- Joined
- Nov 9, 2017
- Messages
- 58
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- 8
I'm working on my first draft, and because I work with a structured outline, it's within the +/- 35% range of the desired word count. So, my first draft will be 65% the length of the final book.
As I'm aiming for a 120,000 word novel, and if my calculations are correct, my first draft will be 82,000ish words. Pretty good! I've accepted my writing process, but I thought I'd create a thread to hear from others in case I find myself lost or directionless at times. Plus, there are alot of writers who search into Google 'how long is a first draft' (I was one of them) so it'd assist.
Everyone differs, which is great. So when answering, maybe you'd like to specify your genre, writing process (pantser or plotter) and whether future drafts (second, third, fourth, etc) are made more difficult by how many words are in your first.
My genre is literary fiction, I'm a plotter, and my future drafts have reasonable levels of difficulty, but the time spent between drafts helps with the imagination.
As I'm aiming for a 120,000 word novel, and if my calculations are correct, my first draft will be 82,000ish words. Pretty good! I've accepted my writing process, but I thought I'd create a thread to hear from others in case I find myself lost or directionless at times. Plus, there are alot of writers who search into Google 'how long is a first draft' (I was one of them) so it'd assist.
Everyone differs, which is great. So when answering, maybe you'd like to specify your genre, writing process (pantser or plotter) and whether future drafts (second, third, fourth, etc) are made more difficult by how many words are in your first.
My genre is literary fiction, I'm a plotter, and my future drafts have reasonable levels of difficulty, but the time spent between drafts helps with the imagination.