WEEKLY WORD COUNT - Week of May 10-16th - PARADISE SEEKERS

on Sunday, May 16, 2010

Week Dates: 5/10-5/16, 2010.
Total Word Count This Week (Paradise Seekers): 22,103.
Words Total for Paradise Seekers: 22,103.

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Excerpts from this week:
He who does not fear death dies only once. - Giovanni Falcone

- Quote introducing Paradise Seekers

“Anyway,” Jen returned to me. “Before your Changing starts and we can’t get any more information out of you, I’d like you to tell me your dream.”
I blinked. “My...dream?” I’m empty-headed, literally, and you are going off about some dream?
Jen nodded, holding the hem of the apron tightly in her hands. “Yes, your dream. Something that connects all the Paradise Seekers is the dream we have before we awaken: everybody has one, and it almost always is one we’ve heard of before. It’s how we decide your job in Haven. For example,”
She stood up a little straighter, as if presenting something important. “My dream was me walking down a beautiful path. It was night, and stars twinkled over head. There were lights off in the distance, and to either side of me lay long ribbons of silver, stretching off into the distance. We call that the Silver dream, and that’s why I’m a Keeper. It isn’t a very frequent dream, which is why each house only has one Keeper.”
It made sense, in an odd way. I nodded, then turned my eyes towards Annie, who was still staring at me with a sort of childlike wonder. “What about you? What was your dream?” I inquired.

- Paradise Seekers, Chapter 1

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It was a good week this week. I started Paradise Seekers actually several months ago, but was forced to drop it as I was still working on finishing Where Gods and Mortals Dance and I wanted all my assets going towards that. It pretty much boiled down to the fact I was writing ~6,000 words a day, and I had to decide how I wanted to distribute them. Since my writing group partner Andrea was leaving for a year and a half without internet or reading material the second week of May, I decided it would be best I finish WGMD rather than trying to spread myself out.

After WGMD was finished, I tried going back to the three chapters I'd written earlier. However, for some reason it just wasn't working. So, in an extremely rash move, I deleted the 5-6k words I had so far and started completely over. This was last Friday, and I managed to pound out an outline before this week started.

As stated, I wrote a rather awesome 22,103 words this week, calculated at about 3,158 word a day average, which constitutes the entire novel thus far. This is about 25% of the book. This is technically below average (verses the 6-10k I was putting out daily on WGMD), but it took a considerable amount of time in that novel to be invested enough to write so quickly. I am certain that, hopefully starting next week, I'll be able to up it to at least 5k a day average.

Mostly this week was spent introducing the world and the characters, as well as basic world building and one large plot development/twist. Next week we'll see the introduction of the second key character, as well as an introduction of the second main conflict.

Overall, writing is going better. I had the "postpartum depression" blues about Where Gods and Mortals Dance, making it hard to begin work on the next book. I also got myself far too excited for Effulgent Corruption, which made shifting gears back to Paradise Seekers hard. However, it ended up working for the best, as I am now very excited to see where this one is going, and also the prospect that I could finish it in around a month (which is my goal).

As for this blog, I've decided to give up rewriting last week's Ramblings on Writing, and instead will just move on as if it never was deleted. I'll also be posting some more book reviews soon.

On a final note, the cover art for Dan Wells' Mr. Monster is freaking incredible. It's odd that he never actually saw it until his copies came in the mail, but I really must say I'm impressed. I know authors have little or no say in their books' covers, but this sort of minimalistic approach really appeals to me. On an aside, my idea for a cover for Where Gods and Mortals Dance would simply be a black background, the text of the title and author, and one of the teardrop shaped masks the gods wear, lying in the background. Yep, that would be it. I think it would be great.

Onward and upward! See you all next week!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fetch Nathan!! Your word count is AMAZING. How the heck do you do it? Write a post on THAT. You're insane. I don't think most professionals even pull weekly counts that high. I think I threw up a little in my mouth when I read that. My weekly word count = your daily word count. That's disgusting.

Me and many other wannabe writers all really, really hate you right now.

Interesting excerpts n' all. And dude, branch off from The Maze Runner. Go read another book and clear your head. I think Dashner is still running around in there.

I'm finally reading I Am NOT a Serial Killer. It's gruesome in some parts, but right now I really like it. Wells is doing a great part of making John likeable. (I just got to the part where he sees Dr. Neblin right after scary the pants off of that bully kid at the Halloween dance.)

Nathan said...

Thanks for the...compliment? I think? Was it a compliment? :P
I honestly wouldn't worry about the Maze Runner bits; this book was planned WAY before I even heard of that book. I'll openly admit it starts similarly (empty-headed kids that have assignment) but it really is completely different. If you want, I can send it to you sometime and you can see for yourself. :P
And...by your request, I'll post something today about how I write so much. Not that I even know how that works, ha ha.

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