Stats
Average Daily Wordcount for This Week: 2,259
Week Total Wordcount: 15,818
October Total Wordcount: 77,114
Year Total Wordcount: 177,184
Words to go:
Month: 6,220
Year: 822,816
I finished my 5-part novella series this week. The word count for the whole series ended up being 137,570. This is more words than I’ve ever written in one single universe before. Not to mention this is the first series I’ve ever started, let alone finished. Moreover, I barely outlined it. I mean, I had the characters and the end of the last book planned, but that was it. This feels like a big win for me, even though I know that, because I didn’t outline first, this series will need A LOT of revision. Possibly even to be rewritten entirely, which is heartbreaking given the time I’ve already spent on it.
Still, finishing this series was important for me in several ways.
First, this is a series that I’ve had in my head since college. College was eleven years ago for me, if you were wondering, so it’s been a long time. I didn’t think that I would ever get around to this. It feels like closure in a way. This was the first idea I had for something that I believed I would publish someday. I still don’t know if I will ever publish it, but getting it out on the page feels like a mind-clearing experience. I think if I had written it when I was 22 years old, it would have been entirely different and probably not worth rewriting in the first place. In a way, I’m glad I waited this long to write this story.
The second reason this was important was that it taught me once and for all, that I am an outliner. Pantsing this series was tough. I’m proud of myself for getting through it, even without the outline, but it was a struggle. Moreover, I think I would have had a better first draft to work with had I outlined it first. While it was definitely an adventure to come up with the plot on the spot—I totally get why people love that type of creation—I don’t think it’s for me. At least not for long-form fiction, though perhaps for short stories it would be just fine.
I’ve always wished I was a pantser. It’s so adventurous to jump into writing a novel without a plan. But I know myself better now. I’m not much of an adventurer. And I can accept it, having really tried the other way fully. I think this will provide me with a lot more clarity and direction when it comes to writing future projects.
And finally, as I said before, this is the first series I’ve ever really attempted, and I’m glad to say, I was able to make it through. To be honest, I have a bit of a wandering attention span and I wasn’t sure I would be able to maintain my interest in the universe long enough to write more than one story within it (let alone 5!). Now I know I can. True, they were novellas rather than novels, so the attention needed was a little less demanding, but there were still five beginnings, middles, and endings that I had to muddle my way through. I have other series in mind for the future. I have a trilogy of novels planned for later in Milwordy, plus a few half-baked novella series in mind. Now I feel confident that I am actually capable of doing it, even if it is a bit of a struggle.
Over the next week, I’m sort of tying up some loose ends before NaNoWriMo hits on November 1st. I want to finish my Halloween short story. Plus, I’m still working on my NaNo outline (which you can check out via my Structure Saturday series starting with week 1). Hopefully I can finish those up and come to NaNo with a clean slate. I also hope that those projects will give me enough words to reach my Milwordy goal for October, though I’m not quite certain about that. Cross your fingers!
If you’re enjoying this blog, please like, follow and share! You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram. If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear them! Or read them, as the case may be.
-Robin
Rambling Robin 