Word Count Creep

Writing a book can be is a daunting task. Depending on your goal, you have anywhere between 50,000 to 400,000 words to type when crossing the threshold of your journey (hopefully you have the decency to constrain your prose to a length not too much higher than that). It's easy at any step in the process to lose momentum and become swamped. I want to talk about some of the writing cairns and how to get past them.

Initial Word Count Goal

I'm a numbers-oriented person. I like to have a goal in mind when embarking on most any endeavor. I think it's important for any writer to have a ballpark on their total word count. Some people may find this irrelevant and take care of it in editing, but I often prefer pre-editing over post-editing. Anything I can do to reduce work on the tail end is beneficial.

The way that I got a ballpark for my first book was precisely by looking up word counts of novels that I had read. Out of interest, here's a list of some popular book word counts. Another thing I took into account was the industry recommendations. Here's a page with a good meter.

Important also is whether you are debuting or returning to the scene. When people pick up a Dan Brown book they think, "I've read/heard of his books. I'll give this one a shot." When people see a Benny Hinrichs novel they think, "Cover's not terrible. I wonder if he's related to Jimmy Hendrix." Two different reactions. Reading a novel takes time (probably at least 10 hours). You have to convince people that your words are worth that time investment, and most people will shy away from a thick, bludgeoning tome from an unknown author.

Of interest: I wanted my first book to be somewhere between 90,000 to 105,000 words long. It turned out to be 101,000. I only achieved that by outlining and estimating.

Progress Spurs Progress

Another driving principle is that progress inspires progress. It takes hundreds of small victories to write 100,000 words. I keep a spreadsheet of my chapter word count. Every time I finish a chapter, I note the date and length along with a running total. Here's the spreadsheet of my word counts for Schools of Thought. The first time you hit 1,000 words, you think, "Wow, that wasn't all that bad. I can do that a few more times." Pretty soon you've laid out 5,000. Then 10, 20, 50, 100. Knowing that you've already accomplished something will drive you to accomplish something else.

You should find a progress monitoring method that jives with you. I do word count by chapters. Another idea is progress by event or scene (like you're shooting a movie). For that you need to have a pretty good outline.

Working Word Count Goal

Another trick of the trade that helps me immensely is a working word quota. That is, in x amount of time I will produce y number of words. My current working word quota is 2500/week. I like to use the week increment rather than day or month because it gives me enough time to do it without giving me too much time to do it.

Parkinson's law states that work will expand to fill time available for its completion. If I saw that I'll do 2500 words in a week, I may do all those on Saturday, but it gets done. If I say I'm going to do 500 words a day, I have a higher possibility of missing that goal due to other obligations. That will lead to writing depression and will encourage me to miss future goals. If I say I'm going to do 12,000 words a month, I'll inevitably go a whole week or two without writing anything. Suddenly I have to write 6,000 words a week  for two weeks straight. It's too onerous. Just as progress incites further progress, failure incites further failure. Thus my 2500/week.

Conclusion

Small victories win large wars. Set realistic goals and meet them! I'd like to add here that outlining will help everything. Maybe I say this because I'm not as much of a discovery writer, but I truly believe it. If I already know what's going to happen in a chapter, it's so much easier to write. Same holds true for a book. If you know where you're going, it'll be easier to get there.

The Kindle Relents, Lets Oneironauts In

I could try to get you to believe how difficult making my book into Kindle material was, but I know you don't like unsolicited preaching as much as the next guy. Suffice it to say, I had a wild ride getting this thing to work. The biggest hurdle is the lack of documentation. Amazon apparently expects the majority of people to upload a document file then let their algorithms chew through it and spit out a .mobi file. However, my attempt at getting such a file generated fell flat on its pupillary sphincters. It was all kinds of messed up. So many kinds of messed up, it would have been easier for me to write my own file than try and fix theirs. And did this happen because of my sloppy use of Microsoft Word formatting?

