Word Count

Finished Stephen King's book on writing last week. I learn a lot but also there were things I just didn't get at all. Either I'm dumb or I'm just too talented to learn from one of the masters. (Psst - I'm sure I'm the latter one, but usually genius got shot pretty quickly, so I'm keeping a low profile here.)

It might sound trivial to others, but I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I even had an hour long discussion with a friend yesterday.

The trivia is about word count as in output per day. Mr. King indicated that he wrote around 2000 words a day. When he said "a day", he meant mornings. His afternoons were reserved for nap and letters. Evenings were for reading and family etc. For beginner writers, he suggested us to start with 1000 words / day and gradually build up to 2000 a day.

When I read it, I became momentarily blind as my eyes fell out onto the floor. My dog got hold of it and we did a few minutes tug-at-war before I regained my sight.

Putting aside the argument of quantity vs. quality, 2000 or 1000 words a day to me is a huge demand. I would sell my soul to Mr. King to do that. For me, if I'm lucky and the stars are aligned at one straight line, to get 200 words a day is a miracle. On an average week, my output is around 500 words. And if I count the free writings I do to get rid of the crap in my system before I settle down to do proper story writing - my weekly output would then equal to Mr. King's daily word count.

After a week's long hard thinking, my view on Mr. King's advice is this: 2000 is a symbol which represents the "ideal" to work on.

I don't think all writers are working to a particular word count. Each writer has his / her own ways to develop his / her stories. From this, I'm more into the belief that the word count is about one's innate knowledge of one's own working rhythms. It is about a writer's own understanding of what works to unleash and sustain his / her creativity to write.

If mine is 2000 words a week, so be it. Rather than concentrating on the output, my responsibility is to ensure that I show up regularly and write the story to the best of my abilities. But of course, I'll also keep the ideal word count in sight and work my way to get there.

So let me tell you, my word count today is 1501. Mr. King, I'm coming ...

The Maze and Stephen King

I thought I was in The Maze but I wasn't.

I'm looking at the entrance of it right now. I refuse to go in there. But I could feel my fingers bleeding from grabbing the thorny bushes nearby.

Whisper: Come on, come on, just one more step and our jobs are done.

The Maze was built thousands of years ago. (I know, I know. I'm exaggerating. Hey, but that's what writers do, o.k.!) I never know who build it and don't care. I just know that it usually takes me about 0.18327 sec to jump from here to there.

Whisper: 0.18327 sec in your world, but it's 18.327 hours here. So come on, girl. It's been a while and we missed you.

I: Stop barging in and let me finish my thoughts, then, I might consider coming in. Oh, by the way, where're Little Sucker and Screamer? You usually send them after me.

Whisper: Ahhh, you missed them, my friend. Shall I call them out?

I: Nope. Just asking out of courtesy ... now where was I?

I'm summoning all the writers (published and unpbulished) before me to give me strength to walk away from this evil place.

I: Ouch, ouch, ouch ... (The Little Sucker just bites off a chunk of flesh from the back of my head and my hands are still bleeding.)

Screamer: Go, go, go Little Sucker. More, more, more.

Whisper: Are we done Hybrid J? Step right in, now!

I: Nooooooo (SFX: door bell) (Hybrid J walks out of scene and comes back in to continue the dialogue) Did you know what I just got from the mail?

Whisper: Don't tell me it's one of those How-To books again? They're a waste of time. Why struggle when you could just come in and chill.

I: They might not solve the problems now but at least I could use them to ward you off!

I held the book high and made the sacred sign.

The three creatures disappeared and I'm now sitting on the dried up lawn in front of The Maze reading Stephen King's "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft."