Much to my great joy, I realized my novel will reach 50,000 words in less than 17 pages, which will be about page 172, far fewer than the 200-225 page goal I have envisioned (my novel takes place over three days, and while there are flashbacks galore, I don't want the three days to seem eternal, and so the book must be breve). 50,000 seems to be the recognizable minimum for a novel, which in general I think is ridiculous. A story shouldn't be more or less long than necessary to tell the story you've set out to tell. So many books are bloated by the publishing industry standards, and this, I believe, is the reason we don't have any masterpieces. If your story requires 900 pages, then take 900 pages. If it requires 150, that should work, too. So many great novels are either novellae or huge monsters, and I am much more willing to decide if I like a writer by what they can do in a short space than I am to take on a tome without knowing whether it will be worth it. Anyhow, mine will most certianly be in the low-mid 200s.
The Discovery Channel coopted the BBC's Planet Earth documentary, which is absolutely breathtaking. This is the sort of stuff I live for, and while I'm sure it must be absolutely mental to have live in a tent for several days praying a motion sensor will alert you to the activity of some rare animal or other, that would be such a great job, though I think the sweeping panoramas of the mountains, deserts, and such would be more my cup of tea. God bless the British for going out and spending five years on this amazing series. I was a bit put off that there wasn't a woman in sight in the filming of this documentary, and I wonder why that's the case. I looked at IMDB, and I saw two female names on the production and editing end, but I'm still curious as to who made up the actual crew of cameramen... Anyhow, check your local listings and see how awesome our planet is and why we should do everything necessary to preserve it.
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2 comments:
Hi, I stumbled on your blog when I was looking for another nomadic one. It's quite interesting, and I'm curious as to what you mean by saving trees. Is it that you're doing most of your writing electronically and thus saving on paper? Then I was struck by the fact we shared the exact same vital stats, and I'm trying to write a novel too! Good luck!
Absolutely. I've always felt a bit two-faced about being a writer and an environmentalist. When I finish my novel, my hope is to find a publisher that prints on largely recycled material. That the big houses aren't forced to do so by federal mandate is as much of a crime as the lack of sufficient legislation on auto emissions.
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