Absolutely not. It's quite obviously an issue with Amazon's code ;)

Let me explain though. To make a .mobi file, you need an HTML file of your book, and two additional XML files for navigation and such. You then combine all this in a command line executable (which I have no issues with). Nowhere is it documented that you need to use the .opf file in the cmd line argument. Also, there is little in the way of tutorials on making the two XML files (the .opf and the .ncx), so that took an age.

Fortunately I'm now in a position to easily produce another eBook once I acquire the text. If you have any questions on the process, just ask.

Here are the links: Book page and the Kindle-specific page. I'd love to hear any feedback on the eBook for those of you who get it. **I've also told Amazon that if a customer buys the physical copy, then they can download the digital book for free.

Titular Plot Revelation

There's a (I won't call it a blunder) device that you see often enough that involves the title of a work. I'll name a few: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, Indiana Jones, Septimus Heap, Napoleon Dynamite... They all have one thing in common (besides all being male). The Character Title. You've written an entire 80,000+ word book but can't come up with one more thing. The title. Or maybe you chose the Character Title on purpose.

I'll tell why I as a reader don't care too much for the Character Title. It saps some of the tension out of the narrative, especially if there are multiple titles in your series. I know that no matter what the protagonist comes up against, he/she will definitely avoid dying until at soonest the last book. I imagine that George R. R. Martin saw this trope and decided to grossly exploit it. Nearly everybody dies in A Song of Ice and Fire—and that's a problem in and of itself. My question to writers of stories such as ASoIaF is, why should I put so much effort into becoming acquainted with your characters if I know you're just going to kill them off?

And there we've revealed two irksome behaviors. (1) I'm going to tell you upfront through the title that the character you'll grow to love is never really in danger, and (2) you'll soon find that every other character you grow to love will be slaughtered by my pen. Of course, there's another behavior that can be equally as tiresome, the resurrecting hero. If it happens once in your story and you pull it off, your book is going to be amazing. If it starts happening too many times...(Dragon Ball Z *cough*).

Now sometimes your story isn't concerned with life and death experiences (Napoleon Dynamite) and therefore has no quarrel with the Character Title. But let's take Harry Potter. He comes into a "life and death" situation at least once in every book, but (spoiler alert) doesn't die until the final one. That's exactly what the title told us would happen.

An example of some amazing titles are Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Although LotR doesn't focus around Sauron, it's interesting that the story follows the pattern of titular plot revelation by keeping him alive until the end of book 3. That being said, we know nothing about the fates of the characters we care about. Not all of the fellowship are present at the conclusion of the epic. The title of Star Wars likewise does nothing to reveal prematurely which characters will survive until the end.

Of course you don't always want the characters you're following to die, but it makes every encounter more real if we haven't been told beforehand that they won't. My advice is that if you get to the end of a story (unless it's a standalone or a short story), wring that last little bit of juice out of your imagination and come up with a good title. But who knows, maybe a good title for your book will be the Character Title. I think Leven Thumps worked it quite well as a series.

The Stoneslayer aka Moby Dick With Golems (Chapter 1)

So I've had a story idea bouncing around my head for a month or so. Today during a break between classes, I got on my computer and started writing. Several hours later I was finished with the first chapter of a project that's tentatively titled The Stoneslayer. It could be classified as an epic fantasy novella. I project that it will be around 30,000-50,000 words long. I may or may not post any more excerpts of this until it's finished. For now just think of it as Moby Dick with golems. Enjoy and tell me your thoughts.

Edit 7/26/2015: If you've noticed in the sidebar, I have almost 70,000 words. I got a lot more cool ideas as I wrote and expect it to come out to 115-120k.

Source: Kari Christensen

Evrom raced up a grassy hill, thick metal cudgel on one shoulder, boltslinger on the other. He paused to survey upon reaching the top and frowned. The evnarals, giant rock beasts, were cresting another mound two hills over.

The clatter of clothing beside him signified that Alyozam had made it to the top as well. Evrom pointed. “It’s going to take a mighty pair of legs to catch those beasts.”

