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Saturday didn’t really count. Today is the official Day One of Book IV, and Book bounded out of the starting gate and gave me its daily wordage in a little less than 3 hours. The pace isn’t flat out gallop (boy, the first two paragraphs were!) because it’s a long race and it’s better not to push too hard too soon. In honor of its cooperative nature (so far: we all know it’s going to act up in the middle) I folded in the leftover part of Book III. It’s easier to keep track of total wordage while working in one file, and since the leftover bit and the actual first bit are not that far apart in time, it makes sense. That makes its current length in words ~11,200 and its current page count 60. Not all pages are full pages: first pages of chapters have less than half a page of text, and the last page has less than half a page of text. So far.
The daily toll is 2000 words, today exceeded by 112, with a weekly goal of 10,000. Doable in five days if nothing goes haywire. I can always work on Saturday if something does. (Like for instance jury duty next week, starting on the 20th.) Depending on Editor’s reading schedule, if I meet my goals for this week and the two following, I’ll have a really solid start on Book IV and a better idea of how much ground it’s going to let me cover…a little over 40,000 words.
Plot Daemon offered a reward for an early start on the book with a small but very valuable plot bomb today. All in all, a good start.
Comment by David R Campbell — January 10, 2011 @ 2:47 pm
I may have missed it before, but how many Books has the publisher agreed to?
Will we eventually be seeing Book V? VI?
XX? 🙂
Comment by elizabeth — January 10, 2011 @ 7:01 pm
I have no word on that. I’m just going on with the story because the story wants to be written and I want to write it.
Comment by Adam Baker — January 11, 2011 @ 6:58 am
Woohoo, out of the gate on #4.
Happy to hear the Daemon was helpful.
Comment by elizabeth — January 11, 2011 @ 3:38 pm
Nice strong canter today (leaning toward a hand-gallop)…2386 words, total at 13,675.
Comment by Leo — January 11, 2011 @ 4:21 pm
Is it easier to sell the books if it’s part of an ongoing series and that you’ve actually starting writing it?
Also – will there be a “consolidation” of the short stories that have been published in various places and times into one book? (Those that pertain to Paksennarion’s worlds and books that is). And if so, perhaps hopefully in chronological order with a little nugget of info before the short story on which book and where and what time this short story would pertain?
I know it’s asking a lot – but – us grateful readers would love this i believe. (I know i would) :p
Comment by elizabeth — January 11, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
That’s a complicated question, Leo. It depends on the sales of the earlier books in the series…as they are known at the time of the contract negotiations. If the series is very successful, then it’s easier to sell more books in that series than the starting book of a new series or a standalone. If a series is modestly successful, editor/publisher may think the writer would do better with a different series, and suggest/insist on that. If a series tanks, that writer will have a hard time selling anything to that publisher. As long as Charlaine Harris’s Sooky Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series keeps topping the NYT bestseller list, her publisher will buy another (as many as possible.) It gets tricky below the high-bestseller category, and especially for books that aren’t really a series, but a multi-volume story arc, like mine. Charlaine has several mystery series and the books are all independent though linked…you can start with Sookie in the first book or pick up the fifth or eighth…the background of the earlier ones is helpful in reading the later ones, but not critical. If a multi-volume story arc gets truncated…it’s a mess. And yet the multi-volume arc, while very popular with some readers, annoys others–and the temptation to wait to buy #1 until they’re all out and you can get the whole story ensures that for anything but the top sellers, later volumes will never see print.
Yes, I distinguish between series (related books whose primary story arcs are limited within a volume, though there may be come carry-through between books of a background arc) and multi-volume works (a group of books where the main plot–the main story arc–runs through all and is completed in the last one.) Thus the Deed, though published in three volumes initially, is one story arc: the development of Paks from raw farmgirl to paladin. Vatta’s War, one of my SF groups, is one story arc. The Serrano/Suiza group is as well, though the shift of protagonists from mostly Heris & Cecelia to Esmay, Brun, and Barin made it wobble. Still there’s a strong arc through the whole.
As for a collection of Paksworld stories–I don’t know. Again, unless I find the time to do such a thing myself, it will depend on my publisher deciding this is a money-making project. If this group takes off and puts some books on the NYT bestseller list for a month or so, then interest in doing a collection will rise. Collections generally do not sell nearly as well as novels.
Comment by tuppenny — January 11, 2011 @ 6:27 pm
I am savoring my reread of ‘Oath’ … and enjoying the glimpses of Arcolin’s training of Burik, and the uses of disinformation.
Also I focused on Kieri’s reaction to Aliam’s letter – hope that nothing too serious is wrong there.
And counting the hours to the release in March! My copy is on order. I may also treat myself to the audio book.
Comment by Genko — January 12, 2011 @ 12:40 pm
For myself, I seem to love long involved novels, trilogies, the more the longer the better. Not sure why this is so, but there it is. Short story collections are usually less interesting to me, but a collection that centers around a multi-volume large story like Paksworld would be a very different matter. The other aspect that makes it more interesting to me is whether it’s a writer I know and trust.
I read from the library a lot, not having any income (dipping into my retirement a little bit, which needs to be sparing, at least), and sometimes browse into authors I don’t know. I’m often disappointed — I can tell when I’m in the presence of a writer who knows what s/he is doing and who has a decent editor. Some stories are okay, but need tightening, and that disappoints me. Some stories are just not well told.
I just recommended the Deed to a friend (we exchanged a list of recommended authors), and she told me she was enjoying it immensely. That tells me that she also appreciates being in the hands of a good writer who can tell a story well. Many thanks to you.
All that to say that I would definitely be interested in a collection of stories from you.
Comment by Bernardette — January 14, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
I am so unspeakably excited that there are at least 4 books in this series. The Paks universe is one of my favorites of all time.
Comment by Roger — January 19, 2011 @ 6:09 am
I agree, Paks world is great!
Looking forward to the coming books, and also enjoying learning about your writing life!
but dont forget about Vatta 🙂 )
Br//Roger
Comment by elizabeth — January 20, 2011 @ 12:18 am
It’s more whether Vatta forgets about me. If one of the characters wants a story told, and bangs on my skull, I’ll tell it. Otherwise, I have a lot of other characters already banging on my skull, and theirs come first.