Teens Writing for Teens, the 5th

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lisalulu09

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OK.

Annoyed because I'm failing at cross stitch, but a little less frustrated when it comes to subplots for Sticks and Stones.
 

amlptj

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Just curious, why do you worry about subplots Lisa?

I read back on the last page, and you put alot of thoughts into yours, dont you ever just let them happen?

I never plan mine, they just sort of happen along with the rest of the story.
 

goddessofthehunt

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My drafts are always either too short (like 40k) or too long (like 110k). I can never hit the sweetspot length, it's a curse, haha.

Also, I just have to say that I love Invincible Summer madly.

My first draft of Coldfire was 147,000 words. I believe I may have laughed hysterically when I finished it so I wouldn't cry. It's now down to 104k and will possibly get cut even more before I'm done with it :D
 

amlptj

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My first book is 125K. My longest 195K. This one now will probably end up anywehre between 100K and 125K.
 

lisalulu09

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Well, I'm on Chapter Four now, which should about 11.5K if both scenes are 1.5K. I have no idea how many chapters I'm going to have.
 

Parametric

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My first draft of Coldfire was 147,000 words. I believe I may have laughed hysterically when I finished it so I wouldn't cry. It's now down to 104k and will possibly get cut even more before I'm done with it :D

I have a theory that you can cut or expand any story to any length during revisions. And another theory that most novice writers overwrite so much that you can slash a third from the wordcount of most first novels without trying. :tongue
 

lisalulu09

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I'm an exception to that. The first thing I finished, which I was hoping would be a novel, was 15K, 17K after a round of revisions.
 

Parametric

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I speak from bitter, bitter experience. BITTER.

There are definitely people who have problems with underwriting, and I sympathise! But my anecdotal experience is that the majority of novice writers overwrite. A lot. :tongue
 

amlptj

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I have a theory that you can cut or expand any story to any length during revisions. And another theory that most novice writers overwrite so much that you can slash a third from the wordcount of most first novels without trying. :tongue

Hummmm I'm going to dispute this, i've re-written my first book about 5 times and i have never been able to get it down past 120K. I blame that to the plot behind it and the scientific method though.
 

lisalulu09

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Para: In your opinion, what's better? Overwriting or underwriting?
 

Allaboutwords13

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I'm here. Writing by hand so my hand can get to know what holding a pen and writing feels like again. haha

I underwrite. My vampire story that I finished ended up at only 50,000, but then by the time I'd cut out all the crappy bits (i mean, really crappy) it went down to about 35000. :(
 

emmawhy

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Hi everyone :D
I've had a really bad day at school (actually bad for a reason for once), so am going to do some writing to cheer me up.
Anyone up for a wordwar?
 

lisalulu09

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Suns and Stars (the version I finished) was about 37K if I remember rightly.
 

emmawhy

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I always overwrite and am going to try and underwrite instead - it is less work to fix for me
Word war from :55 to :55 (1hr) anyone?
 

amlptj

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i overwrite to the extreme although i dont see that as a bad thing. Some stories need to be longer then others, i dont find that a flaw.
 
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