Alyozam huffed, trying to regain his breath. “Legs which you surely have, Evrom.”

“I fear they are not as fine as yours, Alyozam,” replied the winner of the footrace.

They both turned as two more men reached the top, completing their party. The oldest of them—though only forty-three—Kerbin, spoke between heaving breaths. “Brothers, these evnarals may be too swift for us.”

“Surely they are not too swift for you, Kerbin,” said the fourth member, Losheimap. The general goal of addressing other people was to prove oneself humbler than they. People often found ways to work around this by saying obviously sarcastic comments in the levelest tone possible.

The men on the hill were stoneslayers, the most impressive occupation one could hold. If it weren’t for their intrepid expeditions to hunt quarries of evnarals, their villages and cities would have no shelter. Their mission was to hunt the living rock so the masons could have dead rock to work with.

But the living rock, the evnarals, were vicious when provoked, tireless, and nigh impenetrable. Being a stoneslayer was no mean task, and the mandatory retirement age was forty-five. The others in the band of stoneslayers enjoyed reminding Kerbin of this in the humblest way possible.

Kerbin smiled. “You are a kind man, Losheimap. Though I could only hope for such success accompanied by you.”

Evrom was the youngest of the group at twenty-four, but he had been hunting the living rock since he was sixteen, the time when Hadaratzians were granted vocational freedom. Alyozam and Losheimap had both been on the hunt for nearly half their lives, being thirty-four and thirty-five respectively.

“Do you think we have strayed too far from home?” asked Evrom. He let the head of his mace fall to the ground.

“I’ve been farther,” Alyozam replied. He slung his boltslinger onto his shoulder and stroked his beard. “It was maybe eight years ago when Kreitah was still hunting the rock. We made it to the Pass of Jerr before we slew the quarry. It was a living terror carting the dead rock back to Desek.” He paused. “Recalling that return trip makes me question whether it would be worth it to pursue these evnarals any longer.”

They all looked toward Kerbin, who steeled his brow in thought. “We will follow for one day longer, then reroute toward Desek if unsuccessful to search for more quarries.”

The three younger stoneslayers nodded in agreement. “Excellent judgment,” they intoned.

The group descended the hill to their horses and carts. Evrom walked up to one of the stone and metal carts and tossed in his cudgel and boltslinger. He turned next to the attached horse and patted its side. Though he wasn’t a short man, he didn’t even come up to the creature’s shoulder. He reached up and unhitched the horse, letting it roam. Kerbin did the same for the other cart.

Losheimap and Alyozam set out in the waning light to gather some dustbush leaves for the fire. For reasons unknown yet not unwelcome, dustbush leaves burned for an inordinate amount of time compared to other plants. A fire could be kept alive for hours off a small bush.

They returned quickly and dinner was soon cooking. The conversation topic of choice was the upcoming coupling.

“It’s been far too long since I’ve coupled,” Losheimap declared, pointing at the others with his spoon.

Alyozam strained some misplaced stew out of his beard and chuckled. “And so it has. But of course you know that we all have been deprived of women for the same amount of time.”

“You are, of course, right, my friend. I was merely stating something we all could resonate with,” Losheimap replied.

“An apt judgment,” said Kerbin. “Six months is much too long between couplings. But of course it is as Gnolom wills it.”

“I firmly believe that you have control of your desires at this point, Kerbin. After over fifty couplings, have you not filled and drained your cup enough times to satisfy?” Losheimap asked with honest inquisition.

Kerbin smiled at the subtle jab at his age. “No matter how many tables you sit at, hunger will drive you to another,” he stated. “It is only a week away, my brothers. Praised be the name of Gnolom for allotting us a time to interact with his daughters!”

“Yes,” Alyozam concurred. “The older I become, the more I cherish their very presence. My desires now are different from my first hungry couplings. I despair that we are only given two days together.”

Evrom let his spoon sink in his stew and stared into the fire. “How many repeats do you usually couple with?” he asked his elders.

