Drive-By Metrics
Nov. 23rd, 2012 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
loaded_marchI said Friday, and as it turns out, it's Friday
I've explained before that I work in sections, and that my sections are saved in different documents. These are equivalent to chapters. So I don't have a total word count because I'm not writing in Scrivener, which has a handy feature called Project Statistics, which I obsessively refresh whenever I'm in Scrivener.
But, no. Not this time. I'm writing in plain old Word. I could import the files, I suppose, but I'm too lazy. No Project Statistics for you.
However, I can give you a ballpark estimate. The chapter length varies from part to part, but in #11, the going average is around 5,000 words. Bearing in mind that once I get the ball rolling, the chapters get longer and longer, first by 500 words, then 1,000 words, and (what looks likely to be soon) 2,000 words, I'm going to be seriously underestimating the total word count by the end of this, but, hey, I don't think anyone will be complaining.
ANYWAY, yes, back to the word count. I have seven documents, so that puts me anywhere north of 35,000 and south of 40,000.
Unfortunately, I have no ETA. Remember when I said I sketched out the outline? That I had three pages, single-lined, double-sided of outline? Outlines are awesome. I totally respect anyone who puts work detailing outlines to follow so that they know what they're writing next. I am not one of those people. Outlining, for me, is a teasing lie. A filthy, misleading lie. I could look at that outline and think, "Yeah, I'll be done soon" and I'd be wrong.
Obviously this means I'm not following my own outline. I've gone off-roading, my GPS is down, my compass is in the rapids back there, my ATV ran out of gas, I'm in the middle of freaking nowhere, night is falling, there's an unseasonable cold snap on the way, but at least I have my trusty flashlight --
-- had my flashlight. The batteries seem to be dead. Yep. They're dead.
I'm not going to say I'm lost, because I'm not. My map might be a little soggy and a lot useless, but I know my way out of here, and it's somewhere... thataway *points wildly*.
(please send help)
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Date: 2012-11-24 05:29 am (UTC)Marco!
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Date: 2012-11-25 03:53 pm (UTC)Tolkien was probably trying to cover up the fact that he'd gotten off-outline, too...
Polo!
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Date: 2012-11-24 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 03:54 pm (UTC)*frown*
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Date: 2012-11-24 06:49 am (UTC)(seriously, have fun out there in the wilds of your imagination, we'll have fun with whatever you find out there when you get back!)
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Date: 2012-11-25 03:54 pm (UTC)YES
We'll just have Owain blow something up :D :D
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Date: 2012-11-29 05:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-24 07:11 am (UTC)Also, I admire the hell out if you for even TRYING to use an outline. They squash me flat - every time I try, it's like I used up all my creativity making the outline and I'm done now. However - you've been lost in the wilderness before and look what you've produced!
Stay lost as long as you like. I'll airdrop in some matches, so you can stay warm at least! Can't write with frozen fingers!
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Date: 2012-11-25 03:55 pm (UTC)The most outlining I normally do is plotting out a chapter, and even then, if I plan ahead more than a few scenes, guaranteed I'm not going to follow the outline at ALL.
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:31 pm (UTC)(Speaking of heel biters, btw - you are one of the few people I know who might actually get excited about this bit if trivia, so I'm gonna share; I got up at 0130 yesterday morning, drove 4-1/2 hours north [to Michigan] and spend all day in below freezing temperatures, then drove 4-1/2 hours south again, arriving home at 2340.... All so my 8year old Cattle Dog bitch could earn her FIFTH herding title [in a year! We've only been herding since November of 2011!]. Which she did - by taking first place in both of her classes AND by taking a Reserve High in Trial. Everyone else I know thinks I'm nuts, but you'll be excited for me, right? Cause you UNDERSTAND the heel biters!)
So.... By "outline", then, you really mean "take notes on a few scenes that want to happen and in which order they need to appear". Right?
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Date: 2012-11-24 11:39 am (UTC)(Seriously, I actually have MREs because that's what they distributed to the storm victims and once she had power again, my aunt wanted to get rid of the leftovers...)
