So, I finished the novel last weekend.
This is, in many respects, a bald-faced lie. More correct to say:
So, I reached the conclusion of my planned narrative arc last weekend.
Meaning, I finished the first draft.
It is 210 A4 pages long, or 77643 words. I'm considering cutting out 1100 words so it will be 76543, because that's a cooler number.
It is 31 chapters, but I reckon it should be 30, because it's better. Although 31 is a prime number, so Mark Haddon would be pleased. And maybe Reason.
In case anybody cares, there are no passive sentences, and the document has a Flesch Reading Level of 87.4%. Whatever that means.
The final and most important thing that you should know about my first draft is this:
it's crap.
I'm not being self-deprecating here, because those of you who know me can attest that I don't really go in for that sort of thing. The book is crap because it is a first draft. I haven't even read through it yet. This is maybe 1/3 of my journey complete, and even less of the actual Book's journey (it gets to do things like Be Designed and Go To The Printer that I'm not really involved in).
Next step: read and cringe, red pen on hand.
(actually the next step is to finish the glossary for an educational text I'm doing called Going Shopping. Yeah baby, it's 24 pages of fascinating supermarket-related information that is going to go straight to the top of the bestseller list. Move over, Dan Brown and JK Rowling.)
(any suggestions on how to explain EFTPOS to a child are welcome)
1 comment:
Congratulations! Even if there's still work to go it's still a milestone worth celebrating.
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