Word count and why I keep asking about it.

It always sounds as if I’m hassling everyone about their word count because I'm worried about numbers. That’s not it at all. I look at word count because every stage of your story has a different job to do.

Let’s take a knife to it:

By 20,000 words, I want to trust you. I want to know I'm safe in your lovely hands. More importantly, I want to care about your people. If your characters get into trouble, I want to be worried about them. If they fall in love, I want to hope it works out. You've earned my emotional investment by now!

Between 20,000 and 40,000 words is where your story should open up. Your story world is richer now, your peeps and their relationships are more complicated and the stakes are higher. This is where readers should begin thinking, 'Oh... this is much bigger than I first thought.' 

By 60,000 words, I shouldn't be wondering whether I'll finish your book. I should be counting the minutes till I get back to the couch reading it again. By 60,000, I am wondering what’s going to happen, how on earth you're going to pull this off. At 60,000 words you want your readers to cancel their dinner reservations, read one more chapter before turning off their bedside lamp. At 60,000 words you want your reader to miss their train stop!

Then all you have to do is glide onto your runway and land your baby. Deliver on the promise you made back in those first 20,000 words, and your reader will close the book feeling the journey was worth every page.

Sound easy? Yeah, well, maybe it’s not. But then again, think about it like this:

20,000 words: Make me fall in love with your people.

40,000 words: Now make their lives miserable.

60,000 words: Convince me there's no way out.

80,000 words: Prove me wrong.

I really hope this helps. Maths was my worst subject ever. I used to say I was numerologically illiterate. Basically, I have Dyscalculia. Just know that this word count maths is the only kind of maths that has ever (and I mean ever) made sense to me.

In other news:

Fully booked: Our Sydney Storytelling Workshop at Woollahra Library, Double Bay, August 21–23 is now Sold Out. If you’d like me to pop you on the Waiting List I am very happy to do that because you never know what can happen last minute. And most of the time, something does. clifford.lisa@hotmail.com Our eight lecturers/writers/speakers Ashley Kalagian-Blunt, Petronella McGovern and structural editor Laurel Cohn (the backstory queen), as well as our author panel Adam Courtenay (memoir, autobiography and biography), Meg Kenneally (editing) and Larry Writer (niche writing) are ready and raring to go! A heads up that Zeitgeist Literary Agency joins us and Art of Writing writers can optionally submit a paragraph to Zeitgeist.

In more news:

Florence, 9–13 May – It's Happening!

I'm absolutely delighted to say that our Florence retreat is officially on. Palazzo San Niccolò is booked and waiting to welcome us. We'll spend four days, five nights immersed in great storytelling, surrounded by Renaissance beauty, wonderful food and a small group of passionate writers who understand exactly why you can't stop thinking about your manuscript.

We'll work hard, laugh a lot, drink excellent coffee and, if previous retreats are anything to go by, you'll leave with far more than pages. You'll leave with new confidence, lifelong writing friends and a story that's moved significantly closer to the book you always knew it could become.

I can't wait to share Florence with you! Drop me a line if you’d like to know more. We’ll have the 2027 page on the Art of Writing site as soon as my tech has finished his Master’s thesis. Some of you already know Alexis, our fab half Scottish, half French tech (sounds like my kids).

In still more news:

Oh, my goodness, our Rome November 8-12 retreat is booked out too! I cannot wait. We'll be tucked away in the magnificent Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, talking craft by day and wandering one of the world's greatest storytelling cities by night. We have writers joining us from the US, UK, Switzerland and Australia this time around.