Writing update: 60K

I recently reached the 60,000 words mark on my novel.

There’s something magical about the number 60,000. Besides being half of my goal of 120,000 words for a novel, it represents a mental/emotional milestone. It’s almost like tangible proof that my story has the legs to make it to full novel status. Usually 70K is the low end of the range for a novel-sized work, but as all of the novels I set out to write as novels (I accidentally wrote a fan-fic that achieved novel size, but I was just having fun writing serial fiction) have come in around 120,000 words, that’s what feels like a novel should be to me.

But it also implies a “safety zone”, I suppose. If I’ve made it to 60K words before having hit the climax then there’s a good chance my novel will indeed achieve novel status, and not just get stuck as a novella. Not that there’s anything wrong with novellas. I’m just still early enough in my writing career that perhaps I still need reassurance that I can craft a plotline that can carry a novel.

I suppose there’s also the reassurance that the story will still hold my interest that long. I mean, if even I don’t find a story interesting enough to want to keep going there must be something wrong with it. Force of habit can carry me quite a ways (like 40K-60K words!), but there comes a point when I have to admit that I’m just not enjoying writing that story. I hit that point with my last novel. Fortunately I was able to change things and make it work the second try. But this novel has been fun to write (mostly) all the way so far. And lately it’s been so much fun that I’ve had no trouble at all turning out 2K days, which is really good for me.

So yes, I’m perhaps halfway into my latest novel, I’m having fun writing it, and I’m pleased with how it’s turning out. It’s probably my best work thus far, though I suppose that may not be saying much. But the work continues apace, and I hope to be finished by July.