Update- Surviving a storm to 100,000 words!

Last night I passed the 100,000-word mark (roughly 400 double-spaced pages) on my new writing project that I’ve hesitantly titled, The Rise of the Lightbearer! It’s an epic fantasy that is just the beginning of a much larger tale. For a writer, 100k is not just a big number. When you’re first starting on the adventure of writing a novel, you might look up, “what is the length of a book?” so you have a goal to reach. In truth, the range is more like 90-110k, but 100k is a nice even number that makes for a good milestone. That means, for me, The Rise of the Lightbearer is no longer just a writing project. It is now a book racing to completion.

I think it’s either the 8th or 9th time I’ve made it to this landmark (with a few others that are close). Although it’s not a new journey for me, it is none-the-less super exciting. I started with an idea on January 29th, and I put down 100k by March 19th, less than two months later! My first ever book, one that I wrote in China, took more than a year to write.

Is The Rise of the Lightbearer done? No, not yet. I’d say it has a reasonable 20,000 left, but as I’m just letting the story write itself with little planning, who knows for sure. It feels like it is getting close to a good stopping point, which is a great sign. I knew from the beginning that the tale in my head would not fit into one book and will probably be more like 3 to 5. For this one, I’ve envisioned where I want to stop, but as my characters are still a little ways from that point, I think 20k should just about do the job.

Then it will be time for the first read-through. In past projects, I’ve spent considerable time going back over what I had just written—sometimes starting from the beginning. I think it was fear that the story was going off the rails, not staying consistent, or not being perfectly worded, but with a bit of experience under my belt now, I’ve realized that this doesn’t matter. It can all change in editing. The most important part is getting the structure of the story down on the page. So for this one, I’ve resisted reading what I’ve written more than what was needed to get back into the flow- usually a few pages. Of course, this means that the first read-through will likely take a bit of time to check for consistency, add the little details that sparkle, and every writer’s bane, to cut.

Then will come the editing. Ugh, the editing. As I wrote this one super quick, I’m sure there are many typos and errors. I perhaps didn’t plan very well because right when it’s going to be getting nice outside, I will be stuck going over syntax and grammar. Oh well, such is the life of a writer.

I shouldn’t complain. I’ve never had a story find its way onto the page this quickly. Was it all smooth sailing? No, the last few weeks, in particular, have been rough. Namely, a scene where the ravages of a hurricane toss about my characters in a 15th-century-style galley ship was particularly difficult to write. I have never sailed and certainly never been on such a craft during a hurricane. Yes, the story is fantasy, but it has to have some semblance of reality to ground it, and thus I had to research and slow to a sail’s pace. They say that you should stick to writing what you know, but I don’t think that is necessarily correct. I think you should write what you want to know because when you travel into this undiscovered territory, you’ll have plenty of research to do and it helps if the topic interests you. Now, I may not be able to sail, but I can tell you which side is starboard, and theoretically, what would be your best bet of surviving a hurricane in a three-masted ship. Did I expect I would take this crash course? No, but I love how writing presents these interesting quandaries and makes me explore this world.

I hope, and I probably shouldn’t do this, that I will finish this book and have it out to the world by July 4th. It may be sooner or later, but I think that is a reasonable goal. I’m very excited about it. For the most part (other than the problematic storm at sea), it’s been an absolute joy to write, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you soon!

Cheers!