Yes, I'm officially sick, not horribly, but enough to be blech.
In light of my sluggish mind and body, I altered my last day of my at-home writing retreat.
I worked less on book five and finished editing books three and four.
I'm hoping, over the next six weekends (which should be interesting because I have some "life" things going on), I can finish the remaining arcs and flesh out the details so I can hand off books one through four to my editor around Labor Day and finish editing book five by the time she is ready to read it.
The goal is to release the first book in January 2019.
Also, as a little birthday present, Rebekah finished formatting Cornell Dyer and the Necklace of Forgetfulness today. So I'll scroll through that today, too. Maybe swap out the recipe in Sue's Diner.
For anyone who is interested in word counts, I presented them here in total for all five books (so far), each book by chapter and total word count (one through four is fairly stable) and book five (so far).
Plus the prologue and the epilogue.
For anyone who's read the entire BryonySeries trilogy and want to know how that compares in length, the total of those books are at the bottom.
For anyone who wants to compare the length to other books they might have read), here's a couple links to check out:
Basically, Before the Blood, the prequel to the BryonySeries is five full-length (but incomplete) novels, with the last two being about the length of Bryony. Together as a whole, these five books tell an incomplete story.
What does that mean?
It means each book, on purpose, when finished, will not be finished.
Each book's cliffhanger prepares the way for the next novel (if read in order; they do not need to be read in order), but each book's cliffhanger does not flow into the next novel.
Again, all five books together tell one incomplete story. The trilogy (Bryony, Visage, and Staked!) finishes the story.
And yet
Each incomplete novel is a developed novel in its own right, complete with plot, unique cast of characters (although a few characters do cross multiple books).
How long have I worked on this?
I began outlining the prequel in 2010 and pecked out the structure and research into January of 2014 when I began writing i earnest. Each novel has taken me approximately a year to write (some a little more, some a little less).
This is the most complicated story I have ever written. I no longer remember why I chose to write it this way.
But I am very thankful for the freedom to try an experimental way of telling a story, whether or not anyone agrees with the style or enjoys reading it.
Was it worth it?
Yes!
With the finish line in sight, I can honestly say I've learned a tremendous amount about about writing, structure, plot development and character development, dialogue, self-editing, revision, and, mostly, discipline: making myself write when I didn't feel like writing or when ideas did not come. I feel the things I've learned will help me in my job and future projects. This alone makes the entire effort worth it to me.
By Wednesday morning of this past week, with writing on average of 15 hours a day, I hated everything about writing, including this story. I was pretty sick of coffee, too.
Anyway, for the curious, here it is.
And for those who think this is a lot, it's not, really. The Harry Potter series is over a millions words in seven books, whereas my eight would need another 250,000 words to approach it.
So, you see, nothing so remarkable. And I'm certainly no JK.
Anyway, for the curious, here it is.
And for those who think this is a lot, it's not, really. The Harry Potter series is over a millions words in seven books, whereas my eight would need another 250,000 words to approach it.
So, you see, nothing so remarkable. And I'm certainly no JK.
BEFORE THE BLOOD
TOTAL: 368,441 (so far)
PROLOGUE: 481
JOHN SIMONS: 54, 739 (55,220)
CHAPTER 1: ONE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS: 2,680
CHAPTER 2: TASTING IMMORTALITY: 4.456
CHAPTER 3: KEYS TO HEAVEN: 8,468
CHAPTER 4: MAID TO ORDER: 4,284
CHAPTER 5: POST-GRADUATE STUDIES: 10,
551
CHAPTER 6: SHEDDING THE COCOON: 5, 663
.
CHAPTER 7: MUSIC HALLS AND GARBAGE CANS:
6, 644
CHAPTER 8: ONE FOR THE MEMORY BOOKS: 4,
648
CHAPTER 9: THE CONTRACT: 2,197
CHAPTER 10: CROSSING THE RUBICON: 5, 148
KELLEN WECHSLER: 55.473
CHAPTER 1: ASHES: 2,007
CHAPTER 2: FORBIDDEN FRUIT: 2,095
CHAPTER 3: THE VISION: 1,736
CHAPTER 4: BEATEN DOWN: 4, 127
CHAPTER 5: BLACK DEATH: 3, 797
CHAPTER 6: ANGEL OR DEMON? 11.985
CHAPTER 7: STARTING FRESH: 11, 106
CHAPTER 8: JUST SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE:
6, 517
CHAPTER 9: THE SUITE LIFE: 9,707
CHAPTER 10: THE VACATION: 2, 396
BRYONY MARSEILLES: 78.098
CHAPTER 1: WORM IN THE APPLE: 2, 786
CHAPTER 2: THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH:
9,482
CHAPTER 3: BREATH OF LIFE: 1,824
CHAPTER 4: BABY STEPS: 3,249
CHAPTER 5: A MOST PERFECT PLACE TO LIVE:
26, 598
CHAPTER 6: THE MIRACULOUS MEDICAL BAG:
2,776
CHAPTER 7: DOUBLE VISION: 5,748
CHAPTER 8: THE DARK SIDE OF PROGRESS:
21,353
CHAPTER 9: THE DREADED CURSE BEGINS:
3,206
CHAPTER 10: FREEZING TIME: 1,076
HENRY MATTHEWS: 89,770
CHAPTER 1: EATING CAKE: 744
CHAPTER 2: THE GYPSY: 3,700
CHAPTER 3: DEADLY NIGHTSHADE: 5,642
CHAPTER 4: REST FROM THEIR LABORS: 4,058
CHAPTER 5: MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD:
2,034
CHAPTER 6: HAUTE COUTURE: 26,759
CHAPTER 7: SHOT IN THE HEART: 28, 127
CHAPTER 8: ANTIQUE LACE, PURPLE ROSES,
AND VALENTINE HEARTS: 10, 127
CHAPTER 9: SEWING OATS: 7,035
CHAPTER 10: MEETING AT THE CROSSROADS:
1,724
BRYONY SIMONS: 89,419
CHAPTER 11: THE STRANGER: 4,236
CHAPTER1 2: ICE CREAM SOCIAL: 7,572
CHAPTER 13: PSST! BRYONY HAS A BEAU:
3,323
CHAPTER 14: THE DAM BREAKS: 2,284
CHAPTER 15: THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS:
5,742
CHAPTER 16: UNTIL DEATH: 8,774
CHAPTER 17: WHERE HEARTFELT DREAMS COME
TRUE: 18,523
CHAPTER 18: THE SERPENT: 5,691
CHAPTER 19: SHATTERED GLASS: 2,479
CHAPTER 20: SHADES AND SHADOWS: 4,385
CHAPTER 21. THE SENTINEL: 8,096
CHAPTER 22: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP:
3,321
CHAPTER 23: BRAVING THE WILDERNESS:
2,187
CHAPTER 24: DOWN THE STEEP STAIRCASE OF
DESPAIR (STORM CLOUDS): 4,385
CHAPTER 25: STORM CLOUDS (DOWN THE STEEP
STAIRCASE OF DESPAIR_: 1,816
CHAPTER 26: ENCHANTED TWILIGHT: 1,386
CHAPTER 27: BRIGHTER DAYS AHEAD: 1,680
CHAPTER 28: SHACKLED: 878
CHAPTER 29: DR. GOTHART LEADS THE WAY
OUT: 1,366
CHAPTER 30: BLOOD BATH: 1,297
EPILOGUE: 461
By comparison:
Bryony: just under 100,000
Visage: 130,589
Staked: 149,167
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