Ha, I have just worked out something rather fabulous!
I was sitting here revelling in my 21,000 word smugness when I suddenly thought ‘hold on a cotton pickin’ minute, isn’t a novel around 80,000 words?’
I’m no mathematical genius but doesn’t that mean that in the past 6 weeks I have written the equivalent of a quarter of a novel?! (Maybe even half a novel as I wrote way over the word count and spent hours cutting it down).
Hmm, I must investigate…
OK, I have just typed ‘how long is a novel’ into Google and good old Wikipedia came to the rescue. Here’s what it had to say:
“While the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, lengths may also vary by sub-genre; many young adult novels start at a length of about 16,000 words, and a typical mystery novel might be in the 60,000 to 80,000 word range while a thriller could be over 100,000 words.”
So now you know. Write around 60-100,000 words and you are entering novel territory.
I am rather chuffed with this revelation. Let’s gloss over the fact that it wasn’t a work of fiction and there were no actual characters or plot involved. The fact remains that if I can write 21,000+ words in 6 weeks it might be within the realms of possibility for me to write a real-life novel one day. And that rather fabulous fact makes me very, very happy.
Next stop Random house publishing! :)
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PS like the picture and the nod to the nostalgic.
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Thank you, it was a case of love at first sight with the photo!
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I have around 32,305 words to go and what with my serious condition of editoritus, that is probably a conservative estimate. Well done, keep going (you are allowed smug but only for today)
P.S: Is the bird an illustration from the same artist who used to do Roald Dahl? – Think the name is Quentin Blake?
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Thank you! The bird is an illustration by a very famous artist (not) called moi!! I am creating some bookmarks, cards and wrapping paper with him on it at the moment…
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WoW – Let me know where I go to purchase these items once finished. Really quirky – That’s a good thing.
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Will do – I will be announcing it on the blog and I have some other quirky characters up my sleeve too! Big thank you for your comment – it has made my day!
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