by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The Beta Draft of this novel clocked in at about 80,000 words. I was taken aback by this because I had give myself 100,000 words and, according to the scene count I had in my outline, it seemed I would reach that. After a moment’s reflection, I realized in my rush to finish the novel that the second draft had a lot of short scenes which accounted for relatively low word count.
This time around with the third draft, however, I am really concerned that I will blow past the 100,000 word sweetspot. If I can keep the novel down to about 140,000 words I will be pleased. The novel is really engaging and tells a coherent story, but if it’s 140,000 words I worry that I won’t be able to pitch it.
My worry about this is so severe that I continue to be interested in a scifi concept I have rolling around in my mind. I’ve developed it some, but the main novel has so consumed my life that it’s difficult for me to figure out how to pull my attention away from it.
It will be interesting to see how things work out.
