56,255. That's 202 pages for those who don't know that word counts are like the currency of writing.
My quota was anywhere between 70,000 and 80,000 (250-350 pages). I fell short. Far short. But what I have is good enough for the first draft. I'm giving it to a couple friends for the first round of editing, during which I'll abstain completely so I don't feel the need to make any changes. Those changes will be saved for the second round, when I decide what stays and what needs changing.Overall the story turned out well, not perfect, but some parts were close to spot on. I was able to capture a good plot, some emotion, and one of my most well-written characters before the end of it, as well as an ending I'm more than satisfied with.It's been an adventure. I set out to write a novel in a month, and completed it in two weeks instead. The rest of the semester is going to be long and lonely, since this was how I passed my time. But I guess I can go back to trudging through homework and maybe finishing the Sixty Fools competition.I'm not really coming here to find people who care. But I wouldn't mind getting into the habit of sharing some of my accomplishments with the community I love. It's been great so far, and I feel like you guys have been a part of my progress. Even you, a programming community, have influenced me as a writer.Thanks for giving me an excuse to blog.
Thanks for giving me an excuse to comment. :P
Also do your friends just edit for typos are do they change parts of the story as they seem fit?Looking for typos is only a minor part of this first round. These edits are to check for consistency, word choice, description and dialogue, and things that could work better. That being said, they don't change anything. Rather, they put forth suggestions and I take them into consideration. If I think it will enhance the story, I'll work it in. If it doesn't work, or it's too much, or it takes the story in a different direction, I just won't.
This is kind of like the beta testing phase (maybe alpha). Test for bugs in the structure and get some feedback. It's really one of my favorite parts of the writing process.Cool.
Cool.cool.cool.cool.So, what's it about?
Copied from my last blog:
That's some fast writin'.
If you'd like, I'd be happy to give it a read and give you what feedback I can think of. I'm pretty decent with grammar checking and style advice, at least.What are you using for this editing round? Might I suggest Google Docs, if you're not already using it? It's online, changes are saved automatically, and you can set individual docs up to receive text-highlighting comments (from the public or from specific accounts), or even have multiple editors whose changes show up in realtime. I've found it an invaluable tool for fiction editing and peer review.I'd like to give it a read. Might inspire me to get back into writing again. :P
Man, it sounds pretty cool. I don't know anything about Highlander or Mirai Nikki, so it should be pretty new to me.