Making Progress

[aevogt]

So now every copuple of days I check Brandon Sanderson's website for an update on the progress of the first draft for AMoL.  Last week it was at 5%.  Today it is at 6%. 

 

So...if a 1% change takes place over 3 days, with 94% remaining the rough draft should be done in January of 2009. 

 

Unimportant - It's done when it's done.

 

According to his blog, he's using a wordcount of 400K the progress bar. 

 

There are two general typesets Tor uses, depending on the length of the manuscript.

 

Longest - Lord of Chaos 699 pages  1/8th inch type, 5/8th inch bottom margin and 7/8th inch top margin  average of 75 characters per line average of 48 lines per page and an average of 14 words per line.  That makes it roughly 470,000 words, or thereabouts.  T.S.R. also used this typeset.

 

Shortest - Path of Daggers - 591 pages 39 lines per page 1/8th inch type but 7/8th inch for margins  70 characters per line and an average of 14 words per line.  This one was much shorter at just under 323,000 words.  Most of the rest of the series are in this format, between 35 and 38 lines per page.

 

I'm going to check my books when I get home to get a general word count for the series.

 

Now, BS says right out in his blog that it could be shorter or longer, but it's too soon to tell. 

 

Personally, I want that 800,000 word finishing volume with everything crammed in there but the kitchen sink.  But I want the kitchen sink in the epilogue.

 

 

 

[42Bonzo88]

    I agree. We are used to the long books by now, if it ends up being the longest, will anyone complain? If it's the last one for all time, I hope its long.

[Guest tree-brother]

I hope it gets done soon. Can't hardly wait for it to come out

[Charlz Guybon]

According to wikipedia LoC has 389,264 words and TSR has 393,823 words.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time#Books_in_the_series

[Leopoled Boothe]

So now every copuple of days I check Brandon Sanderson's website for an update on the progress of the first draft for AMoL.  Last week it was at 5%.  Today it is at 6%.  

 

So...if a 1% change takes place over 3 days, with 94% remaining the rough draft should be done in January of 2009.  

 

Well, I know his deadline for the final manuscript to be turned into TOR is December 2008.  I'm not exactly sure what a final manuscript entails, but I do know that further revisions do take place after this point.  At any rate the progress bar progressed very quickly to 5% and then took a brief pause when he went on his trip to Charlston NC.  I suspect now that he's back home that the progess bar will begin moving much more quickly.  The first draft should be finished well before January, but that is just the first draft.  I just hope they stick to the release date of fall 2009, books in this series have been delayed before (though if they want to put it out sooner, I won't argue with that).

[Majsju]

It seems quite logical that the progress would be slowest in the beginning and at the end of the writing process.

In the beginning he has to constantly check if he captures RJs style, if he is getting the feeling each POV is supposed to, etc. The more he writes, the easier this should come to him.

And when he closes in on the ending, he will of course make sure everything that is supposed to be in the book actually is there, and that everything is nice and tidy.

 

[benr]

I hope it's not too tidy; it would be nice to have things left to discuss.

[OsaroLJ]

It looks like AMOL will end up being the longest book in the series. SWEET! ;D

[Luckers]

It seems quite logical that the progress would be slowest in the beginning and at the end of the writing process.

 

Mmm. Maybe. But you shouldn't watch for that--it depends entirely on whether you have the story in your head that day. Sometimes I can write 11,000 words in a day, sometimes barely 4,000, and every writer I've spoken to speaks of the same thing. Trying to predict becomes hard because of it.

[Guest tree-brother]

Yes Luckers, writing depends on the mood your in that day. If the story is coming hard to think on then it should not be forced. Forcing it will only make it bad.

[benr]

And in this case, it will depend on how much of certain sections RJ had written, and where BS has to create more.  I also suspect that he doesn't write in a strict time line; start to finish.  There will be seperate parts he works on at different times - and the inevitible re-writes.

[Charlz Guybon]

8% done.  :)

[Thorum]

According to wikipedia LoC has 389,264 words and TSR has 393,823 words.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time#Books_in_the_series

 

And these are done by someone who simply took 5 pages, counted the words of 5 lines on each of those pages, the # lines on them, and the # pages. It used to stand there, but I see it's gone. This is a clear example of why not to trust wikipedia too thoroughly.

[42Bonzo88]

    Just curious Luckers,

 

    Do you have anything actually published and available to the public? I would be interested in reading your book(s).

[Charlz Guybon]

According to wikipedia LoC has 389,264 words and TSR has 393,823 words.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time#Books_in_the_series

 

And these are done by someone who simply took 5 pages, counted the words of 5 lines on each of those pages, the # lines on them, and the # pages. It used to stand there, but I see it's gone. This is a clear example of why not to trust wikipedia too thoroughly.

 

What used to stand there? The description of how the numbers were estimated?

 

They would seem to be roughly accurate since Sanderson initially said that

Right now, my goal for the book is 300k minimum.  Looking at the material Mr. Jordan left behind and the story that needs to be told, that's a realistic size to start with.  This wouldn't make the book the shortest in the series, though it wouldn't be the longest either.  It would be right in the middle.

 

Of course, he's since changed his mind and decided that a 400k base is more realistic.

 

He's now  9% finished.

Just so that you know, I've decided to use 400k as the wordcount basis for the progress bar.  I'm still not sure how long the book will be--it could be longer than that, it could be shorter--but that seemed an appropriate base line.  I'll be able to tell you more as the process continues.