Kristin Wolden Nitz

Over 5000 Words Already?

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Kristin Wolden Nitz
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In general, I tend to work quite slowly.  Dialgoue might flow easily, but then I have to smooth all of the details that bring a story to life with action, description and movement.  That’s why I’m just a bit surprised to discover that I’m about 5600 in.  The first chapter is fairly polished. The second has a few rough patches.  Then the rest of the words from Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 are the mere scraps of scenes.  

Chapter 5, but no Chapter 4?  Well, I was doing a bit of outlining and suddenly a big argument between two characters erupted.  I felt like I was taking dictation.   For the most part, I tend to work sequentially.  I like to know exactly what happens before moving on, but I had pretty much “set the table” for this confrontation in advance.

Comments

9 responses to “Over 5000 Words Already?”

  1. SueBE Avatar
    SueBE

    Congratulations! My own word count is increasing much more slowly. Of course, I’m working on three articles and a picture book. Can we say NO to a 5000+ picture book? I think we can.
    –SueBE

    Reply
  2. kristinwoldennitz Avatar
    kristinwoldennitz

    Yeah, I think we can and should just say no to a 5000+ word picture book. Good luck as you polish up the picture book and the articles!

    Reply
  3. Ann Finkelstein Avatar
    Ann Finkelstein

    Awesome!
    I’m revising, so my daily word counts might be in negative numbers. That’s a good thing, right?

    Reply
  4. kristinwoldennitz Avatar
    kristinwoldennitz

    Negative word counts are a good thing when you’re revising! You’re tightening, trimming, smoothing. Nice!

    Reply
  5. Jeannie Mobley Avatar
    Jeannie Mobley

    Word count can be a deceiving measure sometimes, can’t it? Sometimes those days when the manuscript gets shorter are ultimately more productive than the ones where it gets longer. At least that’s what I’m telling myself, because my manuscript just lost about 8,000 words today. Sigh.

    Reply
  6. kristinwoldennitz Avatar
    kristinwoldennitz

    I remember cutting about 2000 words off of SUSPECT with about three clicks of the mouse. And I thought that I was mass-murdering my darlings! Sometimes you do have to prune hard, Since you were undoubtedly doing this under the direction of a master gardener, I’m sure it was a productive day.

    Reply
  7. Over 7000 Words « Nitz Bits

    […] felt like I was back to my old plodding ways.  On April 19th, I was at 5600 words. Yesterday, I was hardly 1000 words further along as I struggled  to get my character from Merano […]

    Reply
  8. Em Avatar
    Em

    I usually write a thousand words or so and leave the story for about six months before I get another idea. Today, I wrote 5000 words in one sitting. I predict only about half of that will last till the next draft 😉

    Reply
    1. Kristin Wolden Nitz Avatar
      Kristin Wolden Nitz

      Wow! That’s a writing binge! I think that I’ve only been able to put about 2000 words together at one point.

      Reply

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