A Word About Word Counts

I've heard it said you shouldn't count the words. Write what you want to. Let the story do the driving. Don't be distracted by the numbers. In a perfect Utopian literary world - and we all know there's no such thing - that might work for some. I always count the words. I think the key is to be aware of the word count but not to worry about it.

Sometimes that's not as easy as it sounds. While writing my first YA novel, I was aware the words were piling up much too quickly. Painfully aware because I was writing outside my comfort zone. But I kept going. I knew if I put the complete story on the page, I could edit out what didn't need to be there and still retain the structure. If I tried to adjust the pacing would be all wrong and this is a book where the chronology of change is important. I know my writing bad habits will make it easy to reduce the number of words. I write a lot of fluff and over fill that screams to be deleted the first time I redit.

Words counts are critical to me on a maintenance basis. They establish my writing habit. I write 500 words a day. Every day. I'm not a fast writer so sometimes even that's hard. When I'm talking about output I'm happy to include anything creative I write. Even this blog post. It's not about getting the story completed, its about muscle memory for good writing habits.

AR BookFinder: Samurai Kids #2: Owl Ninja

For the first draft I like to know where I'm going word count wise even though I don't let it dictate to me. I know when I begin to redraft I will inevitably cut and add large chunks so at this stage all I need to do is head in the right direction.

How do I know what a reasonable word count is? I ask the  books I love and respect, the ones I wish I had written and occasionally, one that I did! I look up the word counts of any of these books with similar genre and target readership on the AR Bookfinder site.To find the word count search by author or title and when the book is displayed, click on the tile for more details including the word count.

Samurai Kids #8: Black tengu

My book is magical realism so I've got some leeway. Fantasy novels are often twice the word count of realistic novels and at 90,000 (after 5 edits) I'm currently sitting in between. I can go either way and no doubt I will in both directions before I am happy.

I have strategies I use when I edit. Some of these raise the word count (like upping the conflict and mending plot holes) and some whittle it away (like removing adverbs,redundancy and extraneous, tightening description and deleting unnecessary dialogue). But I never focus on any particular one for the sake of word count.

Somehow in the end it ultimately all comes together. Except once. The last Samurai Kids book, Black Tengu, was too short. I suspect I was in too much of a hurry to tell Sensei's story and I left a big chunk of it inside my head. But that meant when I had to expand, the words all there ready and waiting. Fasted 4,000 words I ever wrote!

About those ninjas

I've always been interested in ninjas. I have a collection of reference books and there are ninjas in two of the Samurai Kids series books - Owl Ninja has Japanese ninjas and Monkey Fist introduces ninjas from China.

So this made me smile.

I found it via a friend ,on the FaceBook Page of Life, Love and Hiccups.

And that's one of the reasons I like Facebook. It can make me smile.

Storytelling Maths: One book = One series

"What if you had to write another Samurai Kids book and you couldn't think of anything?" a Year 6 boy asked. "Oh that could never happen," I said.

Or could it?

I've always had a safety net to protect me from worrying about this. Samurai Kids White Crane began with just one sentence: "My name is Niya Moto and I'm the only one-legged samurai kid in Japan." Another one soon followed. "Famous for falling flat on my face in the dirt." And for a long time that's all I had. That and the increasing desire to tell Niya's story - his friends, his teacher, his school and his adventures. I always figured if a book could come from a sentence than surely a series could come from one book.

Because White Crane was a stand-alone story (originally titled Samurai Kids) there were no hooks in place for future stories. But I did have a rich cast to work with - six very different characters each with their own idiosyncrasies and spirit guide - and their eccentric but much loved teacher. I had the action and adventure of samurai and ninja. I had swords, shuriken stars, and a quiver full of arrows.

And then I discovered an accidental hook after all. In White Crane Niya thought Sensei might be a Tengu - a mountain goblin priest with supernatural abilities. Was he? And if he was, what did he do? A human becomes a Tengu as a result of some terrible deed. Now I had a problem - I never intended to answer this question. In fact I didn't even know the answer. But if there were more books, it was obviously the key to many things. I do know the answer now but I can't tell you or I would have to give you a Wakizashi dagger and a seppuku mat and well... if you know the rest - it's rather painful and messy. So you are better off not knowing.

In Samurai Kids: Owl Ninja the kids travelled across Japan and learn ninja skills. They faced the Dragon Master once again. The final chapter saw them standing on the shore, a greater journey about to begin. From here, the series started to tell itself. The geography of the journey dictated the next stop, the location dictated the martial arts skills that the Kids would learn and Sensei's history created obligations and risks.

