Words Good. Hulk Not Smash.

I’ve been deep in the trenches writing up a storm. The Hearthstones project is really picking up steam, and if people have as much fun reading it as I’m having writing it I think my audience will be quite satisfied. At this point I’m closing on 50 thousand words, but I’m not sure how long the whole thing will be. (The Bones of the Old Ones is about 115 k.)

It’s my intention to write a longer book, longer books being the vogue in today’s market. Shorter ones seem to be met with some sort of confusion and even disdain, by some. I hope to have a longer book that maintains a high pace, with plenty of mystery and intrigue in amongst the fantasy action and adventure. So far I think I’m doing it.

Part of the reason that I’m not sure of the eventual length is that, despite my detailed outline, the size of the chapters varies once I convert from outline to text. After writing four novels that were right around 90 to 110 thousand words I have a feel for how to do one of those. I sense this will be longer, but I won’t know how long until I hit the halfway point. 150 k? 175k? Hulk not know!

The rest of the day will be devoted to readying for a family reunion, so I’ll sign off. Monday I hope to talk a little about some outlining techniques I’ve been experimenting with. For now, here’s a link to a review by James Reasoner of a book from the Fargo series. As I’ve mentioned before, the allure of western novels always escaped me until I discovered the writing of Ben Haas. Now I’m a fan for life — at least of westerns by Haas. I’ve yet to explore to much further into the genre from him.