Awesome, Amy!
Tara: That was funny if you've studied Taglarin mystic rites and... are a total dork... Riley: Then how come Xander didn't laugh?
'Selfless'
The Great Write Way, Act Three: Where's the gun?
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
Gudanov - May 17, 2010 8:03:07 am PDT #3374 of 6693
Coding and Sleeping
SailAweigh - May 17, 2010 8:29:50 am PDT #3375 of 6693
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb
Yay, Amy!
Burrell - May 17, 2010 1:18:58 pm PDT #3376 of 6693
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!
Congratulations, Amy!
sj - May 17, 2010 1:20:28 pm PDT #3377 of 6693
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Yay, Amy!
Amy - May 17, 2010 1:39:49 pm PDT #3378 of 6693
Because books.
Thanks, everyone! It's still a little unbelievable, but very awesome.
Gudanov - May 18, 2010 6:48:36 am PDT #3379 of 6693
Coding and Sleeping
I'm feeling a bit discouraged and confused at the moment. I don't know how much to describe things, some people read it and it seems fine, other people read it and say there's way too little. Meanwhile, I still want to cut at least 20,000 words. My scenes are starting to feel like a house of cards, it seems like every one I think of cutting causes problems down the line because of interrelations. Ugh.
Connie Neil - May 18, 2010 6:53:09 am PDT #3380 of 6693
brillig
Do you need to cut the words or do you just want to? You don't want to reach an arbitrary number and find out you're standing on half a foot.
Gudanov - May 18, 2010 6:56:24 am PDT #3381 of 6693
Coding and Sleeping
Need to. I'm at 147,000 words at the moment. Down from the 178,000 of the rough draft. I've been tempted to make two versions, one for personal edification (since I doubt I'll sell it) and one for marketability (since I might as well give it shot). 147k is way too long to market.
Typo Boy - May 18, 2010 8:27:26 am PDT #3382 of 6693
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
So break it into two books. Really, write what you need to, then break it into marketable size. When you have a contract and then you need to cut the word length to fulfill the contract or to respond to your editor's notes than you can cut it beyond what the story requires. And even then...
OK well I recently did a textbook chapter. And I was given a 5,000 word limit, and told my editor given the subject that I was not sure I could do it justice in less than 10,000 words. And my editor said "try". My deadline was April 15. March 1, I had a pretty good draft. But it was 10,000 words. So I sent it to my editor saying: "this is where I am today, and I really can't find a good way to cut it further".
And my editor wrote back with some notes on some really minor changes he wanted, then added. "Overall, this is first rate. And don't worry about the word limit. You arguments for 10,000 words convinced me at the beginning, but I did not tell you that to get you to write as tightly as possible. But I really appreciate your getting a first rate draft to me before deadline."
Gudanov - May 18, 2010 8:29:55 am PDT #3383 of 6693
Coding and Sleeping
I might have to look at two books if I can't shrink it down, but the story would work better in one.
The thing about going over too much, is I doubt it would even be looked at.