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Post by Amaranth on Mar 18, 2011 19:05:06 GMT -5
Mark Twain said that he wrote a book as long as it was writing itself, but as soon as he had to actually work at it, he'd put it away and work on something else. That is quite interesting. I would consider it if I knew something would eventually get done. Give it a shot, I'd say. Though it works for me, and I'm biuased, and your mileage may vary.
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Post by CtraK on Mar 19, 2011 17:05:11 GMT -5
A 120K word novel is doable, but keep in mind it's 480 pages (roughly). It's unlikely you'll see first time author get published like that. Well, I looked this up, because I have long since forgotten where my original claim came from, and found this, this, and this. It seems that I'm about 10k over both extremes; 70-110k. I should point out that 120k only equals 480 MS pages; it'd have to be a fairly large-print book (or Nicola Barker's Darkmans) in order for the finished product to only average 250 words a page. The original MS for Twilight (see below), assuming it hasn't been shredded, can no doubt crush small children with a simple placement on their heads. And knowing this, I want to know HOW IN THE NAME OF SWEET FUCK STEPHANIE MEYERS GOT TWILIGHT PUBLISHED! Wikipedia goes into a surprising amount of detail about it. Here's her prior experience: "Meyer had never written even a short story before Twilight, and had considered going to law school because she felt she had no chance of becoming a writer; she later noted that the birth of her oldest son Gabe changed her mind, saying, "Once I had Gabe, I just wanted to be his mom." Before becoming an author, Meyer's only professional work was as a receptionist in a property company" ...and here's the story. My apologies if it happens to be a better one than the book itself: "...she claims that she never intended to publish Twilight and was writing for her own enjoyment. Her sister's response to the book was enthusiastic and she persuaded Meyer to send the manuscript to literary agencies. Of the 15 letters she wrote, five went unanswered, nine brought rejections, and the last was a positive response from Jodi Reamer of Writers House. Eight publishers competed for the rights to publish Twilight in a 2003 auction. By November, Meyer had signed a $750,000 three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company." Fantasy Epics seem to be immune to this, but most people don't write Fantasy Epics. Even in the Epic Fantasy genre. XD. I've heard (and this is even more tenuous, if I'm honest - the comment sections on the Guardian's book section) that fantasy has the opposite issue these days; apparently, your book doesn't get bought if isn't 500pp. I'm not sure if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me.
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Post by Amaranth on Mar 19, 2011 17:33:50 GMT -5
I wouldn't doubt you had a large minimum for fantasy. Even straight up fantasy seems to be getting bigger.
As far as MS pages go, I thought the format was fairly close to a hardcover. Keep in mind, however, I only have like...Four standard Hardcovers, but most of them seem to be pretty close to ten words/line and 25 lines/page.
It looks like the average for my hardcovers is probably closer to 300 words/page, but I'm too lazy to go actually average it.
again, not saying I'm right. My novel was bloated due to misreading the character estimates in the first place. I actually went back and ADDED stuff, because I'm an idiot.
Though if you're right, I feel a LOT better. XD
Mostly because at its most bloated, my manuscript could only crush a baby chihuahua.
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Post by lighthorseman on Mar 19, 2011 20:19:07 GMT -5
I'm so excited I have to share it with you. My 68K novel has been found. It was hiding on a CD all this time! This is so exciting. I also found the 9K word sequel. Always in the last place you look.
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Post by Shane for Wax on Mar 20, 2011 7:20:34 GMT -5
I hate that phrase. Of course it's the last place you look. You don't continue looking after you found it.
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Post by Amaranth on Mar 20, 2011 10:27:34 GMT -5
....You don't?
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Post by Shane for Wax on Mar 20, 2011 12:19:21 GMT -5
>.> Well you could. But.
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Post by MaybeNever on Mar 20, 2011 14:12:06 GMT -5
I always have. "Hey, if I found this great thing, who knows what else I could find!"
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Post by Shane for Wax on Mar 20, 2011 14:14:04 GMT -5
I'll probably find a lot of amazing stuff once I start packing to move.
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Post by Sigmaleph on Mar 20, 2011 21:49:05 GMT -5
I hate that phrase. Of course it's the last place you look. You don't continue looking after you found it. The original phrase is probably something along the lines of "The last place you would look", as in if you had compiled a list of places to look before beginning the search, it would come last because it would seem so a priori unlikely that it'd be there. Of course this wouldn't be literally true, but it's not trivially true either. I'll shut up now.
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Post by CtraK on Mar 21, 2011 6:44:28 GMT -5
The original phrase is probably something along the lines of "The last place you would look", as in if you had compiled a list of places to look before beginning the search, it would come last because it would seem so a priori unlikely that it'd be there. Of course this wouldn't be literally true, but it's not trivially true either. Somewhat akin to "have your cake and eat it", a phrase whose original order ("eat your cake and have it too") also made a damn bit of sense where the modern version doesn't.
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Post by Amaranth on Mar 21, 2011 8:15:32 GMT -5
I hate that phrase. Of course it's the last place you look. You don't continue looking after you found it. The original phrase is probably something along the lines of "The last place you would look", as in if you had compiled a list of places to look before beginning the search, it would come last because it would seem so a priori unlikely that it'd be there. Of course this wouldn't be literally true, but it's not trivially true either. I'll shut up now. NEEEEEEEERD! *adjusts glasses and pocket protector in my shiny mirror*
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Post by MaybeNever on Mar 21, 2011 13:11:33 GMT -5
Mark Twain said that he wrote a book as long as it was writing itself, but as soon as he had to actually work at it, he'd put it away and work on something else. That is quite interesting. I would consider it if I knew something would eventually get done. It did have certain consequences, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taking him seven years to write.
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