Questions for Authors Issue 64

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Parent Category: Articles
Category: Interviews
Created on Monday, 27 June 2011 06:02
Published on Monday, 27 June 2011 06:02
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Vision 64

Questions for Authors

By Lazette Gifford

Copyright © 2011, Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved 
 
Here are this issue's questions and answers from a number of wonderful authors!  Thank you for contributing!
  1.  How do you recover writing energy and inspiration?
  2. Do you take time off between projects?

 
C. J. Cherryh


!. What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project? Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?

2 pages a day for a year and you have a book---toss the irrelevant, and you still have a pretty thick book. I've stuck to this since I was 10.

 
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?

I don't allocate. I just do. My publishers can have it messy or they can have it neat. Most prefer it neat. ;)
Note on the last answer---I write to extant contract. If I were writing totally on my own I wouldn't send anything in until I was satisfied. And no one's (but one minor one) has yet taken me up on the 'soon but messy' offer.


 
Julie Czerneda

!. What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project? Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
 
I use word count primarily to assess the previous day's writing, not the current. I tally up before I start writing, and record that number. It's more of a long term assessment project. I've already learned it takes me longer to write the middle 35 000, for example, so I don't beat myself up about that anymore. I've also noticed that the last 15 000 words tend to zoom into being fastest of all, so a looming deadline isn't quite so scary. But I don't set a word goal. Which is just as well. My current book often as not provides me with a negative count by day's end, since I rewrite extensively as I go. It's also happened that I've had almost no change in word count over a week, despite writing, and deleting, thousands of words.
 
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?
 
I go by my publisher's requirementsI send in what I think is my best first draft, then my editor will point out the Oh!Horrors!HowCouldYou! mistakes for me. Typically, I have three weeks to fix them all. Once or twice, less.
 
 

Sherwood Smith

 
!. What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project? Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
 
Easy! I don't pay any attention to wordcount--my goals tend to be in scenes. I rewrite so many times there is no use in counting words until it's all done.

 
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?
 
I keep going over and over until my deadline, though some portions will get more drafts than others.
 
 
 

Diana Pharaoh Francis

!. What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project? Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?

When I'm working in full time mode (as opposed to when the day job is in full swing), I try to hit 3,000 words a day. I do that because it pushes me to write instead of play on the net or worry about every little word. If I get in a groove of 3,000 words, then the words tend to flow because I move quickly through the draft and it's really fun because things are hopping and changing and growing. When the day job is in full swing, sometimes I shoot for just a thousand, sometimes two. It really depends. A daily goal really helps me focus and keep working though
.
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?
 
Here's the problem. I want as much time as I can get, but frequently deadlines loom and that day job interferes. I want a minimum of a week or two to reread and fix. That's if I think the novel has come together pretty well. If I think there are serious problems, I want more time. And I may end up spending fifteen or so hours a day just holed up with the manuscript until I can get it nailed down. I do know that I get at least another shot at it after my editor sees it, and that means I have some time to set it aside, then revise. And I don't have to wait for her notes. So usually after deadline, there are a couple of months for me to rework.
 
 

Jim C. Hines

 
1.What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
 I write Monday through Friday, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. That's my lunch break, and the only guaranteed block of time I have to write. I try to get 1000 words done in that hour, but it doesn't always happen. Those five hours a week are my absolute minimum for what I aim for as a writer.
 
 2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?
 
 Anywhere from six to nine months if I'm working on a book. The first draft is the quick part. It's the second, third, fourth, and so on that require most of the time and work for me.
  
 

Lazette Gifford

1.What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
 
I average about 3k a day over the length of the year, but there are many days when I drop down to 1k, which is the least amount I want to write.  There are some days when I have too much going on and write only about 500 words. I don't waste a lot of time.  If I am waiting for something in email, I'll open up a story or outline and nudge it a bit.  I prefer to have long stretches of time, but even a little here and there can help.  I love the rush of the first story draft, and getting quite a bit written in a short time is not a problem for me.
 

2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?

 
I write fast first drafts.  I can get a novel done in a month with no problem.  However, I take months to edit.  Sometimes, in fact, I take years.  I let the story sit for a while before I even start to edit it.  Even when I have a contract, I make certain I finish the first draft early enough to have time for it to sit at least a week. By setting up goals and sticking to them, I've managed to work with far less stress when I have contracts, in fact.  I know exactly the time frame I need.
Because I enjoy editing, I don't mind taking my time with it.   

Jack Scoltock

1. What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when
working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
I would set out in the morning with the intention of doing five hundred words. Most days I write more. I don’t set
any particular hours except in the winter I work on several projects and write for maybe three hours in the morning.
 
2.   How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?
I normally wait until I’ve finished my story before I begin the joyful part of editing
 

Jane Toombs

1. What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
I try to finish at least a chapter a day.  Some days I'm on a roll and do more, some days I don't make my goal.  Some chapters are longer than others, but I don't use a word count.
2.  How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?

I don't do first drafts, The way I work is, after I finish chapter two, the next day I go back and edit chapter one.  After I finish chapter three I edit two.  I go through the book always editing the previous chapter--but not more than that.  Then when I go through for a final edit I don't have as many corrections to make.  I also allow myself, as the work progresses to go back to wherever I need to add or delete in previous chapters if I've departed from the synopsis, which I often do. (Departed, yes, but  not wandering off track.  That's why I always write a synopsis first.  Not that I must rigidly follow it, but so I don't get led down blind alleys that may beckon, but really have nothing to do with thestory. Since I edit this way, when I finish the story, all except the last chapter has been edited at least once--and that's a real plus.  So my final edit never takes more than two days at the most.   I am not in the habit of setting a story aside for a week or so before the final edit.  Sometimes life dictates this, but I don't think my final edits then are any better that when I do them shortly after the story is finished.

 
.

Jim Burk

1.  What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?
I'm afraid I'm one of those oddballs that doesn't schedule.  Some days I go without writing at all, other days I can spend hours at it.  As for editing, again, no schedule, just do the job for as long as it takes.  Sorry if this isn't very helpful.
 

Darrell Bain

 

1.  What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?

I write when I feel like it and stop when I’m tired. Same for editing.

 

Darwin Garrison

1.  What sort of word count per day (or whatever timeframe you use) do you aim for when working on a project?  Or do you instead work for a set number of hours and not worry about the number of words?
When I'm active on a project, I set a deadline.  Then I count the days back to the start day and divide the target word count by the number of days.  I then add a set number of "overage" words to allow for "fluff" that may need to be cut during edit.  After that, it becomes a game of adding up the progress and moving goals for each day as real life intervenes.
2. How much time do you allocate for editing once you have the first draft completed?

 

If I have time, I let a manuscript "cool" for about 2 to 4 weeks before I start editing. Then I go back and read the piece forward, looking for things like obvious consistency errors, spell czechs, swapped names, etc.  Then I walk away from it for a few more days if I can.  Then I go back and read the piece backwards.  So, although the actual editing may only be a few hours for a short story, it may be spread out over 3 to 6 weeks.

 

 

Darwin's Website