Due to a schedule bottleneck largely of my own making, I wound up with just three weeks to write an 80,000 word historical novel. That would have been a pretty fast pace even back in my younger days, and now it's a lot more than I normally do. But I felt like I had to give it a try.
So just a few minutes ago, I sent the manuscript to my editor in New York. 82,522 words written in 19 straight days. Not something I'd want to do again any time soon. But I think the book turned out to be pretty good, and that's the most important thing.
I'll be starting the next one tomorrow.
Wow. Wonderful work, James.
ReplyDeleteHey, who's that at your right shoulder? Why, it's Erle Stanley Gardner.
And on your left? Why, that's Max Brand.
You're keeping good company, man.
John Hocking
Well done.
ReplyDeletePaul Cain would call that a Fast One.
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteDid you, like Chandler, require several bottles of scotch a day plus a nurse on hand to administer shots of amphetamines?
ReplyDeleteHello, nurse!
ReplyDeleteJust curious, how many pages of a book does an 80,000 word manuscript turn into?
ReplyDeleteBetween 320 and 350, depending on the font, white space, etc. Publishers can manipulate book length a lot.
ReplyDelete