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: Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
2012-10-08 17:30:00

Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
2012-10-08 17:30:00

Mood: exhausted
Music: Delta Rae, "Country House."

Draft status -- CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.

Total words: 122,700.
Chapters: Thirty-one.
Pages: 412.

Reason for stopping: draft one is finished.
Music: Delta Rae.
The cats: Lilly, bed; Alice, unknown; Thomas, bed.

Did somebody get the number of that truck?

Well, there you go. Draft one is done. I have edits to process, corrections to make, structural elements to adjust, and lots and lots of trimming to do—the book is currently somewhere between five and eight thousand words longer than it needs to be, the length of a short story, if you wanted to write a short story made up mostly of "just," "that," and assorted wishy-washy modifiers. But the words are on the page to be mucked about with. The first draft is finished.

I am exhausted and I feel sort of beaten, but the draft is done. Tonight, I will drink deep from the keg of victory. BRING ME THE FINEST MUFFINS AND BAGELS IN THE LAND!

Draft!

Tags: book status, chimes at midnight, toby daye, word count

priscellie

October 9 2012, 06:34:16 UTC 4 years ago

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I just had a visceral squeeaction when I saw you were listening to Delta Rae. I adore them!

seanan_mcguire

October 9 2012, 15:39:06 UTC 4 years ago

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They're fantastic!

hvideo

October 9 2012, 07:49:21 UTC 4 years ago

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"BRING ME THE FINEST MUFFINS AND BAGELS IN THE LAND!"

I was thinking of you today (well, actually, twice).

Costco had some pumpkin-stuffed pasta (the pasta itself was orange colored and looked like little bags, with bits of spiced pumpkin inside), and then later I saw that Safeway had a sale on Enteman's Pumpkin Donuts. Both times I was thinking how you might enjoy them - and now this proclamation. Sure, not technically muffins and bagels, but still in the spirit of things. :)

seanan_mcguire

October 9 2012, 15:54:45 UTC 4 years ago

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Mmmm.

Yum.

vincentursus

October 9 2012, 10:08:06 UTC 4 years ago

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BRING ME THE FINEST MUFFINS AND BAGELS IN THE LAND!

That sounds like a quest!

seanan_mcguire

October 9 2012, 15:54:53 UTC 4 years ago

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Yes!

ironed_orchid

October 9 2012, 11:27:18 UTC 4 years ago

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YOU ARE AWESOME

seanan_mcguire

October 9 2012, 15:55:04 UTC 4 years ago

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YOU ARE TOO

anne_d

October 9 2012, 12:29:13 UTC 4 years ago

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Huzzah!

All that and a West Wing quote, too. You just keep getting more awesome.

seanan_mcguire

October 9 2012, 15:55:17 UTC 4 years ago

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I <3 West Wing.

ohari

October 9 2012, 14:49:04 UTC 4 years ago

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ooooooooooooo, Muffins. I'm not even doubling my entendre when I say I love Muffins.

And hey, a book too! Draft AND muffins? Good Day.

seanan_mcguire

October 9 2012, 15:55:29 UTC 4 years ago

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Seriously.

missmonsta

October 9 2012, 17:28:25 UTC 4 years ago

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I'll add my voice to the chorus of people saying "go you!" and also note that suddenly I don't feel able to complain about my 17,000 word dissertation any more! :D
Well done - I came to your work through reading Feed, liked it so much I found your blog (and recommended it to EVERYONE), and am now preparing to dive into your other books. I like that you mentioned how writing as Mira Grant allows you to manage reader expectations - I'm not normally a fan of urban fantasy (I've been burned before) but I liked Feed so much that I'm happy to take the chance.
Maaaaaaaaaaybe after the dissertation though. As a reward :)

seanan_mcguire

October 12 2012, 15:13:01 UTC 4 years ago

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After the dissertation sounds like a good plan. ;)

And remember, the first three of my urban fantasy novels were written BEFORE Feed, so they're comparatively rougher.

yellowblackhaze

October 9 2012, 21:15:16 UTC 4 years ago

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Hoorah! Just in time for Halloween, too.

seanan_mcguire

October 12 2012, 15:13:13 UTC 4 years ago

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Yes!

peachtales

October 10 2012, 00:42:08 UTC 4 years ago

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Woohoo!

seanan_mcguire

October 12 2012, 15:13:20 UTC 4 years ago

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Glee.

traveller_blues

October 10 2012, 01:59:59 UTC 4 years ago

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Congratulations on finishing another novel draft! I am in awe of your writing fortitude... this is no surprise. And if I could figure out a way to send bagels through the Interwebs, I would bring you a hot, oven toasted bagel with butter and a hint of garlic. *sagenod*

And before I chicken out and decide not to ask, I have a technical question... how do you decide how long a chapter is going to be?

[ ] - When the chapter says it's done to me.
[ ] - At least N words, but less than M. Some chapters are longer than others.
[ ] - At the cliffhanger. Always at the cliffhanger.
[ ] - At the logical break at the end of a scene.

Being a tech writer, I'm writing using the N > 3000, then logical break which-may-be-a-cliffhanger route in the current novel I'm playing with as a warmup for the NaNoWriMo come next month. But one of the things I always struggle with is where and when I should make a break in the action to close a chapter -- do you plan for a set wordcount per chapter, or just kinda go with the flow, damn the torpedoes?

Thanks in advance...
-Trav

seanan_mcguire

October 12 2012, 15:14:58 UTC 4 years ago

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The chapter ends where the chapter ends. There's no minimum/maximum, although I try to keep things at comparable lengths. And "always a cliffhanger" is what leads me to stop reading a book a lot of the time.