There are 141,098 words in the QUEEN’S BASTARD manuscript.
There is one paragraph–67 words–that is, to me as the writer, *flawless*. It does what I want it to. Everything in the book to that point leads up to this one paragraph, and when I read it, it takes my breath away. I have no idea if it will work the same way for other people, but for me, that .05% of the book is perfect. A hundred and forty thousand words for a tiny handful that make me want to crow with triumph.
I write books mostly because I like to tell stories, but once in a while, once in every few hundred thousand words, I get a moment like this, a moment of goddamned *transcendence*, and oh my God, *that* is why I do this.
That is so very, very cool.
And will there be a prize for us guessing the correct paragraph when we can finally read the book? :)
Yes. You get to appreciate momentary genius.
Sure! I will send an early copy of THE PRETENDER’S CROWN to the first three people who correctly identify the paragraph *in email*, because if anybody posts it I will kill them and bring them back to life a hundred times so I can kill them again.
Plus what said. :)
And if that isn’t a good reason to buy the book the moment it’s available and read it quickly (while savouring and enjoying, of course!) I don’t know what is. :)
Yay!
Are you saying Catie’s genius is only momentary? Harsh. :)
*laugh*
Even Homer nods. All genius is momentary: that’s its glory. The very, very best may stretch to a human lifetime.
Did you count them again? (like on the paper copy?)
No, are you nuts? :) I used the Word document. :)
That’s fabulous. Makes me want to read it to know what the paragraph is! :D
And really, if out of 141,098 words, only 67 of them are flawless, I probably can’t argue with the momentary genius aspect… :)
Can’t wait to read this.
I can’t wait to read it!
“Serafina sat on the couch, ruminating about the events of the previous day. She smoothed out a wrinkle in her sleeve. She tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch. She sampled a chocolate from the box her brother had left on the sidetable, a confection of nougat and raspberry fondant. And she came to the conclusion that this moment, here and now, was absolutely flawless.”
That is so absolutely true, and a non-writer wouldn’t really understand the giddy, mind blowing aspect of it.
CONGRATULATIONS on your sixty seven transcendent words! YOU ROCK!!