Well I successfully kept my checking down to 4 times yesterday (I was shooting for 3). I’m aiming for 2 today (already used 1 when I got up and that was depressing enough to keep me from wanting to look again until bed). I think I’m going to try to progress to just checking the sales numbers and not looking at the actual sales ranking.
I’ll be moving forward with the serialization of Forsaken By Shadow, with new episodes being posted on Fridays. An informal Twitter poll last night confirmed a landslide vote for Fridays. There’s apparently a thing some people are doing called Free Fiction Fridays (nice alliteration) and others mentioned Friday Snippets, which I’ve used before (though not in the last few years). Since I’ve got a work conference from Friday to Saturday, I’ll be queuing posts up before I leave. I’m still trying to figure out if the Friday Snippets meme is still live (I can’t find the code on Mr. Linky), and if it’s not, whether there is a meme for Free Fiction Fridays, and if there’s not, whether anybody would be willing to use it if I start one.
This morning I set up the yWriter file for the new short–thing. I can’t seem to find sites that agree on the actual length of a novelette vs. a novella. I expect this new piece to wind up around 18-20k. Whatever length it is, I’m determined this one will be a freebie. I’ve got no working title yet, and I’m still wrestling with what kind of character arc I can achieve in a 24-48 hour time span of story. Obviously it’s probably going to be something subtle or small because–well, 24-48 hour time spans don’t leave room for a lot of change. Pot is reviewing my blueprint today, so hopefully she’ll have some thoughts on that and on theme.
In the meantime I’m plowing on with setup/class prep. It’s looking like I may actually manage to get everything finished this week except for recording and editing the lectures and writing exams. I’ll start on the recording on Saturday or Sunday when I get back from conference. I should be able to get that done in a couple of weekends. Just in time for class to start. There are other things I would LIKE to do, but it’s the first semester I’m teaching this, so it winds up fairly bare bones. That’s the nature of the beast.
4 thoughts on “Midweek Update”
Yeah, after I advised you to stop checking as much, I found myself doing it again. I think I’m going to set some specific times to check.
There’s a lot of disagreement on what would be a short story, novella, and novel. To be honest, until you mentioned it, I had never heard of a novelette. My novellas have run about 25K, and my novels between 50K and 65K. The short story I’m thinking of writing will probably be between 10K and 15K. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about what to call it (except for the title, LOL). It’s free, regardless. 🙂
See? That’s why I need a TITLE! Even a working one! I need something to call the bloody thing!
You are right, there is a lot of disagreement on the exact word counts for each. However, from a handout for a revision workshop I did (mostly based off the SFWA Nebula Award classifications):
Novelette: at least 7,500 words but less than 17,500 words.
Novella: at least 17,500 words but less than 40,000 words.
Hope that helps a bit. 🙂
Heh, the way this thing is shaping up, I think I’m going to be firmly in novella territory by the time it’s finished. The only thing I can say for absolute certainty is that it isn’t a short story.