Do I write too much?

[gaylolis]

you know you write too much if your coffee intake is absurd.

i will only write as much as i could still get a decent amount of sleep.

 

[Corty]

I don’t understand the problem here. Write as long and as much as many ideas you have. Break it up into multiple books if you are concerned about it.

i’m at

and I still have about 30 chapters before finishing the story. My solution was to break it up into 3 books. Not that I ever expect to go paperback, but one can dream.

And nowdays I have the feeling, reading it, I could easily go back and add more. I would never consider cutting out stuff from my books because I wouldn’t have put it in the first place if it was useless.

Personally I wouldn’t worry about if its too long or not. If it is not filler then all is good imo. Hell, I think that is great if your books are that long.

 

[StrongArm]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Something pounded into my head was, "WHAT CAN YOU CUT OUT OF YOUR STORY?"

Every word you include is a fraction of a second to read. Every fraction adds up. Time is the currency of exchange between an author and a reader. I am asking you for time. I am asking you to SPEND TIME ON ME. So, I go through and I pare it down. Carefully and deliberately ask myself, "What Does This Bring To The Story? Is it redundant? Have I already told this to the reader? Does repeating it serve a purpose? If not, how do I cut it? If it is new, then how can I make it serve a second purpose? Is there a way to have this information have a second meaning? A third meaning? Can I combine it with something else? Will It change when the reader knows the ending and will it be BETTER? Is there a better plot point I can use instead? Can I subvert their expectations and give them something BETTER than they expected and if so, how much can I keep hidden from the reader so they truly can't see it coming, yet will think it was obvious in retrospect?"

Smaller. Tighter. More concentrated. BIG is the enemy. Flowery fluffy filler is a sign of weakness. Hit him hard, let the reader breathe, then hit him again, but short rabbit punches.

I know that quality is what matters, but in the back of my head, I have this Big Is Evil, hang-up. 500k Well Written Words is fine. the 500k isn't the problem.

Except it's a problem.

Part of me wonders, like it or not, is it too much? Then I say, "If it's quality, then it doesn't matter. You can have large quantities of quality. It does happen."

Then I say, "No it doesn't. You arrogant FOOL!"

I dunno. If I didn't have self-doubt, I'd have nothing to keep me up those long overnight shifts I work.

I love the robert jordan books - the Wheel of Time series, and each of those is monstrous. He wrote fourteen books in that series and each of them are around 600 - 800 pages long.

He detailed every little thing, painting a vivid portrait of his high fantasy world for his readers. At times I did find him too wordy, but overall, I am grateful for the detailed descriptions.

His characters grew in the span of 14 books from naive teens to heroic (jaded) adults.

My point? If your work is quality and good, then it wont matter if you get too wordy. ;)

 

[FaustVoncleave]

Now, typically a paperback is supposed to be around 100k words. 80k was typical back in my day. However, I just noticed I broke 100k for IWS. Both FTS and HKN both are at 220k-ish.

I'm I writing too much? Like, war and peace pushed 587k, that thing is a goddamn monster. I have now written more than Infinate Jest. When these stories are done this is gonna be huge. Like each one will be pushing 500k, easy.

I know in a forum of, how do I write more, I'm bitching about too much, but I feel the need to get opinions from outside my comfort zone.

I feel like I'm cutting everything I can. I feel like I'm culling everything that is not core to the plot. I feel like I'm cutting too much, because when everything is only plot, it feels wrong. Normal things happen. Slice of life occurs. Yet this interconnected puzzle in my head still needs so much more.

Is this hubris?

I know the answer is, "It is only hubris if you are wrong." But damn, I'm starting to see that these three books, which are all part of the same story is maybe too big. I dunno. You pass a half million and you start to wonder about shit.

Not looking for, "Wow, that's cool."

I'm actually wondering how do you know when you've done too much?

Honestly it completely depends on your content. Of it's that much words of fluff then it can seriously dilute the work, but if your story requires that much words because there's that many events going on then it's great you can write that much. Take game of thrones, those books are dense but their events per pages count is pretty high so it stays gripping throughout.

 

[Farok]

Most people on this site write too much anyway, so go wild.

 

[LauraSFox]

We live in a different era than Tolstoy. The literary genre that lately emerged due to the changes in technology and the way readers read is the one you're writing in today. It's dictated by many factors, but the ones I mentioned are the most important. Web novels, by definition, are split into dozens and hundreds of small chapters that are easy to read on small screens. Readers don't take your book - in paperback format - in their hands and sit by the fire to read for one hour or so before going to sleep. Holding such a book - one at a few million words - would be a fit and may count as some kind of physical workout.

The same must have happened with television series as opposed to movies you see at the cinema theater. Watchers wanted to watch a series that spanned many years. Think of soap operas. Then think of blockbusters. They all coexist.

In a nutshell. You're writing a web novel (multiple web novels). You can't write too much if readers still want to read your works. As long as you still have something to say, without repeating yourself (too much), it's not too much.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Alright. Just needed to know I'm safely breaking the rules I usually followed. It's the change in paradigm.

 

[Kuropon]

Tbh, everything depends on the medium. All Webnovels need to be long, the longer you can make it the better but if you want to go with a more traditional novel then you'll have to probably tighten it up.

 

[doravg]

Now, typically a paperback is supposed to be around 100k words. 80k was typical back in my day. However, I just noticed I broke 100k for IWS. Both FTS and HKN both are at 220k-ish.

I'm I writing too much? Like, war and peace pushed 587k, that thing is a goddamn monster. I have now written more than Infinate Jest. When these stories are done this is gonna be huge. Like each one will be pushing 500k, easy.

I know in a forum of, how do I write more, I'm bitching about too much, but I feel the need to get opinions from outside my comfort zone.

I feel like I'm cutting everything I can. I feel like I'm culling everything that is not core to the plot. I feel like I'm cutting too much, because when everything is only plot, it feels wrong. Normal things happen. Slice of life occurs. Yet this interconnected puzzle in my head still needs so much more.

Is this hubris?

I know the answer is, "It is only hubris if you are wrong." But damn, I'm starting to see that these three books, which are all part of the same story is maybe too big. I dunno. You pass a half million and you start to wonder about shit.

Not looking for, "Wow, that's cool."

I'm actually wondering how do you know when you've done too much?

There is no such thing as writing too much. If your ending is satisfying, then you have written enough.

 

[lambenttyto]

I'm actually wondering how do you know when you've done too much?

Whatever you like writing.

Personally, I've been aiming for short, but collected, making a large body of work.