Thursday, November 04, 2010

Week 7: 75 Chapters / 135,077 Words


So close! Almost finished the novel within the past week, writing 18 new chapters and 39,964 new words! That was an amazing week!

There are 5 more chapters to go, the final 5, which I'll estimate at another 6,250 words, give or take a few thousand. I'll finish them up soon, obviously.

It's been quite a juggling act, keeping track of so many details. I remember back a few years to when I finished another lengthy manuscript. I felt as though I were trying to land a large jet aircraft that had been severely damaged, and not all its parts were working --- flashbacks to Karen Black in one of those airplane disaster movies.

Well, this time there has been a bit of minor turbulence, but nothing major. The darned thing is holding together pretty well, all things considered! I'm quite impressed with the enormous benefit I've reaped from having planned the story in detail beforehand. Definitely makes the job a whole lot easier!

Not that writing 140,000 words is "easy."

At this point, I'm debating whether to take a break or move directly into the editing. If I take a break, I can use it to plan my next novel. Either way, I'll start editing as soon as I can, within a couple of weeks. I want to whip this into shape for ABNA in January, if I can. If it takes longer, that's fine, too -- I've put so much work into it, and the story is so worthwhile, once it's done I feel it'll truly be worth something!

Best wishes again to Nanoers, that they reach their word count and other goals in November!

Adrian

1 comment:

Debra Young said...

Wow!! That is wonderful, d:)) And outlining in detail is appealing more and more to me. It's certainly given me a good start on this year's NaNo manuscript.