Word count doesn't matter

They all say that word count doesn't matter, the story does, but really it sort of does matter! At least to me. I have a WIP that I finished a while ago, I wanted to get it to 60k but I got it to 57k which was great, but of course edits brought it down to 54k. Now I'm worried it's too short. Do any of you ever get like that? Worrying that your WIP is too short or too long?

Mine are almost always 'too short'. I barely managed to scrape 70k with my latest, and I know edits will bring that down. It's hard for me to fill in any more than tells the story. *shrug*

Same here, whenever I look for a place to add there just isn't anywhere. *sigh* I'm having someone read over that story so maybe they'll see something I didn't and I can add.

Maybe if you worked on something else or just took a short break from the story you'd come back to it with a fresh look & possibly get some inspiration that way? For me, if I spend too much time on one thing, I get burned out & frustrated with it.

Shahira wrote:Maybe if you worked on something else or just took a short break from the story you'd come back to it with a fresh look & possibly get some inspiration that way? For me, if I spend too much time on one thing, I get burned out & frustrated with it.

Thank you for the suggestion I'm trying to take a break from it, but it's sort of complicated since I'm working on it's sequel. So its like, I'm not working on that story anymore, but I'm still stuck in those characters heads. I just don't know though, I sort of feel that the story is good the way it is, but on the other hand it does feel a little to short. I know what you mean, I get burned out on stories too! I'm going to finish the sequel and then move onto something new for a while before working on the third book.

I get burned out sometimes, too, Shahira. But more often I just... lose interest. I really sucks, but when it happens there's nothing I can do but move on with a new story idea. That's where my 10-chapter bit comes in. When I hit 10 chapters at least, I usually know I won't lose interest and that I'll finish. *hopes to hit 10 with her current WIP*

@Sarah That does sound pretty complicated. I hope it works out though! I can't imagine writing TWO books with the same characters. Like Lizzy, I lose interest & have to move on to something different. :/

@Lizzy I can totally relate. Sometimes, I don't even get as far as the tenth chapter lol. *crosses fingers* I hope you do!

I think I want to start something completely different & new. Like write about a situation & use characters that I've never experienced before. I feel like I play it too safe.

Thanks Shahira

Haha, nothing I've done so far has been too short. Too long, on the other hand...well, that's what editing's for. And rewriting. Ya'll are so much more prolific than me--I've only finished one novel-sized project ever(clocked in at 140k ), and I'm in the process of finishing it again(rewriting).

Wow Amanda that's amazing! If it makes you feel better that's pretty much the word count of all my novels together, so we've pretty much have done the same amount of work, depending on how you think about it (you've probably done more work than me, I slack too much) Are you rewriting it to get the word count down? Is there going to be a sequel for it once it's done?

Sarah wrote:Wow Amanda that's amazing! If it makes you feel better that's pretty much the word count of all my novels together, so we've pretty much have done the same amount of work, depending on how you think about it (you've probably done more work than me, I slack too much) Are you rewriting it to get the word count down? Is there going to be a sequel for it once it's done?

I'm rewriting it because, being my first novel, it was pretty bad--in the rewritten version, even though more stuff happens, I'll end up having cut probably 30k words. And haha, yes, there is a sequel. About six. Though three of them don't follow exactly the same characters.

I know what you mean! My first novel (I never did finish it) but I wrote it in 6th grade and it was pretty much a remake of twilight (with cooler main characters lol). I can't imagine cutting 30k off, I find it hard to just take 1k out. Are you excited to start the sequel? So three of them are going to be a spin off series. I was thinking about doing that with my series but I wasn't sure since the character I would do the spin off with is MG.

LOL Sarah, sounds like my first novel! My mom writes so I based my novel off HER first novel. (Is that like a double first novel then? o.O LOL) None of the ideas were mine, just the characters were different. ^^ Except I can't say they were cooler!

I was 10 and I tried to write a 16-year-old protagonist. It is hilarious to read now that I'm 16 for real. xD

That's awesome that your mom writes! Does she critique your work for you?

That would be soo funny to read! I think I wrote one of those to *goes to look for it*

Sarah wrote:I know what you mean! My first novel (I never did finish it) but I wrote it in 6th grade and it was pretty much a remake of twilight (with cooler main characters lol). I can't imagine cutting 30k off, I find it hard to just take 1k out. Are you excited to start the sequel? So three of them are going to be a spin off series. I was thinking about doing that with my series but I wasn't sure since the character I would do the spin off with is MG.

My first attempts at stories were about a family of cats. I felt so ripped off when Warriors came out, because it was so close to the idea I'd had since I was four or five. And I couldn't imagine cutting that much, either, but now I can picture it quite clearly, lol. Technically, since I'm rewriting everything, I'm actually cutting 140k, but you know. Technicalities.

I am excited to start the second one! The new characters start younger than my current ones, and it covers like three or four years, instead of just the 3/4 of a year that I have now. It'll be awesome to get some new people in my head.

The whole series is kind of like if you mixed up Lord of the Rings with Chronicles of Narnia--all the storylines intertwine for a big, epic finish. My first book follows four main characters, the second book follows three or four main characters a continent away, the third comes back to pick up the first's storyline, the fourth moves the second's characters closer to the first's(and two of them die...), the fifth picks up three from the first and third, the sixth picks up the two remaining from the second and fourth, joins them with a new character and one from the first and third, and the seventh wraps everything up! (that was all one sentence... )

That probably didn't make any sense at all, lol.

