The first two million words...

[StillStunned]

A while ago I read in a book on fantasy fiction writing that the first two million words a person writes are crap.

Well, by my count, with my stories published here, my WIPs and various stories I've written exclusively for my wife, I'm half way there. Pretty much exactly one million words.

So two more years, and you people will have to start taking me seriously!

 

[TheLobster]

Only something like 2500-3500 writing exercises left!

 

[nice90sguy]

The O.P. was exactly 50% interesting, 50% crap.

 

[Bamagan]

A while ago I read in a book on fantasy fiction writing that the first two million words a person writes are crap.

Well, by my count, with my stories published here, my WIPs and various stories I've written exclusively for my wife, I'm half way there. Pretty much exactly one million words.

So two more years, and you people will have to start taking me seriously!

Leaving aside any scorn for such wide-ranging and arbitrary observations, it doesn't exactly stand to reason that your second two million words will suddenly be gold, or Art, or whatever. The quality might only elevate as high as garbage at that point.

 

[forgotmyantidepressants]

Then there's hope for me

 

[StillStunned]

At a guess, I've also copyedited/proofread/rewritten about 50 million words in my professional life. Does that make up the difference?

 

[SimonDoom]

Does nonfiction writing count? Stuff I wrote before I wrote smut? Or is your smut crap until you've written over 2 million words of it?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Damn, I am going to be well into my next live before I write my first decent paragraph...

 

[SimonDoom]

Damn, I am going to be well into my next live before I write my first decent paragraph...

Yeah, I'm probably going to have to pin my hopes on SimonDoom 2.0.

 

[Naughtylit81]

At my current pace I will be a proficient writer about two years after I am dead. Assuming death doesn't slow me down which I have heard is a hazard of adopting that particular vice.

 

[Devinter]

Or is your smut crap until you've written over 2 million words of it?

Only if you're writing scat fetish stuff.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Yeah, I'm probably going to have to pin my hopes on SimonDoom 2.0.

Simon Doom 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0









Well, I'll definitely read your stories in my next next life.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

A while ago I read in a book on fantasy fiction writing that the first two million words a person writes are crap.

Well, by my count, with my stories published here, my WIPs and various stories I've written exclusively for my wife, I'm half way there. Pretty much exactly one million words.

So two more years, and you people will have to start taking me seriously!

Sorry Stunned, I'm not sure word count has anything to do with people taking you(or me for that matter) seriously.

 

[Erozetta]

A while ago I read in a book on fantasy fiction writing that the first two million words a person writes are crap.

Well, by my count, with my stories published here, my WIPs and various stories I've written exclusively for my wife, I'm half way there. Pretty much exactly one million words.

So two more years, and you people will have to start taking me seriously!

I have it on good authority that the crap can continue well into the four million range for some of us.

 

[SimonDoom]

Simon Doom 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

View attachment 2476168


View attachment 2476170

View attachment 2476171


Well, I'll definitely read your stories in my next next life.

I'll be sure to make a dramatic entrance, telling some hapless guy in a biker bar, "I need your clothes, your boots, your bike, and your Literotica password."

 

[Lifestyle66]

A while ago I read in a book on fantasy fiction writing that the first two million words a person writes are crap.

Well, by my count, with my stories published here, my WIPs and various stories I've written exclusively for my wife, I'm half way there. Pretty much exactly one million words.

So two more years, and you people will have to start taking me seriously!

HEY!

Just the first two million? I take that as a challenge!

I'm quite sure I can easily exceed far more than two million words of crap!

 

[yowser]

But are they Good words? In my experience, one Good word is worth 20-50 garden variety words. You may have to recalculate.

 

[StillStunned]

Sorry Stunned, I'm not sure word count has anything to do with people taking you(or me for that matter) seriously.

Sometimes I feel like the more words I type, the less anyone takes me seriously.

Simon Doom 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0


View attachment 2476171


Well, I'll definitely read your stories in my next next life.

I'll be sure to make a dramatic entrance, telling some hapless guy in a biker bar, "I need your clothes, your boots, your bike, and your Literotica password."

Simon 3.0 is going to be hot! And remember, you don't have to ask for anything, all you have to do is inflate your boobs.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Sometimes I feel like the more words I type, the less anyone takes me seriously.

Especially when they're in second person.

 

[StillStunned]

Especially when they're in second person.

I'm starting to feel like Evans the Goat... I've written a million words! And only 1.1k were 2nd person!

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd be interested to know how many words I've written, but no way I'm spending the time to add them up just in published, let along some unfinished pieces.

I know that just in the Six books I have in print its 870k and my 8 volume e-book series Broken is 928k so that's just over 1.8 million. I have 211 e-books after that, ranging from a couple under 10k but a large number over 4k which is considered Novella. I'd hazard to say I'm easily over 5 mil mark counting WIPs

Now, if we added what we've typed here in the forums....

 

[FreyaGersemi]

I'd be more inclined to go with the 10,000-hour theory posited by Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers: The Story of Success."

Of course, that theory is about expertise and not success. I feel like that little bit was tacked on simply to draw in readers. People love self-help and all that. How do you measure success anyways? Success is all just a bit silly, innit?

 

[Naughtylit81]

How do you measure success anyways?

Realizing that might be a rhetorical question I will take the liberty to answer it and apologize in advance for bwing a bit crass in the process.

I hope my reader like my characters, enjoy their banter and development, get a laugh from some situations and comments.

Ultimately though, success, for me in this forum, would be measured by the unknown quantity of soiled tissues and well pruned fingers. Because the underlying goal of each of these stories is to get the reader off.

That may be lowbrow but I am not trying to write the next great novel to be added to the western canon of literature. I am writing the literary equivilent of jelly beans, quick and easy to consume, giving you a little bit of a buzz, and probably with slightly sticky fingers when you are done.

 

[StillStunned]

Before this thread becomes yet another discussion of how we measure "success", the original post was about a measure of quality, or skill, or competence.

Also: it wasn't terribly serious. Although the book I mentioned, the one that talked about the first two million words, that was totally serious.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I don't know that word count has anything to do with the quality of writing. Some people have written massive amounts of words, they write technically perfect grammar and spelling, and their stores are stiff, boring, and full-on shit. Others write with plenty of errors (Flannery O'Connor is the gold standard for perfect writing, filled with imperfect spelling and grammar) and produce thought-provoking stories.