OK, time for bed

[indri]

I'm now up to 11 000 words. No knowing how many of them I'll keep, but this rather suggests that the bloody thing will be longer than Descent, which clocked in at 13 500. I've written much longer stretches of fiction than that -- a few abandoned novels -- but Descent is still the longest work I've completed[*]. No wonder I feel stretched, holding it all in my head at once.

I salute and revere those of you who work on much longer projects.

That said, now that I'm in the swing of things, it's kind of annoying that I have to go work tomorrow. It's a pity I can't just ring up and say, "I've had an attack of the fictions, I need to work from home." I think I have to argue about floodplains tomorrow instead.

[*] My PhD doesn't count. It's supposed to be non-fiction. It contains absolutely no dream sequences and no attractive members of the living dead. Also, no passages were written in Cockney, not even the equations.

ETA: I think I need rahirah's "Burdened by my writerliness" icon. Did you know I've been writing "for fun" for twenty-five years now?

Comments

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

No wonder I feel stretched, holding it all in my head at once.

By the time I get to the end of a novel, I always feel like I've just spent a couple of weeks packing a very large suitcase for a very long and complicated trip, and the taxi is waiting at the curb with its meter running. No matter how carefully I've tried to keep track of everything, I'm always convinced that there's going to be some unresolved piece of plot development, or neglected bit of continuity adjustment, left flopping out of the overstuffed luggage like a tongue as I run out the door.

[rahirah]

Congratualtions on a successful head-stretching. *g*

[indri]

I think I have the over-stuffed overnight bag version. I keep trying to remind myself of small plot issues that need to be tidied up.

[indri]

I can't count it as successful until after it's finished :)