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Date: 2012-11-25 03:56 pm (UTC)I will not say no!
(Your aunt could keep the MREs indefinitely, you know)
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 04:20 pm (UTC)I am not sure I blame your aunt for not liking the way they taste :)
But bug-out bags are very smart things to have!
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:36 pm (UTC)My siblings and I are the only people I know of in our generation to have actually eaten genuine WWII k-rations. My father was weird. He claimed, and was proven correct cuz none of us died, that the damn things were still edible in the 1980's! I barely remember it but what I do remember is that they were like degraded canned corned beef. Gross. In comparison, the MRE's are heavenly!
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Date: 2012-11-24 11:50 am (UTC)I'm like, "What? LM doesn't use outlines, and I'm pretty sure referred to them specifically as the Devil's A-Hole" ..... or something along those lines ^__^
Tchh... if you're going to get lost in the woods, you have to bring me along! I'm an ex wilderness survival instructor!! We'll make lean-tos and set snares and make signal fires!!! Funtimes....
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:00 pm (UTC)But, yeah, they're evil, evil things. I respect people who can work from outlines, because I'm shit at it.
WE TOTALLY NEED TO GET TOGETHER. I've never taken survival training and I would love to learn!
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Date: 2012-11-24 02:30 pm (UTC)Sadly, Icelandic rescue folk don't know how to rescue folks from forested areas (We have none... the joke goes "What do you do when you're lost in an Icelandic forest?"... Anwer: "You stand up."...) but if you were to find yourself wandering some tundra, a glacier, or find yourself lost at sea, shoot up one of those flares, or turn on your cellphone, and someone will come get you. :) (One shouldn't joke though, people die regularly out there, I'm sure you have the same in Canada...)
My understanding of outlines has always been that they're just to demonstrate that it's _possible_ to get from A to Z. Having one thus gives you the green light to go ahead and wander off, and perhaps (ok, almost certainly) find some other way. One that includes butterflies and rainbows, or in your case, probably explosions, heart-wrenching feels, and general awesomeness. Seems like you're doing just that... :)
Happy Exploring! :)
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:02 pm (UTC)Where I grew up, I literally could not go for a walk 20 minutes in any direction without getting tangled up in the bush, and I'd wander for hours in the forest without a compass and always find my way home. My brother? Even with a compass, he always got lost. My parents never worried about me!
Outlines are... evil. That is all I want to say about them. They don't work for me! *pout*
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Date: 2012-11-24 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 04:02 pm (UTC)As long as there's hot chocolate waiting for me on the other side, I'll show up!
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:03 pm (UTC)*HUGS*
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Date: 2012-11-24 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 01:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 02:41 pm (UTC)Urm. Uh. OH! Have you realised that Merlin and Arthur have been together for more than half of the series now?
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:11 pm (UTC)I think I'm still on track for the 15 parts, but don't hold me to that!
NO YOU'RE NOT HELPING :P :P :P
I hadn't noticed that Merlin and Arthur have been together that long and, heh, is it bad of me for thinking that wow, they're doing better on LM than they are on the show?
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Date: 2012-11-26 08:34 am (UTC)15 chapters sounds like a nice ripe number. Though anything onwards sounds like gravy :P
Oh well, at least I tried? Hahaha :))
Well technically they got together towards the end of Part 6, solidly together in 7. But the first 5 chapters were a lot shorter than 6 onwards so it's a little around half now. When the series is done, I'm guesstimating that they'll have just been pining for each other for about 25% of the whole fic! Which is awesome. And nope, not bad at all, since their relationship just sort of settled in a weird UST-friendship hybrid with loads and loads of subtext; series 5 is even heavier on the subtext than it was before
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Date: 2012-11-25 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-26 02:36 pm (UTC)Sorry, I follow but every time I want to comment, I get distracted with work >_<.
Now on to comments!
You really love playing with my count calculation, don't you? Although, with the way your word count's been climbing per part, I'd say you are about quarter of the way finished?
*Hand over compass*
Looks like this part will be a doozy tho...