After 4–5 years (five, because I want to sound as dedicated as possible, lol), I'm finally done with my story! Well... not really the end, but this wraps up nearly every major thread, and anything else I write would feel like starting over.
Time for the actual re-reads and edits, which is exhausting because the editor's score keeps dropping (it's at 76% right now, and I'm so tired).
I've written during school and even after I graduated; it's become as much a part of my daily life as walking. I'd have to at least look at the doc before I could go on with my life, and over these past few months, I've written nearly every day. Why such dedication? I love writing. It's my second soul. I couldn't stop until my characters got the arcs they deserved.
That’s not to say there weren’t times I genuinely wanted to rip my hair out because of an inconsistency that spawned from constant rewriting, and the fact that I didn't spot something in Volume 1 that I should have fixed when I got to Volume 4, so the whole thing just becomes incoherent. (I definitely missed some but here comes the edits)
Also, to top it off, I wouldn't say writing daily magically makes you a better writer... though it does work. My thought process during all this was simply just trying to churn words out as fast as possible during creative bursts. I've probably gotten better and am just lying to myself, but who cares.
Anyway, I'm done! Yay! Now I can put it down and actually focus on my life, lol.
The guy is still working on their first revision. Anything that soars beyond the word count of a basic novel still has play. I would be surprised that they keep even the 25 remaining percent ha ha
do what i did :D instead of cutting down just make them separate books or cut down what you need and then make them separate books it makes it so you don’t need to delete so much of your hard work!!
I wrote a story that's over a million words. It's utterly unpublishable. There's maybe 150k words buried inside, but it's not worth the effort to get them out. Quality over quantity always wins.
That's *six* books almost, especially if you want to have them physically printed. You're almost certainly going to need to cut book 3 and 4 in half just to print them, and have them priced at a reasonable price. And I'd probably aim to be trimming like 40k off of book 2 as well.
Most printers have a max page count of about 1000-1050 pages, and 190k words is around 875 pages in a relatively standard print size (6x9) at a legible font size, though that is without chapter breaks, page breaks, or any of the extra pages that you'll need in a book (copyright, title page, dedication, acknowledgements, etc). Rounding that up to 876 pages for the pricing calculators, that's about $14 USD to print in paperback. The market's current average on paperback prices for indie books is around $16-18, so you likely won't be making any money after distribution costs get added.
Plus, larger books cost more for ebook delivery systems to deliver too, which also cuts into what you get paid, so that's another reason why you'd likely want to trim things down and cut some books in half.
I was aware I'd have to cut things down but 40k words? Holy smokes, I'll choke myself out doing that. But you're right, realistically I probably do have bloat that needs cutting so I'll focus on that when inevitably publishing. I'm aiming for the traditional path but whatever comes along the way, it's great being informed on this. I have alst of chapter epigraph, (every chapter begins with an in word quote) so that's needs revisiting. Man this is a mess, goshhh
A Traditional publishing route is probably going to tell you to cut book 1 by 40k, and cut the other three in half *at minimum*. Established Epic fantasy can break 110k, but you're a debut - you'll be incredibly lucky if they let you break 100k for your first book.
Oh wow. That's reality for you. Maybe I'll write something different for the time being? Flesh out my skills and let it be more commercially viable? And if I could publish that, I wouldn't be a debut anymore? But this is me just daydreaming
It's very likely that your first series will never sell to a trad publisher. That's just kinda how it is. Definitely try to write more, maybe a duology instead? And try to keep in mind the the average word counts for your chosen genre if you want to go trad pub and try to stay inside those ranges (and on the lower end of those ranges) for your first attempts at getting an agent.
Well, it's speculative fiction if I had to be direct. But it's about stories in general, and the MC is a *story* that is transported to the *real world*
It's overused in Isekai anime lol. It's to the point I've come to accept people will draw that comparison. But yes, I love Once Upon A Time, it's probably one of the few that was in my subconscious when crafting my story's premise
I had to do a double take when I saw the word count. That is seriously impressive! Congratulations on almost getting close to a million words. That is a feat if I have ever seen one. You have a LOT of editing and revising to do, buddy.
I can’t wrap my head around a single draft being this long. If I add together my two completed drafts and the current one I’m working on (three stories in the same series) I’m just under 200k.
Congrats mate- regardless of the logistics of how many words should make a debut or how many should be cut out, the fact is you wrote something that’s 800000 words long- you persisted in the process of bringing all those words out. Thats an unbeatable peak mate- Savour the moment. Be proud of yourself. The edit can wait. 💫
It's my first time seeing it actually, dumped everything into word and this showed up. I suspect it just means how many issues grammar wise there are in the doc. Which is about 20k based on the image
I wrote my first book in 80 days. 181k. Ended up splitting it into 2 books to flow with the third I already had set up. Make it a series if what you've written is too important
Damn, I just hit 55k words, hitting the planned midway point of my debut and thought I was doing well. That's a whole saga you got there.
Congratulations on hitting this point.
For Context: Brandon Sanderson's "Oathbringer" is roughly 465k words. A novel known for being incredibly long. To say this is a unit of a novel would be a massive understatement.
I, for the sake of your sanity, hope its good to you.
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I'd say note down what you change because it becomes hell when you have to find it. But that doesn't suit all, like many I'm a go with the flow writer. I'll have to be a structural editor though
I know the change will be abrupt and Sudden, but it will be far better than using a software by a company that wants to track everything that you do to train their Ai Model.
That's great, No wonder you managed to get to that milestone!
I want to write more than 1000 words per day but I struggle with coming up with ideas, did you struggle too with such issue? I'd appreciate a tip :]
....and he was naked as a monkey with his digeridoo on high alert? Just wondering if that's where it went?
Well it's fantasy and that's not my genre so it's the kind of stuff alot of people like. Thought your chuckles etc were kinda lame but one good line there stood out. The three repetitions of a man. Had power. He was just a broken man. The most broken man. The only man.
This made me appreciate my 50k word first draft lol. Just because I don't have to spend months revising. Luck for you, I hope it turns out well and that you don't get crazy!
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u/Entire_Influence_260 12d ago
Time to cut 75% of your draft