Revision and word count

I have been using Scrivener to write my novel and appreciate the flexibility of the program. When assembling my files for printing to PDF the program told me my word count was 83,435 words. I was particularly excited because my target had been 80,000 words. I have read on line is that a hardcover novel should be about 80,000 words, and at a words-per-page average of 250 (Times New Roman, 12pts) this should result in approximately 330 pages. However, formatting the novel and using Times New Roman (12pts.) the PDF file comes in at 249 pages! I don’t know why or how there’s this discrepancy. 249 pages means we’re averaging 300+ words per page… I guess the word count will be a significant factor.

I have printed several copies for friends to proof and comment. When those come back I’ll make the necessary changes and send it off to my daughter in Los Angeles. She has a literary agent friend who has agreed to read it. The feedback should be significant, I hope.

Regardless of what happens, I shall begin assembling a list of agents and publishers who accept queries from unpublished writers. The process is, I understand, lengthy. Query, submission, query, submission, etc. I am however excited by this process. It has taken me eighteen months to get to this point, a second draft that reworks the story into a framework that works in 83,000 words. When I started this process, 80,000 words seemed impossible. The improbable result was that I wrote much more than that and had to cut and edit! The second revision took less time than the first draft and was more inspired, i.e., finding the right way to tell the story was very exciting. For the most part, I wrote almost every day, and usually about the same time every day. Needless to say, survival work did occupy significant amounts of time. That’s how it is. Someone once said (something to the affect) that life is not about enjoying the dance, but learning to dance in the rain!

Confession

This journey toward reinvention must begin with an admission of what we are now! Perhaps it can be said that I am a serial malcontent. I do see signs of this disease all around me. The picture posted today is of a serial malcontent: mois!

Before the new wheel is invented!

Hello world!

Publishing one’s voice is both desirable and daunting. Tucked away in the recesses of my mind is a nagging desire to be heard, understood, and valued, a common impulse I’m sure. The attendant desire, equally nagging but more accurately described as fear, is that while this impulse may be common we don’t want the material to be common!

It is, therefore, with some trepidation, then, that I begin this journey of reinvention and necessary exposure. If one wants truly to be heard, then he must speak. To be uncommon, one must first risk the common!

I will speak in ensuing posts about several different topics of interest. First, I shall chronicle my efforts to revise and develop a manuscript entitled Devil’s Gut. The manuscript has undergone a first and second draft within the previous eighteen months, a vigorous wrestling match that reduced the original 204,000 word document to 83,000 words. My second topic of interest is the development of a documentary about a small southern high school in Aberdeen, NC. The school was torn down in 1963 and students consolidated into another facility compromised of six local high schools. Graduates of this former school still meet for reunions and have a permanent museum of artifacts. Events in town history inspired Devil’s Gut; it is my intent that more will follow. Thirdly, I am enchanted by the spoken word. My life in rehearsal halls and classrooms, working with actors, has instilled a deep respect and appreciation for the sensual experience of language, an experience often corrupted or tainted by technology. We have lost something vital.

My purpose is to reinvent me. I have no idea where the journey will take me; but, I am resolved to begin and discover where these nascent notions will lead.