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It's been a very long time coming, but at last I'm poised to break a hundred thousand words on the novel I'm writing. As an economical writer, I tend to write as concisely and condensed as possible. It's something that's been ingrained in me by years of educators. Now, this book just has a hell of a lot going on. I had to spread out and stretch to make room for everything that happens. It's a bit crazy, this one.
It's also steampunk. A steampunk mystery/war story/romance with plenty of magic, mayhem and sword fighting alongside mechanical marvels and a unimpressed narrator.
Ah. And it's going to end at around 120,000 words by my reckoning. About thirty chapters long. My longest book prior to this was around 70,000 so, you can see how much of a jump this is for me. Normally, I don't care that much about word count. I tell the story, and whatever the length is, so be it. There's this push right now for all novels to be 100K, but that's ridiculous. If you can't tell a a story in 50K words I'm sorry folks, but you aren't a writer. If you can only write sprawling epics, you aren't challenging yourself enough.
I was stuck at middle-range length novels, and I pushed myself to write longer. Pushing boundaries is what writers do. Any novel, no matter how long, still has to be summarized into a one or two sentence pitch when you go to sell. Sometimes, that's the hardest part, because lets face it, you only have so many words.
If you write hundred thousand words novel all the time, and you want to impress me, try condensing it to eighty thousand, and then sixty, and then fifty. See what happens. Challenge yourself. I did, and I could not be happier with the results.
It's also steampunk. A steampunk mystery/war story/romance with plenty of magic, mayhem and sword fighting alongside mechanical marvels and a unimpressed narrator.
Ah. And it's going to end at around 120,000 words by my reckoning. About thirty chapters long. My longest book prior to this was around 70,000 so, you can see how much of a jump this is for me. Normally, I don't care that much about word count. I tell the story, and whatever the length is, so be it. There's this push right now for all novels to be 100K, but that's ridiculous. If you can't tell a a story in 50K words I'm sorry folks, but you aren't a writer. If you can only write sprawling epics, you aren't challenging yourself enough.
I was stuck at middle-range length novels, and I pushed myself to write longer. Pushing boundaries is what writers do. Any novel, no matter how long, still has to be summarized into a one or two sentence pitch when you go to sell. Sometimes, that's the hardest part, because lets face it, you only have so many words.
If you write hundred thousand words novel all the time, and you want to impress me, try condensing it to eighty thousand, and then sixty, and then fifty. See what happens. Challenge yourself. I did, and I could not be happier with the results.
What I'm Up To...
As of late I've been painting a lot of animals, but recently I've turned to birds. Large birds, tiny birds, cat sized birds. Any bird. These are done from photo references in watercolor. I've got a minor obsession recently with iconography, which would explain the halos I've been doing. At first I was doing this with gold ink, like in the Indigo bunting. Now I've moved to actual leaf in two shades of gold and silver.
I'm also doing this with other animals, like Bronson, my father's dog, and this Little Brown Bat, and the Cardigan Corgi.
And of course there's a rash of Sailor Moon... I am doing the full series of scouts for this, including
:: Emergency :: Commissions Open
You know those days when everything just goes wrong? Well, March has been that kind of month for me. We had to move, which is expensive, and this overlap month has meant paying final bills for the old place and new bills at the new place.
Which, as it turns out, doesn’t work out too well when you get shorted hours. We need to make up the difference so we can pay our bills and buy food. I’m not joking, every cent of my last paycheck went to bills. I can’t buy food, I can’t put gas in my car to go to work and my roommate just put the last of her money into the electric bill from the old place.
We need to raise $150.
Portraits Portraits Portraits
You may have noticed a new obsession of mine. Portraits. Of animals. In Victorian garb.
It's really opened up a new avenue for me. I've sold a few prints even. So forgive me if I continue on this vein for some time, and just so you know, I am taking commissions in this style. I do mainly side/three quarter portraits, color or just black and white with gray scale color.
I've got a new website up, with commission information, links to print sales and the beginning of my new portfolio . http://aklalexander1.wix.com/home
January is the Devil
I've decided February is the start of my new year, and I really hope it doesn't screw around with me like January, which has been a battleground of financial and emotional stress. I was told my grandmother wasn't going to make it...but she is. So...yeah, the lady is tough as nails. Really. I thought my heart would just burst. (Metaphorically) My first YA novel is coming out on Wednesday, I finished edits for a pair of short stories, I'll be working on edits for my next novel in a month or so and, if all goes well, I might even land a full time job.
I'm going to stay positive on this front.
In the meantime, I still have commissions open. It'
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Comments5
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That just happened to me with my NaNo. I think it came out at about 115k, and it was very, very weird. I needed a break from long stories for a while after that. My novels all tend to flutter between 50 and 70k, which I'm comfortable with. First Harry Potter-ish length is the kind of space I like for a story.