Hello and Welcome!
Welcome to the Freewrite Forum Web site. I'm Miranda Rider, writer-in-progress and the purpose of this site is to share my research, lessons and tidbits on writing. Be sure to check out the monthly short story link too and let me know what you think. I hope you find the information helpful and the stories entertaining and fun. Thanks for stopping by!
The Revising Stage
Is it just me or does every writer cringe at the revising stage. It seems to never end. How do you know when to stop? I think that question is personal and needs to be decided by the individual writer. However, what if you just can't decide? Every manuscript can be revised...and revised. The best thing to do is to step away for a couple of weeks and when you return, you'll be looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes.
Other tips I found very helpful come from a great article by Kristina McBride, 6 Keys to Revising Your Fiction on the Guide to Literary Agents BLOG. The short and dirty:
1. Keep it simple
2. Edit with courage
3. Brainstorm each conflict and go with the most surprising
4. Remember to WRITE
5. Take it one sentence at a time; and
6. Revert to childhood and questions everything
Other tips I found very helpful come from a great article by Kristina McBride, 6 Keys to Revising Your Fiction on the Guide to Literary Agents BLOG. The short and dirty:
1. Keep it simple
2. Edit with courage
3. Brainstorm each conflict and go with the most surprising
4. Remember to WRITE
5. Take it one sentence at a time; and
6. Revert to childhood and questions everything
Appropriate Word Count
Like many others out there, the question has come for me about word count. What's appropriate for an adult suspense novel? When I began writing my first novel, I thought about 50,000 words would be appropriate. It turns out I was wrong.
A word count of 50,000 will stick me into the novella category, which is more difficult to market. From what I've researched, an adult suspense novel should be between 80,000-100,000 words. Although some bloggers point out that a debut novel should be at the shorter end.
My background research? Of course I'll share...
My favorite BLOG spot, Nathan Bransford’s article touches on word count and says that a novel should be more than 50,000 but not too long. He also mentioned that he doesn’t have hard-fast rules about it. If it's good, it's good!
Blue Serafine has a great BLOG article too that offers statistics I found interesting and helpful in adding perspective. Bottom line—between 80,000-100,000 words.
Lastly, on Chuck Sambuchino’s BLOG, he has a helpful article Word Count for Novels and Children's Books: The Definitive Post that get a bit more specific—as few as 71,000 and as many as 109,000.
Feel free to share your own findings with us!
A word count of 50,000 will stick me into the novella category, which is more difficult to market. From what I've researched, an adult suspense novel should be between 80,000-100,000 words. Although some bloggers point out that a debut novel should be at the shorter end.
My background research? Of course I'll share...
My favorite BLOG spot, Nathan Bransford’s article touches on word count and says that a novel should be more than 50,000 but not too long. He also mentioned that he doesn’t have hard-fast rules about it. If it's good, it's good!
Blue Serafine has a great BLOG article too that offers statistics I found interesting and helpful in adding perspective. Bottom line—between 80,000-100,000 words.
Lastly, on Chuck Sambuchino’s BLOG, he has a helpful article Word Count for Novels and Children's Books: The Definitive Post that get a bit more specific—as few as 71,000 and as many as 109,000.
Feel free to share your own findings with us!
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