I started to write this as part of the previous post, but when it took off in a strange direction and went very off topic, I decided to present it separately.
As I said previously, Malaya plowed through the rest of chapter five on Saturday evening, and said it was the best one yet, and that she was dying to read more, and that she really liked and was curious about the 3rd main character in the novel, who finally makes his/her appearance in 5. Better yet, I'm already done with 6, though I've got a few days of work editing and fixing things in it now. Plus, while thinking and doing notes and such I figured how to resolve a couple of sticky "How do I get X to happen in Y?" issues I'd been wrestling with in the later chapters.
so for the novel, I'm at least 2/3 done, I know exactly what's going to happen from here on out, and I'm eager to write it. Now all I need is a publisher eager to give me lots of money, and you guys would actually have an opportunity to spend real money on something I wrote. Although,
that's an option now, I suppose. *cough*
The one thing I'm wondering about now is the length of
my novel. Just going by words, it'll be at least 400k total, and that's assuming I do
major trimming in chapter 2 and 3. Chapter 2 alone is 171,000 words right now, which is longer than quite a few complete novels. I think 2 will come in 40-60k words in the final version though, and won't really lose that much content in the editing process; most of the length now is stuff that will be much improved by editing/summarizing anyway. (And yes, I'll save it for some superduper unexpurgated version.)
The just-completed chapter six is going to be around 50,000 words, and it's got virtually no fat to trim away, unlike chapters 2, 3, and 4. Malaya didn't think there was much dead space in 5, and while I'm sure I can clip away a few thousand words here and there, it's just over 40,000 words now, and can't get that much shorter. It's hard to estimate the whole thing since I've still got 3 or 4 chapters to write (not sure exactly where the chapter breaks will be since the last stretch is all pretty much one long chain of events taking place over a relatively short time frame), but figuring those will be 40-50k each, the whole thing will be 400-600k or so. Most novels are in the 100-150k range, though fantasy tales often run longer. Unfortunately, my massive length is
apparently sort of bad for a first (published) novel, and while I like to think mine is special and wonderful and unique, it remains to be seen if publishers or agents (or the book-buying public) will agree.
On the other hand, fantasy is rather overrun with sequels and trilogies and even longer series, and while I think of this first one as a single novel, it's quite common for publishers to break up longer single works into multiple volumes for publication. Lord of the Rings and Martin's new Fire and Ice novel, for instance. (Completely unjustified comparison of my own work to their masterpieces aside.) A more reasonable comparison would be to Paolini's Eragon, which I recently read and found surprisingly enjoyable, but haven't gotten around to reviewing yet. His fantasy tale is being published as a trilogy, the
second of which just came out on top of the best seller list. I've not read it yet, but given how book one ended I think his trilogy is just going to be one really long story, posted in three individual 700 page (not small print) novels.
So assuming my novel comes in around 500k and agents/editors don't force massive changes, we're looking at one 1000 page novel with tiny print, or more likely a pair of 600 page novels with normal print, or possibly even a trilogy, if they stretch it out and pare down each book to 450 pages with easy-to-read print. Complicating things further is the sequel, which I've got largely thought out and outlined. It's definitely a sequel too, not just a continuation of the first book (which might appear as 3 continued books anyway); events are set a decade or so after events in the first book/series/trilogy/whatever, and the world has changed in major ways over that time. Furthermore, knowing my writing the planned sequel novel will almost certainly blow up to 300,000 words or more, which will lead to another round of one huge novel vs. two long books vs. a cash cow trilogy debate.
I guess having too much good stuff is not such a horrible problem, (though counting chickens before the eggs are even properly laid can be) but it will be interesting to see how the whole situation resolves itself. In the outside case of the whole thing going to 5 or 6 novels, which would theoretically be published at a rate of about one a year... damn! Even if this thing got off the ground next year, as I sincerely hope it will, they'd still be putting out books from my first novel and sequel in like 2011. That's a bizarre thought, considering I hope to be finished with this first novel/trilogy/whatever by December, and then done with the sequel/2nd trilogy/whatever in 2006. Especially when you take into account the fact that I don't really consider myself a fantasy writer.
I always figured I'd be doing it with contemporary horror, since that was my first great interest as a reader and a writer. I've got several ideas for horror novels, possibly even sort of combo horror/mystery novels, and tons of ideas about characters and situations based on real life that I can't in any way work into the fantasy world I'm writing now. I want to write some novels set in the modern day, sort of along the lines of Stephen King's early stuff, and I don't want to finish them and then have a publisher sit on them until 2012, as they wait for the fantasy stuff to be published.
On top of that genre confusion, there's no way the fantasy novel I'm doing now is my fantasy masterpiece. I don't know if I even have one of those in me, but I love fantasy and have tons of ideas for reinventing the traditional faux-Tolkien Middle Ages sword and sorcery schtick that I'm pretty much wallowing in with my ongoing effort. Ideas that I can't put into the current novel(s), but that I certainly hope to flesh out in other novels, someday. That shouldn't be a problem, though. Plenty of authors have more than one series in very different fantasy/scifi worlds, after all. And some of them even do other genres at the same time, though I have no idea how they work that with their publisher(s).
I hope to find out though, since I want to write in a variety of fields, and I wouldn't rule out non-fiction either. Hell, I might go to grad school and take classes in writing prose and non-fiction, and do a non-fiction book for my thesis. A research and interview-heavy book about fantasy, fan-fiction, and the Internet, perhaps? Being able to interview myself for major portions of it would certainly cut down on the footwork.
