What's a better idea—taking a story at 2,500 words per day or 175?
Those were/are my average statistics for Phoenix Wright: Ace Tribute and Mayflies.
In some ways, it doesn't seem like I really had a choice. Ace Tribute absolutely demanded to be written to an extent I've honestly never experienced before. While my first NaNoWriMo novel (1,667 words per day) was rambling, inefficient, and confused, somehow this fan fiction turned out to be my pride and joy despite the frantic pace. Perhaps that's not the right way to phrase it. Is the pace really the independent variable here, or is it just a reliable measure of how darn inspired I was? I didn't set out to go at any particular pace at all. It just turned out to be over 7,000 words in the first three days, and it never slowed down that much until the very end. I honestly still don't understand how that story happened, and how it turned out all right. I may need an entire other post to try to work it out.
On the other end of the daily word count spectrum is Mayflies. Upon the start of the writing period in the 2YN class, I assumed an 80,000-word story and carefully calculated the rate I needed. My main error was assuming that I would take it up for NaNoWriMo last November, which I did not (in order to finish The Long and Winding Road instead, although that in turn ended up taking a backseat to Ace Tribute). I bumped up the word count from 160 or so to 175, and I may keep nudging it up. Usually I hit about 190 a day, anyway. The tiny goal, like most things, has both good and bad points. On the positive side, it's barely enough work to seem like a formidable obstacle when I'm not so inspired, so I'm able to go at it pretty steadily. On the other hand, my progress is slow. I don't mind terribly much, though. The charm of the story disappeared somewhere in the extensive world-building section of the 2YN class, so I find I'm not taking it that seriously as something I fully intend to publish. I'm just going to keep hacking away at it and seeing if it turns out all right.
It seems like inspiration is really the controlling factor when it comes to writing pace, but, at the same time, I can't always refuse to write when I don't feel like it. Admittedly, I haven't been dedicating much time to my stories lately because I've been busy with life-related things, but I still need some sense of discipline. How much can I make myself write before it seems like a chore? What do I consider a reasonable pace? How can I get motivated to write at that pace?
It's different for every story. Ace Tribute didn't require any outside motivation. Some of my other fan fictions just needed a few reviews to keep me chugging along. Mayflies just keeps going for the sake of all the time I've spent on it, and the idea that somewhere there's a worthwhile story to tell. I can't hope to be inspired every moment, but I can't just write 1,000 words of a story and kick it to the curb forever. I seem to have done that with Chasers and Piracy Cruise Lines, but I'm hoping to bring them back to the surface when I have few enough projects going that I can actually focus on them instead of just experimenting with the general idea.
What's your usual writing pace, if you have one? How heavily does it reply on discipline, or inspiration?
Showing posts with label word count. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word count. Show all posts
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Chapter Lengths
(What? An uncreative title for a rambling-about-writing post? I suppose it had to happen sometime.)
I've seen a lot about novel lengths—how many words are acceptable for a certain genre, the debate on whether 50,000 words can ever be enough, and so on. Yet I haven't seen much on chapter lengths aside from actually reading novels.
I like to keep my chapter lengths consistent, firstly. I've yet to try to count pages or words in any published books, but I feel like it's not rare to do this. Really short chapters can come up for emphasis; otherwise, everything seems more or less the same. Of course, this is just a rough estimate; it may be more of a matter of seeming the same length in accordance with pace. That sounds like a much tougher algorithm than word count, though.
My chapters are typically rather short. For some fictions, I'll do 1,500 words; some, 2,000; some lighter ones even 1,000. Compared to the 4,000, 6,000, or 8,000 I see elsewhere in the fan fiction world, mine have quite the pallor in comparison. Sometimes I will go up to 3,000 or so if the story doesn't have a good splitting point, and sometimes I just can't stuff the chapter enough to get to the typical amount.
Which do you consider more important, length or consistency? Does it even matter as long as the story has divisions where it should be, chapter break, section break, or otherwise?
I've seen a lot about novel lengths—how many words are acceptable for a certain genre, the debate on whether 50,000 words can ever be enough, and so on. Yet I haven't seen much on chapter lengths aside from actually reading novels.
I like to keep my chapter lengths consistent, firstly. I've yet to try to count pages or words in any published books, but I feel like it's not rare to do this. Really short chapters can come up for emphasis; otherwise, everything seems more or less the same. Of course, this is just a rough estimate; it may be more of a matter of seeming the same length in accordance with pace. That sounds like a much tougher algorithm than word count, though.
My chapters are typically rather short. For some fictions, I'll do 1,500 words; some, 2,000; some lighter ones even 1,000. Compared to the 4,000, 6,000, or 8,000 I see elsewhere in the fan fiction world, mine have quite the pallor in comparison. Sometimes I will go up to 3,000 or so if the story doesn't have a good splitting point, and sometimes I just can't stuff the chapter enough to get to the typical amount.
Which do you consider more important, length or consistency? Does it even matter as long as the story has divisions where it should be, chapter break, section break, or otherwise?
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Time versus Distance
No, not the heading of a graph. This concerns goal-setting in writing.
I can't really say I'm consistent with which kind of goal I'll set (when I do set them). In general, I'll use a time goal because I like to update The Long and Winding Road at least every five days. In actual writing sessions, though, rarely is my goal based on time. On occasions where I just feel uninspired, I may break out my iTunes track of songs of alternating length—one about two minutes, the next longer—and write as much as I can during the shorter songs while resting on the longer ones. I've done something similar with commercial breaks, but I can only manage that when I'm actually interested in the show, which isn't often.
The other goal I'll set is distance, or word count. This is, of course, the way I go about NaNoWriMo, and it's also how I'll use Write or Die (although it is designed to go with either type of goal-setting). In general, I measure my progress by how many words I've churned out, since measuring the time doesn't make that much sense when I'm not being productive for every second of it. I'm necessarily productive for every word I get out (unless everything's ridiculously uninspired or it's too late at night for me to get out anything coherent). It's also easier to know exactly where I'm going on a broader scale, since I like to keep my chapter lengths more or less consistent.
How about you? Time or word count? Or page count? Or something else entirely?
P.S. The Action Girls has for some reason gotten over 100 views this month when the others around it have about 11. I have no idea what's going on with that, but thanks?
I can't really say I'm consistent with which kind of goal I'll set (when I do set them). In general, I'll use a time goal because I like to update The Long and Winding Road at least every five days. In actual writing sessions, though, rarely is my goal based on time. On occasions where I just feel uninspired, I may break out my iTunes track of songs of alternating length—one about two minutes, the next longer—and write as much as I can during the shorter songs while resting on the longer ones. I've done something similar with commercial breaks, but I can only manage that when I'm actually interested in the show, which isn't often.
The other goal I'll set is distance, or word count. This is, of course, the way I go about NaNoWriMo, and it's also how I'll use Write or Die (although it is designed to go with either type of goal-setting). In general, I measure my progress by how many words I've churned out, since measuring the time doesn't make that much sense when I'm not being productive for every second of it. I'm necessarily productive for every word I get out (unless everything's ridiculously uninspired or it's too late at night for me to get out anything coherent). It's also easier to know exactly where I'm going on a broader scale, since I like to keep my chapter lengths more or less consistent.
How about you? Time or word count? Or page count? Or something else entirely?
P.S. The Action Girls has for some reason gotten over 100 views this month when the others around it have about 11. I have no idea what's going on with that, but thanks?
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