A couple years ago, at the nagging insistence urging recommendation of a few friends, I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month challenge: Write a 50,000-word story in 30 days. I signed up ahead of time, so I had a few weeks to think about a plot. For a while, I couldn't come up with one. I just had nothing to say! No creativity. No "need" to write, as they say real authors have. No inspiration to share a story. Then one day, I saw it. I was surprised at how easily it came to me - plot, characters, setting... unfolding in my mind. I'm not that abstract a thinker, so I opened an excel file to keep track of it.  Hey... it's who I am. I am also a rule-follower, most of the time, so I didn't start writing the story until November 1, but by then I had an outline (again, it's who I am.) I had several pages in my excel file, for everything from hair color to names of their parents to what kind of car they drive to what they liked to eat for breakfast. Actually, that was just one of the 6 or 7 pages.

Anyhow...

I hit 50,000 words in about 10 days. I was at 85,000 by the end of the month, and I finally wrapped it up 18 months later at 175,000 words. At about 20,000 words, I realized that I could never let my husband read this story. At 40,000, I decided that only complete strangers should ever read it. At 75,000 words, I was finally finished with the back story and ready to get started on the plot. At 100,000 words, I gave up the pretense that this wasn't a personal catharsis.  I had two people (neither of whom I have met in real life) reading it as I went along, and they were enthusiastic. At 130,000 words, I was starting to be embarrassed. According to fictionfactor.com's discussion of book lengths, I was well into the "epic" category:

Novel

50,000 -110,000

Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors some pause. They need to be sure they can produce a product that won't over-extend their budget, but still be enticing enough to readers to be saleable. Imagine paying good money for a book less than a quarter-inch thick?

Epics and Sequels

Over 110,000 words

If your story extends too far over the 110,000 mark, perhaps consider where you could either condense the story to only include relevant details, or lengthen it to span out into a sequel, or perhaps even a trilogy. (Unless, of course, you're Stephen King - then it doesn't matter what length your manuscript is - a publisher is a little more lenient with an established author who has a well-established readership)

I like my story, but it's not epic. Of course, I won't be pursuing publication, but it still seemed embarrassing. At that point, I decided to finish it. I wrapped it all up, carefully using a multi-level timeline chart in my excel file. The problem is, it felt rushed to me. I felt like I had "dropped" a few characters. Not surprising, since I had a lot of characters. I like or hate them all, so I didn't want to leave any of them dangling.  And I just couldn't make a realistic, happy ever after, warm fuzzy ending for Margaret and Rob and their family. I did the best I could, without compromising credibility. But neither did I want a bad ending. Personally, if I am going into invest time in reading a (very long) story, it had darn well better have a good ending. But this is absolutely NOT the kind of story I read. Too much dialog, angst, and realistic but messy relationships. It has men who talk in real meaningful conversations.

So I finished it up. And disliked it. My two readers liked it, or maybe they were just glad it was finally over. They are not really similar in tastes. One woman thought a particular part was "spicy" and the other, although she phrased it more kindly, thought it was a little lame. I think they were starting to get a little nervous that there wouldn't be a happy ending. But it was over.

I started a new story for NaNo 2010. I like it. It's probably better than the first one, but I didn't finish it in 30 days, because I was working full-time for the first time ever. I still keep at it, off and on, hand writing in my spare time at work, but it doesn't suck me in like the world of Margaret and Rob. And in that very boring free time at work, since I had finished my epic and wasn't all that interested in the second story, I created an outline for a third. It might be pretty good, too. I have written quite a bit but haven't typed it up yet. And yet, the siren song of Rob and Margaret lures me back.

Then a young friend (also someone I only know online and have never met in person) was looking for suggestions for kindle books for her very long flight and down time during a trip to the other side of the world. After some trepidation, because my first two readers were women in their 40's, like me and Margaret, I asked if she was interested in reading the one I had written. I sent it to her in .pdf format, so she could read it on her Kindle, and she read it. She sent me emails at first, telling me how much she was loving it, and then she stopped. I knew she had run into complications in her travel plans and was very busy, so I didn't worry too much. Finally, though, after I sent her two emails hoping that she had enjoyed the story, she responded. She said that while she had devoured the first part of the book, the last 50-75 pages felt anti-climactic. When I probed further, and got her on IM, she shared that she felt disconnected from the characters and story in that part of the book. She said it needed more detail and character details. It felt rushed. She said to not worry about the length of the story. She would read it all over again even if it went to 200,000.

Well, WOOT! Encouragement and even a recommendation that I return to Margaret-and-Rob-Land. I could write that story forever. It's funny. It's sad. When I reread it, it makes me laugh hard and cry with tears rolling down my face ... how vain is that????

Writing is very interesting. I never thought I would have anything to say. If anything, I would write nonfiction. I should be cleaning house, sewing or going to work, but I want to sit at the computer and type and type and type. When I am at work, I write in notebooks. When I am at the gym, I am mentally reviewing or planning bits of the story.

As I said, the second book story is probably the best of the three and will wrap up neatly in less than 75,000. It, too, makes me laugh hard and then cry.  It will inevitably have a sad ending, but there might be a happy romantic ending, if I can bring myself to make it happen. We'll see.... But I'm going to leave those characters in limbo for a while and go visit Rob and Margaret. See you later.

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A new generation of women is reaching adulthood. These women value family history and relationships, and they want to establish extended family ties that will last beyond their own lifetime. Separated by busy lives and distance, many of us seldom have the opportunity to really visit with our mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, grandmothers, nieces, and old friends. A quilting bee provides this opportunity. Conversation is easy when the hands are busy. There will be time for leisurely reminiscence, catching up on current events, advice on marriage and motherhood and life in general, laughter and maybe a few tears. New brides and new babies are wonderful reasons for women to come together.