On Writing & Publishing by Robin D. Owens

Personal notes on writing techniques, writing a novel, my writing career and threading your way through publishing a book.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Denver, United States

RITA Award Winning Author -- that's like the Oscar, folks! Futuristic/Fantasy Romance and Fantasy with Romantic Subplots.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Rough Draft Word Count, Heart Books

I usually keep a running tally, but couldn't find it, so I went back and looked at all the ROUGH DRAFTS.

HeartMate: 113351
Heart Thief: 110456
Heart Duel: 108363
Heart Choice: 108567
Heart Quest: 103863
Heart Dance: 109937
Heart Fate: 117442
Heart Change: 114542
Heart Journey: 126071

That's not at all what the final counts were, and someday I may look at those. The Luna books were a whole lot more. I prefer the Heart books to be 500 pages, a ream of paper...though I am not printing them out anymore.

May you enjoy looking back on the past today.
Robin

7 Comments:

Blogger The Daily Reviewer said...

Hi!

Congratulations! Your readers have submitted and voted for your blog at The Daily Reviewer. We compiled an exclusive list of the Top 100 romance novels Blogs, and we are glad to let you know that your blog was included! You can see it at http://thedailyreviewer.com/top/romance-novels

You can claim your Top 100 Blogs Award here

P.S. This is a one-time notice to let you know your blog was included in one of our Top 100 Blog categories. You might get notices if you are listed in two or more categories.

P.P.S. If for some reason you want your blog removed from our list, just send an email to angelina@thedailyreviewer.com with the subject line "REMOVE" and the link to your blog in the body of the message.

Cheers!

Angelina Mizaki
Selection Committee President
The Daily Reviewer
http://thedailyreviewer.com

8:01 PM  
Blogger Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Robin,

You do write long GFY, but have you ever had an editor tell you to shorten an ms?

Janice~

1:37 AM  
Blogger FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens said...

Oh, yes, I get requests to cut all the time, even when I already have. The word count limit is understood, and it comes down to paper cost and dollars and cents. If I don't cut, they will. My editor cut Heart Change, and my Luna editors cut most of the books.

Robin

9:00 AM  
Blogger Tannun said...

Robin,

When they re released Echoes earlier this year, did they consider adding back cut scenes to get those of us that already purchased the books to re purchase? :)

12:04 PM  
Blogger Janice Seagraves said...

Did it break your heart that they cut your baby?

Or are you not that sentimental about your books?

Janice~

11:47 PM  
Blogger FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens said...

Of course I get upset when I cut or others cut, all that work...that's why I originally put up the WORLDs page (now cut scenes are going on the READS page), that rather reconciles me.

I had a WONDERFUL scene in Heart Journey that I loved and cut last week.

An editor's job IS to cut, to tighten to keep scenes that really don't move the story forward from being in the book. Some I cut weren't necessary. Fun, but not necessary.

As for Echoes in the Dark, the scenes that I cut and the thread that I cut was the deeper character development of Luthan and more of the romance with Jikata. The amount that I put in just didn't work, so I it was cut. I would have to rewrite the book to make it work and I can't see myself doing that at this point. The story is told. THANKS!

8:40 AM  
Blogger Janice Seagraves said...

Thanks, Robin, for answering my questions.

Janice~

2:28 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Out of the Blogosphere
[ Join Now | Ring Hub | Random | << Prev | Next >>]