Recently I've thought about the million word mark. When would I reach it? Did it really weave its magic spell and validate me as a writer? Will I sell after writing a million words?
I probably already surpassed the 1M mark, but who really counts? No, it won't validate me as a writer. I could write 1 M words of crap and it wouldn't make me a better writer. And no, there is no guarantee that I'll ever sell, before or after hitting that milestone.
The million word concept has some points though, and unless you are as stubborn as a shoe nailed to the floor, it will improve your writing. How could it not? Provided you do some of the hard work that goes along with reaching that milestone.
So what does THAT mean?
The hard work involves reading about craft, learning what a plot is, writing believable dialogue, crafting multi-dimensional characters, providing the beats of the story in a solid structure, researching the genre (yes, there are reader expectations to consider--i.e. don't call a story a 'romance' if you kill off the hero or heroine. It might be a love story, but it ain't a romance), etc.
It isn't just writing the story in your mind. It's writing a story that sucks the reader into your make-believe world.
Writing a million words without learning the craft will not do a darn thing to improve you as a writer.
Writing a million non-fiction words don't count toward the 1 M fiction words--they are simply too different of a beast.
Some writers sell on their first 100K words, while others may need to write 2-3 million before they get it {personally, I think I'm in this second group}.
As a writer, the only thing you can do is . . .
Write on! :-)
I think it'd be kind of fun to figure out how many words I've written for just kind of a "wow" moment. I'd guess it's probably in the 7-8 million range, but since it's been my only job for 20+ years, it should be.
ReplyDeleteBut you're dead on target that it won't do you any good if you don't learn along the way. And you have. I remember the very first stuff of yours I critiqued, and you've matured so much. You'll get published -- I do believe it.
I'm sure I've written much more than one million words. And I'm still writing. No thanks to my cat, who is crawling on my keyboard as I type this.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of words, Marilyn! I still believe that a writer must learn the rules before you can break them.
ReplyDeleteSometimes those fuzzypants don't make it easy for us, do they, Edie? :-) Kato is happier in his bed on the dryer than on my lap.
ReplyDeleteOkay, if a picture is worth a thousand words, that means I will have to have drawn 1,000 pictures to make my 'million word' mark.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I'm close...
I like the way you think, Jody! I think your pictures definitely paint a scene and a story.
ReplyDeletedo the 140 character twitters count? If so, I'm pushing the million. LOL
ReplyDeleteSorry, Miz C, tweeting doesn't count...neither does writing on your blog, playing on FB, emailing to chit-chat, etc.
ReplyDelete*raises hand*
Guilty of all except tweeting.