Book II Update | 185,450 Words and Counting

Hello everyone! I’m happy to say that I’ve reached the conclusion of a new chapter, bringing the current word count to 185,450 and counting.

One thing I’ve learned this past week is that I truly don’t know the final word count of this book. I have an idea, and I have a deadline for myself to finish the first draft, but even with that, I’ve struggled with the what the exact length will be.

Fantasy is an odd spectrum when it comes to word count. For reference, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis was over 38,000, and (while I’ve never read it) book III of the Game of Thrones series, A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin is 424,000 words long.

When I was writing book I of The Odysseys of Alaythia, I had to make major changes to the end of the story before I even wrote it, and to be honest, I’m so happy I did! However, this time, things are different.

While spectrums and ranges are important guardrails, sometimes the best solution is to not plan so heavily on word count but rather let the story play out and then edit where needed.

I once heard that it’s impossible to steer a stationary ship. The first task is to set the sails and then begin steering. Just don’t fall overboard!

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