When the Kids went to China in Samurai Kids: Shaolin Tiger, history put them in a time and place when the Hwang Ho River was due to flood Kaifeng, the Shaolin Temple was under threat from the Imperial army (and would soon be destroyed), the Mongols were threatening to invade and the Manchu were on the horizon. How could I not find a story there? Especially when Qing-Shen walked in. Tall dark and dangerous, Sensei's Chinese ex-student had a vendetta to carry out.

I didn't intend it to happen but although each book is told by Niya, the plot revolves around a different Kid. Probably because they are all equally good friends. Each step the Kids take into another book, the story writing process is no different. Samurai Kids: Monkey Fist is set further north, in The Forbidden City of Beijing. Like a good reporter I follow Sensei and the Kids around and write what I see. And what Niya and Sensei tell me to. Right now I'm writing Samurai Kids:Fire Lizard and we're in Korea.

Just for Fun

Ever wanted a ninja to slash your name on a wall? You can find a ninja text generator here

WRITER RESOURCES - SCAN

SCAN is the quarterly subscription journal of the NSW Department of Education Curriculum K-12 Directorate. It's full of useful information for authors who want to know what's happening in the world of education, how books tie to the (NSW) curriculum and how they can provide curriculum resources for their own books.

There is a strong focus on library technology which I particulaly enjoy reading about. Book reviews - fiction and non-fiction - and internet site reviews, are referenced to User Level (Stage) , KLA, Syllabus and SCIS subjects where appropriate. SCAN directs me to the most amazing kid and education orientated web sites. It's worth reading for that aspect alone.

This month I was fortunate to have two books reviewed in SCAN. It's always inspiring to get a good review so I am going to quote briefly before rushing off, all inspired, to write some more.

Samurai Kids: Owl Ninja A fast paced plot filled with adventure draws the reader into an ancient world...The second book in the series, this wonderful novel can stand alone as a narrative.

Polar Boy Inuit The harsh reality of this relentless environment , with its dangerous predators, both animal and human, is graphically portrayed in words. This well constructed story is sure to appeal to reader who enjoy historical adventure novels.

SANDY WRITES

Recently a young reader asked me "Where did you get the idea for Mitsuka Manuyoto?" Mitsuka is a character in Owl Ninja, the second book in the Samurai Kids series.

Throughout the Samurai Kids writing process my constant companion is The Book of Five Rings by the great Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, even today, considered without a doubt the best. When Musashi's ghost heard that question, I am sure he laughed. For much of Mitsuka is drawn from Musashi. And that's one of the wonderful things about writing history. It provides its own starting points and ideas.

Musashi was not only a skilled swordsman but a very interesting man. He is almost as famous for his unkempt appearance. There's even a little gossip - was it that he didn't like having a bath or did he have an illness? I suspect if you are the best swordsman in the world then no-one argues too much about whether you smell or not! He was also a man with a sense of humour and an integrity that led him to put his sword aside for the wooden bo (he tired of winning by killing opponents he admired). Eventually he decided he'd had enough of battle and retired to paint birds on silk. The dichotomy of the man of who excelled at war but at the same time exalted in the pattern of canary feathers immediately attracted my writer's interest.

But while Mitsuka too is a great swordsman and could do with a dunking in something wet, he is otherwise totally fictional. His clumsiness and his devotion to his former teacher are his alone. As is the reason why he hasn't got any trousers when the kids first meet him. Taking off your trousers can be a useful opponent-distracting strategy!

We stop underneath a giant cherry tree. But Sensei's space is already taken by a large dirty man in the ragged remains of a red kimnon and jacket. Snoring there without his trousers on. We don't know which way to look. Sensei makes it even harder when he sits down next to the tramp.

Despite his idiosyncracies and his tendency to drop his sword, in his own time, Mitsuka is the best there is. Even better than Mikko. And when he has a blade especailly made for him by Sensei's old friend, the master craftsman Onaku:

The ronin reaches for it, eyes bright as he recognises the Sword Master's handiwork. From here I can see the grip is unusual. It melts into the ronin's hand and as flesh and sword join together, I hear the blade sing. Everyone can. It drowns out the thump of the drum.

Note: A ronin was a wandering samurai who, unlike most of his peers, served no master.

You can download a fact sheet about Musashi from the Samurai Kids website or read about him in the Chi! Jin! Yu! newsletter. You can read more about Mitsuka Manuyoto in Owl Ninja, the second book in the Samurai Kids series.