Country Charm #6

Novel Update #1

50,000 Word Celebration!

50,000 Word Celebration

I am celebrating a major achievement— I have passed 50,000 words in the writing of Country Charm. When I attempted writing this novel 30 years ago, I stopped after 14,000 words and five chapters. In the last three and a half months I have added 36,000 words and 20 chapters.

I have spent four to five days a week writing at least 500 words a day. The minimum number of words required for a finished novel is about 50,000. My goal is between 80,000 and 100,000 words depending on the needs of the story.

Pantser vs Plotter

One of my challenges in writing the novel is plotting the action. I have always been more of a pantser than a plotter. Some novelists plot out their book before they start writing. I enjoy discovering where the story is going as I write. I love the surprise of discovering a new twist to the story.

I also realized that this pantzer behavior was slowing down the writing of the novel. I realized that I needed to know where the novel of was headed. I wrote about this in the article: Don’t Meander—Begin With the End in Mind. I also discovered Plottr, a software tool to help me plot out my novel. While Plottr is designed to help you visually plot your novel in advance, I have used it to reflect on what I have written and to determine what still needs to be added. So far, it has helped me find holes in my story.

How Long Does It Take To Write a Novel

I recently read an article discussing how long it takes to write a novel. I was surprised to learn that the Hobbit took J. R. R. Tolkien 2 years to write while the Lord of the Rings trilogy took him 16 years.

Charles Dickens spent 6 weeks writing A Christmas Carol as did William Faulkner in writing As I Lay Dying. Dickens spent 8 months writing Great Expectations and 19 months on David Copperfield.

F. Scott Fitzgerald took 2.5 years to write The Great Gatsby as did Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird. Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin both took 5 years. Margaret Michell took 10 years to write Gone With the Wind as did J. D. Salinger to write Catcher in the Rye.

Years ago I read the story of Henry Roth who wrote his first novel, Call It Sleep, in four years. The novel was published in 1934 when Roth was 28. He began writing his second novel shortly after the publication of the first. It took him 60 years to complete the second novel which was published in 1994 as As A Star Shines Over Mt. Morris Park, the first in a 4-novel series, entitled Mercy of a Rude Stream. Roth was 88 years old.

So whenever I think I am too old or have taken too long to write my novel, I think of Henry Roth and know that I still have time.

Survey Question

Are you a pantser or a plotter?

A special thank you to those who have chosen to follow and support me in this endeavor: Jay Avery, Wolfie Bain, Lisa Bolin, James G Brennan, Rhonda McGhee Brown, Shalini C, A’Sian Starr Carter, Adam, Diabetic Cyborg, Raffaella Ferretti, Marilyn Flower, Famke Halma, Ravyne Hawke, Rasheed Hooda, Amy Jasek, Bob Jasper, Tree Langdon, James Leo, Amy Marley, Neta Q, Carolyn Riker, David Rudder, Arjan Tupan, Tony Young, Jr.

Here is the short story I wrote that inspired the novel.