Amanda wrote:

Sarah wrote:I know what you mean! My first novel (I never did finish it) but I wrote it in 6th grade and it was pretty much a remake of twilight (with cooler main characters lol). I can't imagine cutting 30k off, I find it hard to just take 1k out. Are you excited to start the sequel? So three of them are going to be a spin off series. I was thinking about doing that with my series but I wasn't sure since the character I would do the spin off with is MG.

My first attempts at stories were about a family of cats. I felt so ripped off when Warriors came out, because it was so close to the idea I'd had since I was four or five. And I couldn't imagine cutting that much, either, but now I can picture it quite clearly, lol. Technically, since I'm rewriting everything, I'm actually cutting 140k, but you know. Technicalities.

I am excited to start the second one! The new characters start younger than my current ones, and it covers like three or four years, instead of just the 3/4 of a year that I have now. It'll be awesome to get some new people in my head.

The whole series is kind of like if you mixed up Lord of the Rings with Chronicles of Narnia--all the storylines intertwine for a big, epic finish. My first book follows four main characters, the second book follows three or four main characters a continent away, the third comes back to pick up the first's storyline, the fourth moves the second's characters closer to the first's(and two of them die...), the fifth picks up three from the first and third, the sixth picks up the two remaining from the second and fourth, joins them with a new character and one from the first and third, and the seventh wraps everything up! (that was all one sentence... )

That probably didn't make any sense at all, lol.

I really hate that too! You have this great idea for a story, you go buy a book and its pretty much the same story! On the bright side Its forced me to become a lot more creative

Do you know how your going to space it since its such a long time period? I think it would be such a cool book to read, what age are they starting at? (an estimate if your not the time to give a set and stone age )

The story sounds like it will be really awesome! I love epic finishes and how they all go together. I got most of it until the few end ones lol

Sarah wrote:I really hate that too! You have this great idea for a story, you go buy a book and its pretty much the same story! On the bright side Its forced me to become a lot more creative

Do you know how your going to space it since its such a long time period? I think it would be such a cool book to read, what age are they starting at? (an estimate if your not the time to give a set and stone age )

The story sounds like it will be really awesome! I love epic finishes and how they all go together. I got most of it until the few end ones lol

I'm starting character M at 12, K at 11, A at 14ish, and O at 13ish(using letters to keep track of them). As for the time spacing, I'm going to set them up in their new life situations, and then skim a lot of time, because it's pretty monotonous after the set-up for like two years. And then I'm going to write all the important stuff for the last two years, skipping a month here, a couple months there. That sort of thing.

Okay, I might be using an ounce of clarity this time, lol.
Book 1: Characters--Ae, Ro, Na, Ta
Book 2: Characters--Ma, Ke, Ap, Od
Book 3: Characters--Ae, Ro, Na, Ta (Na leaves their group at the end)
Book 4: Characters--Ma, Ke, Ap, Od (Ke & Ap die at the end)
Book 5: Characters--Ae, Ro, Ta
Book 6: Characters--Ma, Od, Na, Sa(new guy)
Book 7: Characters--Ae, Ro, Ta, Na, Ma, Od, Sa. (Seven viewpoints for book seven. That's going to be a bit of a nightmare, but with a couple charts to keep track, I think I can get each of them adequate face time. )

Dude...setting this up, I just realized that I have three girl MC's and six guys! And then one girl and one guy die, so I only have two girls, and there's still five guys. Hopefully that'll get dudes to read my book/make up for the super-powerful-world-saver being a girl.

That sounds nice, starting them out when they're kids, even with the skimming it will be cool to see how they grew up (like the events that shaped their life's) lol, love stuff like that, its sad that their isn't more books like that.

Okay, I totally got it this time! Thank you for mapping it out for me, it's been one of those days lol

Funny as it is, I actually am starting to like reading from a guys POV more than a girls in some ways, it's sort of the thought that you're getting to see what a guy thinks. I think you'll get double the readers cause guys will enjoy reading from the guy perspective and girls will enjoy seeing how guys think

Sarah wrote:That sounds nice, starting them out when they're kids, even with the skimming it will be cool to see how they grew up (like the events that shaped their life's) lol, love stuff like that, its sad that their isn't more books like that.

Okay, I totally got it this time! Thank you for mapping it out for me, it's been one of those days lol

Funny as it is, I actually am starting to like reading from a guys POV more than a girls in some ways, it's sort of the thought that you're getting to see what a guy thinks. I think you'll get double the readers cause guys will enjoy reading from the guy perspective and girls will enjoy seeing how guys think

I actually like reading from a guy's perspective more, too! I guess it's mainly because a lot of times the girl is either too passive/a wimp, or too aggressive, like some sort of man-hating she-woman. I want a nice little middle ground, please! And yeah, there are a lot more girl readers than guy readers, mainly because a lot more books are geared towards girls than guys, because more girls read, ect. It's a vicious cycle. I'd like to get more guys reading again, and most girl readers will read from either perspective, so I figure it's a win-win.

I know right! I would love to read some when your finished I think that your books could be like Harry Potter, like not about wizards (unless it is about wizards?) but guys love it as much as girls. Thats why it was an even bigger success than twilight because it was a book that got guys reading again. It would be awesome if your book did that too!

No, it's not about wizards, but that's totally what I'm hoping it'll be! I've got to write them first, of course. I'll probably ask on the forums if anyone's willing to beta/read for me once I have it done, so I can send out something that's been edited to be the best that it can be.

That would be so awesome if it became as huge as that! You only have to finish one right now, the rest is all later I would love to read some of it when your done editing!

Haha, you've got me all psyched to get going on it! Once I'm done studying for my Psych test and finish my crit partner's chapters, I'm so getting stuff done.

Yay, I motivated you! Go April support groups!!!