Tuesday, April 7, 2009

It's impossible...oh wait, no it's not. Dreaded WORDCOUNT

So halfway through the creation of book one of The Kindrily, one of my nearest and dearest friends contacted a ghost writer she knew to get some advice for me about getting my book published. At the time I wasn't researching agents, requirements, query process etc in fear that I would get discouraged and never finish my story. One of the biggest shockers the wise ghost writer hit me with was that my book should be around 100k words for a first time author. I quickly did a word count (keep in mind only HALF the book had been written) and I was at 70k words. I panicked--a little--but kept writing, keeping in mind that I needed to get to the point a little quicker than originally planned.
The end result...book one was over 140k words AND I was leaving out a few scenes that I really wanted to include. So of course my reserach began and I discovered that 120k was a well accepted max. Still, how was I going to cut out 20 THOUSAND words? It seemed impossible.
The thing about impossibility, it's an overused concept. Anything is possible if you really put your mind to it. Over the past month or so I have slowly but surely cut my word count to 121k words. And included those original scenes that make the story more complete.
The few people that have read the book all ask how and what could I have possibly cut out? Trust me, you won't even notice the changes (the story is just that good). I'm hoping to reach just under 120k by this weekend. Why? Because I don't want to lose an agent's interest because of a high word count. They don't create these guidelines just to torture us. They do it because there are expectations and requirements by publishers. No agent will take on a wordy book by a newbie knowing they'll never be able to sell it. Oh, AND because I enjoy making the impossible a reality.

5 comments:

  1. Great to see another FL girl in the author's blog world!
    It's actually amazing that as I read through your blog entries and viewed thekindrily.com I could relate to almost everything you said!
    When I first sat down to write I couldn't sleep for two weeks because of the voices and scenes playing through my head. And I spend every free moment at my computer, abandoning family and friends and normal social activities.

    Keep updating and let us know how the query process and conference go for you!

    ** From what I gathered on your website, I think you've got great potential in your book, and I wouldn't be surprised if you found an agent right away!

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  2. You are absolutely right "Anything is possible if you really put your mind to it." I can't wait to read the post telling us that your book has been published. I will be one of the first to buy it. Keep going!

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  3. I had no idea the book was done. I am dying to read it...

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  4. Looking forward to reading The Kindrily and following your daily blogs...

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