“Repeats?” Losheimap almost scoffed, though his humility gave no room to open mockery. “Life is too short and couplings too few to limit myself to one woman. There have been two or three couplings that I spent the entire duration with one woman though.”

Alyozam reclined and looked to the stars. “I’ve had two different repeats. I was foolish and thought I might love them, and I couldn’t stop myself. I have since tried to be more zealous for Gnolom.”

“I myself have had one repeat,” Kerbin admitted. “I was young and foolish, more so than Alyozam here. We spent three consecutive couplings together then got wiser the fourth time around.”

Evrom took their words in with a clenched jaw. The next week would mark his fourteenth coupling and, if plans held, his thirteenth repeat.

The others noticed his tension. “To be caught between two brawling evnarals is better than to be caught with a woman,” Losheimap cited from the Third Message.

“If you carry perplexities, Evrom, do not fear sharing them with us. We are your brothers, not your accusers,” Kerbin said, finishing his stew.

Evrom hesitated. “It’s just...why can we not read the Messages?”

Kerbin grabbed his waterskin and poured some into the clay dish. “The Messages are meant to only be read by the most humble. Tell me, have you ever felt a swell of pride as you ride into the city with a cart full of dead stone?”

Evrom bit his lip. “Yeah. But do you really think that the king has never had any prideswells?”

“It’s not that the king and his court have never had any prideswells, Evrom. It’s that their amount and intensity are so much lower than we could even imagine.” Kerbin waved the bowl around to remove large drops of moisture.

Evrom sighed. The king, Farauv, according to theology was the humblest person on the planet. If it weren’t so, he could not also be the only Deathslayer alive. As the ultimate test of humility and precedent to his coronation, the king underwent a special sacrificial ritual. He lay on an altar and had his throat slit. Five days later, he would rise again completely whole. In the interceding days he would be taught by Gnolom, then return to Hadaratz with a new Message for the people.

Or that was how things once were. There hadn’t been a new Message for over four hundred years. It was declared in the final Message, the twenty-fifth, that there would be no further Messages; the instructions of Gnolom were complete. It also declared that the title of Deathslayer was to become hereditary, though anyone could petition to gain the title at any time. They would simply have to pass through the sacrificial ritual themselves.

“Excuse me if I overstep my bounds, but your demeanor suggests that you might be in the power of pride even now,” Kerbin observed.

Evrom inhaled sharply and tried to purge the feeling from his insides. “Yours by twice,” he said in thanks.

To express gratitude and humility simultaneously, a certain phraseology had worked its way into the Hadaratzian vocabulary. It began as, ‘your life is greater than mine by twice,’ and eventually morphed into just ‘yours by twice’. Of course, a significant level of gratitude was expressed by ‘yours by five’, and the utmost display of humble appreciation was found in the words ‘yours by ten’.

The others had finished and were cleaning out their dishes. “Tell me, Kerbin, in your superior years of experience, have you ever arranged a tryst with one of your couplings?” Losheimap asked.

Kerbin stared into the fire without speaking for a moment. “Such a thing is difficult to manage as a stoneslayer. But as I have just declared that we are brothers and not accusers, I will share something with you. As I said, I was much more foolish than Alyozam. The same woman that I coupled with thrice, I met with her outside of any city on nine separate occasions.”

“Nine!” exclaimed Alyozam. “Gnolom knows if the Paramours have coupled so many times!”

Kerbin smiled ruefully. “Yes, we had actually discussed going to join them. To live with one another out of the king’s reach and be able to love, no holds barred. It was a tantalizing offer.”

“Well what made you change your course? I can’t think that you were caught, for you’re here with us today,” said Alyozam.

Ezrom’s heart paced more quickly as the conversation progressed. If Kerbin and his lover could pull it off, what could Ezrom and Matak accomplish?

