Novel Watch #23: +3 pages [4.5/62 revised, 68 total]
Well, I almost made it to the end of New Chapter 3. And then I suddenly got really really sleepy. So no more writing for me tonight!
I’m definitely liking this draft better. Even working Wallace the radio-obsessive crazy person in the early chapters works better… which is odd because I kept most of his dialogue the same. Context is everything, I guess.
So, I got a request that I note total pages as I revise (hey sis!). Currently I’m at 68 pages. You’ll note that’s less than my last full count plus the amount I’ve added since I started this second draft. There’s several factors here: some of what I do is new stuff (especially chapter 1); some of my old draft is left more or less intact; and some stuff I cut or alter. So I might make 3 pages of progress but only get through 1 page of revision (thus, at least theoretically, adding 2 pages). In theory, the exact opposite might well occur — I might end up cutting more than I put in, thus lowering my overall page count while raising my revision fraction!
Ow. 3:30 AM is not math time.
We’ll see how well these metrics hold up when I start getting to the main divergence between drafts 1 and 2, plotwise. I’m going to add some stuff and move some other stuff completely around. All in all, though, I’m actually trying to reduce exposition and portray more in conversation. We’ll see how that goes…
‘Night all.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Thanks! Despite the math, this feels like it gives me a better picture of what’s actually happening with all your writing.
It makes a lot of sense to me, actually, that your characters are becoming more alive in this revision process, since you’d gotten to know them better from writing the first draft (of this section, of course). Keep up the fabulous work. 
September 11th, 2007 at 7:41 am
If we could get a granular enough set of data points to fit a function to the data, then I believe we could extrapolate out when the book will be completed, and how long it will be. (This would require taking frequent high-accuracy measurements of the total length and change in length based on the total length, and then applying some basic first and second-year calculus.)
September 11th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Jacob: Have fun with that.