural.

Sometimes they're where I knew they would be, but after putting in scenes and taking out others, I can end up with very awkward chapters.  Then I end up having to re-sort out where all the breaks are.  It's annoying, so now I don't do it until I'm done with the major edit.

[Starbeam]

For me, it's about the rhythm.  There's a certain... moment when I know I want that pause.  I can tell in the re-read.  I say this with the caveat that I do NOT put in chapter breaks until it's fully written.  I put in a double-space to indicate I know there's a pause or a passage of time, like overnight, but I don't make it an official chapter break.  After it's done, I read, figure out what scenes need adding or trimming, do that rewrite, and then I look for places where the chapter breaks seem natural.

Sometimes they're where I knew they would be, but after putting in scenes and taking out others, I can end up with very awkward chapters.  Then I end up having to re-sort out where all the breaks are.  It's annoying, so now I don't do it until I'm done with the major edit.

^ This. I do almost the exact same thing.  There are some places where I *know* I'll put a chapter break, and others where I'm not certain.

Easiest way to figure out chapters is to read other books and see how they're done there.  The main thing to remember is that you want to end the chapter and make the reader want to turn the page.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I do one chapter == one consistent scene almost always.  That seems to work OK.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I can tell I've let posting here slide when the author timecard thread times out.

Not that I've had much done recently.  Two out of the past four weeks I got nothing done at all, from a combination of massive work overload, helping family move house, and an unpleasant infestation in the apartment;  last weekend I got nothing done because it was Fringe and I needed a break for sheer sanity maintenance.  (It got me oysters, and commedia del'arte, and Aeschylus. This helped.)

Two holiday weekends coming up, though, which means lots of writing time.  And at the moment I am working on line edits on an older project, which have reached the difficult stage that the interested party wants to fix things that I knew were wrong with it when I put it down and would have fixed then if I could, while I am on fire with a newer project I am pretty sure is better but that's not a priority to anyone not me, so.

edit status: seven chapters have had initial pass, out of a total of thirty plus five plus epilogues.  Some small things and one big thing fixed. task looks really daunting from here.

[jeno]

Hey! It's Neuro! 

Welcome back~