I hit a part of the novel today that I got way, way wrong in first draft. And while I’d estimate that in FACT I wrote close to 2000 words — over a period of three straight hours of hauling ass — what I was left with after ripping out that big first-draft nosedive into concrete was a forward gain of 954 words.
I’m okay with that. This time, the plot outline is clicking, the bad things are happening to characters, not to the plot – and I made myself cry.
When the stuff you’re writing digs into YOU, and you find yourself typing through tears as you get to the end of the scene, odds are pretty good that you nailed it. At least in concept, if not perfectly in execution.
The counts: 44,220 words total. The part I get to mark as progress after ripping out most of a two-thousand-ish word first-draft chapter — and then making back the loss and showing a bit of profit at the end — is 954 words.
Works for me.
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