Relax. If it isn't a novel, it may be a short story. And novel lengths are not the same as book lengths anyway.
Well, if we followed the recipe...should be cake. A demon-violence-free-zone cake.
Lorne ,'Why We Fight'
The Great Write Way
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
Betsy HP - Oct 09, 2004 4:17:03 pm PDT #7146 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
Beverly - Oct 09, 2004 5:04:03 pm PDT #7147 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Allyson, you're not writing a novel. You're writing a collection of essays, memoirs, possibly interviews or at least recalled and/or reconstructed conversations, anecdotes, and essays to serve as intros, outros, and connecting links between them. You don't have to do 100,000 words at one go.
And what Betsy said is right, a nonfiction book doesn't have to be as many words as a novel. Plus, you can use photos (of the Variety ad! Of Wash's cockpit! Of Tim's beagles!), which will use up some page space.
It'll be good.
Allyson - Oct 09, 2004 5:26:17 pm PDT #7148 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
The beagles sure are cutiepuppers. I'm just hugely dumb about this thing.
Betsy, are you going to mainline espresso?
Betsy HP - Oct 09, 2004 5:29:41 pm PDT #7149 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
God, no. I never drink coffee.
I'm going to do my best. But I am not going to pull all-nighters, because my writing sucks during all-nighters.
Beverly - Oct 09, 2004 6:06:17 pm PDT #7150 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Betsy, I haven't addressed your dilemna because...I have no real frame of reference. I can free write, but it's tripe. I am constitutionally incapable of writing to spec under pressure. I would be horribly miserable, and I can't think of a reason I'd agree to do that to myself, unless it was, um, to save the life of a loved one? Or a puppy?
"Write 4,000 words in 48 hours or the puppy gets it!" Yes, I'd do it then. But not voluntarily. So all I can do is wave pompoms and cheer you on.
Allyson - Oct 09, 2004 6:16:48 pm PDT #7151 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
I can't write fiction. At all. Betsy is like a superhero.
Betsy HP - Oct 09, 2004 6:20:17 pm PDT #7152 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
A superhero who sucks. Superman sprawled flat against the side of a building.
Allyson - Oct 09, 2004 6:21:43 pm PDT #7153 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
I think you should write about a superhero who sucks. Because that, my friend, is a funny visual.
Betsy HP - Oct 09, 2004 6:26:21 pm PDT #7154 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
You may have wondered why, as the song has it, Captain Marvel has no balls at all. It's Superman's fault.
deborah grabien - Oct 09, 2004 9:48:04 pm PDT #7155 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.
100,000, to me, isn't a novel. It's damned near an epic.
Plainsong was 70,000 words. Weaver was 68,500. Famous Flower is 76,000. Matty Groves clocks in at, for me, a whopping 85,000 or so.
Non-fiction is entirely different.
I have no comment on the "turn of the critical thing and write" because that's basically where I live anyway, mostly. I think I do, anyway. I could be wrong.
I don't suck. I doubt Betsy sucks. In fact, I know Betsy doesn't suck.
Not sure why speed is so valued.