“It was what happens to any addicted fool. I kept telling myself that I didn’t love her. I could stop meeting with her at any time. And then I heard a sermon by one of the king’s advisors. He read the part from Message Six where it says, ‘And he loved her, and was filled with pride.’ It was enough to smack me out of my stupidity and recognize that I loved her. Only then was I truly able to humble myself and break it off. I went to the next tryst we had planned and told her we couldn’t meet any more. I told her I didn’t love her. She wept, and so did I as I ran home.” Kerbin’s eyes were dotted with tears even as he told the tale.

“For Eternity’s sake, brother. Have you ever told anyone?” asked Losheimap.

Kerbin shook his head. “You three are the first. I’ve always known that it should be told to some of my stoneslayer brothers, but I never felt right about it until now.”

Ezrom fought a tempest inside. Kerbin’s story—if one tweaked the ending—sounded exactly like what he desired.

“Well I’m glad you trust us enough. Such an admission is a mark of true humility, brother,” said Alyozam.

“Yours by five for your compassion toward my iniquities.” Kerbin smiled at his friend.

“Yours by five for telling us, brother,” said Ezrom. And he meant it, if for different reasons than the other two might.

“But while I’m at it, I have one more confession.” Kerbin gazed over the dark plains toward home. “It was a lie I told her then, and it is a lie even now. I still love her.”

Now Available on Amazon

Good news, folks, The Oneironauts is now available on Amazon. It's currently listed at 10% off http://www.amazon.com/Oneironauts-Schools-Thought-1/dp/1501050974. Pick up a copy and tell me what you think. I'm working on getting the eBook up, but I have a math test this week and then there's General Conference during the weekend plus other homework. Oh, and here's the updated cover art that I designed.

Lucid dreams!

Oneironauts Book Proof

Today something beautiful happened. Almost a week delayed (which may have been due to me inputting the wrong ZIP code), the proof of my book The Oneironauts: Schools of Thought peeked its head through the mail slot. Bless that UPS guy. Here's what the copy looks like.

It just amazes me how you can just open it up and read what you've written. The book is a remarkable invention! Although I did decide that I want the pages to be cream instead of white.

There were a few hiccups with the lineup. The 'R' got cut off, and the spine image is bleeding over onto the cover. I redid some stuff then uploaded a new cover.

Luckily there's a lion consellated on the back. That came free with the package.

The line spacers that I put in were somewhat pixelated, so I went back and replaced them with 2-line drop down starting letters. If you know what I mean. I realized that I don't have the know-how to make this particular aspect work. I also added an author bio right at the end in case anyone that buys it doesn't know me personally ;)

You may have noticed that the cover is different than the one previously posted. Well, I realized that I had made a pitifully small cover (at 72 dpi). They recommend/require that your cover be at least 300 dpi, so I started from ground zero and built up an entirely new cover. I also designed a full wrap instead of just a front. It was tricksy getting the spine lined up, I'll tell ya.

I don't know, what do you think? Disregarding the minor blemishes, does it look like something that would catch your eye in a bookstore (including online)? I hope so. I'll also have you know that I am working on the second book (progress over in the side bar), but it's hard while pursuing a physics degree.

The price will be $13.99 on Amazon once I approve the final copy. I wanted to make it lower, but the minimum price Amazon would allow is $13.10, so I rounded it up to a consumer-friendly value. Link will follow in a week or two.

Money Is Not Power

This is a short post describing an epiphany I had the other day. It all started off when I woke up from a dream. The only thing I could remember was that the currency was measured in severed foreheads per second. It gave me a good chuckle but led to another thought: what if we actually measured money as a time-dependent value? I realized that occasionally we do, e.g. I make $10/hour.

In correlation to this, I realized that the old saying money is power was not true. Power is a time-dependent value while money is not. To make a correct analogy, money would have to be matched with energy.

But I thought to myself, why can't we make a unit of money over time? So I propose the salarant. It is the equivalent of one dollar per hour. I don't know if it would exactly fall under the SI units (they'd probably use Euros), but I think we can make it work. Money per hour is power.