This pass through CURSE is done!

ByJohn Brown

Oh, this feels soooooooo good. Here are the stats.

  • 58 chapters
  • 205,000 words
  • I received the green light midway through April. Finished 27 weeks later.
  • Looking at my time records, it took me a total of 345 hours to finish this draft.  And the lion’s share was new stuff.  This took less time than it normally does for me, but it’s the freaking forth time through and I know the world and characters.
  • I averaged about 13 hours per week. It still bothers me I couldn’t get that closer to 20 hours.
  • This translates to a rate of about 600 words per hour, and that’s with daily edits, thinking, backtracks.  I’m not going to win any speed contest, but at least I’m consistent.

Of course, it took me an additional 105 hours of work to finally get an outline we could agree on. If I add that, it brings my stats down a bit. But, overall, I’m pleased. For those who want to read an excellent article on writing productivity, look at Kevin J. Anderson’s “The Mathematics of Productivity.”

Now I need to take the next two weeks to cut about 10%. And fix the weather stripping on our French doors to keep the hordes of  #@!$%! spiders from coming in. Wish me luck.

Note: it bugs me my bullets don’t show up. Some day I’m going to get someone to fix the stylesheet on this website.

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    ByJohn Brown

    Folks, I have finally finished draft 1 of The Drovers.

    Let there be much rejoicing.

    It clocked in around 75,000 words, and as soon as I finished, I realized I had two shorter novels. And this is exactly what I had originally planned. I wanted to tell a very long story in many shorter chunks. So I now have two 35,000 short novels. Since only writers think in word counts, here are some other books to give you a comparison.

    • Louis L’Amour’s westerns: most average around 50,000 words.
    • James Patterson’s Maximum Ride and Witch & Wizard series: average around 60,000 words.
    • Richard Paul Evans’s Michael Vey series books: average around 77,000.
    • The first three of Horowitz’s Alex Rider books: around 55,000.
    • Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart books: around 100,000.

    My books usually get a bit larger with the second draft, so I expect these will probably end up around 45,000 words. We’ll see.

    What I’m really looking forward to is telling a long story in these smaller chunks and unrolling the story like it’s done on TV.  You can do things over 20 or 30 episodes that you simply can’t in one big novel. This doesn’t meant I won’t be able to have big climaxes. Of course, I will. It just means that I’m going to do it in a slightly different form. I already have the basic ideas for the next dozen or so books. And now that I’m rolling, I expect things will go faster.

    The working title of book 1 is “Hireling.” The working title for book 2 is “Outcast.

    The cast so far:

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    • Krov: the big woodsman’s son, aka the Lover
    • Winwalom: Ferran’s best friend who is manifesting forbidden powers
    • Ranoc: the boy who wants to be one of the king’s rangers
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    • Borros: the drover and former grimsman
    • Lagash: the cook and foreigner who once beat Borros in battle
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    Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game

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    Smart Pop publishes smart, fresh, and engaging articles on the best of pop culture TV, books, and film, with a particular focus on science fiction and fantasy television and literature.

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    Strange.  Do you see a pattern emerging? 

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    Recently, they’ve been putting together just such a collection on Ender’s Game.  It’s called Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game. It’s coming out February 2013.  You can read more about it here.

    I’m announcing this now because The Man was fortunate enough to be invited to contribute.  I love Ender’s Game.  LOVE IT.  How cool is it that I get to write about it in an anthology edited by the folks at Smart Pop and Card himself? And then get to read what everyone else has to say, including military strategists Colonel Tom Ruby and Captain John Schmitt.  As well as the little bits they’ll include on things like why the battle room is the shape it is and why they were recruiting kids.

    But I’m also announcing this because in addition to the essays all we Ender-lovers get to write, Smart Pop is also going to include a series of Q&As with Scott Card, and they are currently soliciting the question from readers. FROM YOU. Right now.

    You ever wonder about a character or part of the setting or event in Ender’s Game?  Ever wanted to know what inspired Card? Ever wanted to ask any question at all about Ender’s Game?  Now’s your chance. Just submit you question here: http://www.smartpopbooks.com/ask-orson-scott-card-a-question-about-enders-game/

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  • Utah events this week

    ByJohn Brown

    Just a reminder. I’ll be meeting the public and chatting about my book in Utah this week. David Farland and Larry Correia will there as well. It’s a three-for-one deal.

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    801-282-1324
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  • Holy Mackrel, My First Cover Illustration

    ByJohn Brown

    And, Dude! Will ya look at this thing. 

    igms-cover-issue8-smaller.jpg

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    Read the story behind the story on Side-Show Freaks in the coming month.

    Then read more about Scott Altmann, the marvelous illustrator.

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  • Cover art for Servant of a Dark God

    ByJohn Brown

    servantdarkgod_comp

    I just got this from my editor. My first reaction was what?–No bronze brassiers, naked thighs, or gravity defying breasts?! I’m ruined! Then I remembered I’d given up writing books about bimbos with swords (alas, I really had some terrific mosquito scenes). 

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8 Comments

  2. So excited for you. Way to stick with it, John! I was just talking about you with my wife today, and about how much I’m looking forward to you getting another book in this series out. Sadly, I won’t see you at LTUE next year because we up and moved all the way to Pennsylvania when my wife got a great job offer, but if you’re ever out in the Philly area, you’ve got a place to stay and get some free meals. 🙂

  3. That first sentence really needs some capslock and an exclamation point. Should read “SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!” 🙂

  5. Holy crap, Bryce. Pennsylvania! You know, we spent a few years in Ohio. I hope you love it. What type of work does your wife do?

  6. Behavioral Analyst. She works with people of all ages with disabilities that exhibit problem behaviors.

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