I love the fact that I’m not the only person who gets stuck thinking about what my writing career would look like based on the novel I’m currently working on, and that that causes me to think about ‘the next one’. Your next idea sounds like the movie “you’ve got mail” with a setting twist. Which is actually a re-make of “little shop around the corner”. I’d be interested to see how you use it in this soul mate setting.
"Shiny new idea"-syndrome is a real struggle for me as well, but at least I do finish my projects... it just takes longer. I get this! Great video, as always :)
Also, the business aspect of this is hitting home so hard that I had to comment twice. Not me planning a saga and how to release and market it when I haven't written a book since 2017.
yayy! I thought you had changed projects and that was why you were MIA. glad to see you are sticking with the soulmates trope cause it's one of my faves🤗 also please gimme those 500+ pAGES!!!!
And here I was *literally yesterday* wondering how your writing was going! Sounds like you're doing great, even if the word count is out of control. That's what final edits are for, right? Right? Also, your comment about writing fan-fiction and getting immediate feedback sounds a lot like Cath from Fangirl... :D
If there's any advice I could give, it would be this: keep going on what you're doing. Keep adding those words. But afterwards, once you've gone through adding everything you need to, go through your novel again, but this time with goal to cut. Cut words, cut sentences, tighten words, tighten sentences. Tighten up conversations, extra dialogue that doesn't need to be there. Search your doc for words you know you use a lot and see how many times you use them. When I finished the "final edit" of my epic fantasy book, it was 144k words. I went through it once more and the final amount is now 139k. Don't be afraid to cut. You got this! I'm excited for you. I've been a quiet viewer over the years. 🥰
I've been thinking a lot about a second book because I'm almost done drafting and prepping for revision. When I started drafting, I had this idea that all my books would be set in the same world. So as I'm writing, I'm obviously putting easter eggs to my other projects. I absolutely love it and hopefully this all works out! I'm so glad your words are going well! I am usually an overwriter, so I feel the slight panic of word count. My goal is 85K for the first/zero draft, but I have a feeling it will be higher lol.
I also struggle with high word count, but I know exactly what my problem is, and it's my struggle with "staying within one medium". I'm not so much a writer, as I am a comic artist; I write my stories like a novel, then attempt to convert them into a comic, and when I know my novel will turn into a comic, I tried to limit my use of description, since art will handle that for me, however, I also inflate certain describing movement/actions to tip myself on how I am going to draw the scene; finessing this technique, I found I struggled with confirming that my novel WILL be a comic, and settling on if this particular work would "stay" a written book (this made me flip-flop between novel descriptive writing, and the "pillar" description thing writers do to keep up with inside information not meant for the readers). It's not until recently I've decide I'm going to illustrate all of my writing, so now I just let the word count flow out as much as it wants, because it's information that is meant only for me, and will be chopped off when I start to illustrate. Currently, my writing project is for a visual novel game, so I have a lot of excess information on how the scene is going to look, what the sprites are going to do, and none of it, but the text/chat of the characters, is going to get recorded into the final piece; because the art is going to take out the use for most of the words. I still struggle with finding my narrative voice, but I've also found, in finishing older works, that when I start to draw the scenes, my narration finds its voice that I am satisfied with. I hope you find a solution to your word count "problem"! (I don't know if you're struggling with it?), I'm sure once you get out of the first draft, your second (maybe third, fourth!) will show you what voice you need to have a steady word count flow!
Thank you for blessing us lately!! I know you sometimes hate that you have an internet presence and are being perceived on the internet (pretty sure you’ve said that before right??) - I can relate, it’s why I never made a book channel myself all those years ago lol - but thank you nonetheless!!
I suffer from SERIOUS Shiny New Idea Syndrome - like, I get the idea, I work on it for like two days seriously, and then I just... give up. That's the problem. I give up on the idea and I move onto a shinier idea! I never am able to finish the projects I begin. How do you manage to push through?!?!?!? (Also, great vid Kat!)
sure thing! i realized after posting that it might not be super clear to other people XD so basically the column that starts with P1 is for part one, which is my focus at the moment, and the MS column is for the full manuscript. i'm bad at working in linear order, so i've restricted myself to only part one, but i am jumping around a lot within that section, so it makes more sense to count total word count for that part rather than the word count of the completed linear chapters. so like, in week two, i added 4,776 to part one, and 6,009 total (which means about 1200 words were added to parts two & three). then i also note when i finish a chapter, and finally that little checkmark at the bottom is for when i last saved to my external hard drive (i try to do that everyday but sometimes i'm lazy and this reminds me how much work i could potentially lose if i don't save lol) hope that all makes sense! XD
@@Katytastic ohh that makes so much sense. Thank you. It has always fascinated me how you're able to jump around. I've tried but my brain only does chronologically.
Here for WHATEVER you do as long as you cultivate your creative space. Now might be the time to go back to basics, like top level basics. [It’s probably not lucid, but I’m thinking of the vlog format.] There is probably a great new format collecting form. You just need to think about the ABT (and but therefore) level. You have your agreement (AND) you see your conflict with how your vlogs are coming to & breaking away from form (BUT); how you find your way forward, the consequence for your vlogs in formula (THEREFORE). Glad you took steps away to mindfully see your regression & progression. You never need to keep to an artificial schedule especially when said schedule is not supportive of your near future path forward.
So glad to see your face again in my subscription page and i'm glad you are still writing :) This is a bit random, but would you be willing to talk about procrastination/fear of obligations and how you manage it in one of your videos/vlogs? I think you mentioned before that you struggle with it before and lately i've been having such a difficut time to glue myself off of my phone, mostly i''m either on twitter or ao3 (ahem 😅) and even when i'm doing chores like cleaning, cooking or walking i'm always on youtube. i tend to listen to podcasts and stuff that i can learn from but still it's not healthy to do it all the time - and yet it's so painful to stop. 😞 Sorry that i used your comment section as a diary. 😅 I feel like you've probably been through something similar, would you like to share your experience/tips?
the companion novel reminds me of 'spoiler alert' :D did you ever revisit the ghost sister story? i watch those videos every time i plan to draft something new
i haven't revisited it yet but only because i plan to film every step of the process and those videos tend to get complex! i will return to it at some point though! :)
You know how people say a book is as long as it needs to be? I'd say to take that to heart, but like, I feel this spiritually and would be a total hypocrite. Also, if this gets published, longer = better IMO 👀
i mean, that's not unheard of, especially with scene breaks! i believe cassie clare writes long chapters around that length! i'm mostly stressed because i have 25 chapters, and if they were all that length then that's like 1000 pages XD
Oh I also get way too caught up in what I want my debut to be and what that means for anything else I write 🥲 why do we torture ourselves like this? Also I’m so excited to hear you talk about scene planning!
My wip before nano is 3 years old, over 100K words and is only in part 2. I feel like i"m never going to be done with it. My current story for nano21 is at about 28k and I'm on chapter 5 still super early in part 1. I feel like i'm never going to get feed back and I'll be forever writing first drafts
i actually do have plans to revisit it! i thought of a cool way to connect it to another one of my stories (set in the same world, but centuries apart) so i definitely want to write it eventually!
zero draft i underwrite and just get down the bare bones, first draft i overwrite as i flesh everything out, second draft is where i get serious about cutting!
I love the fact that I’m not the only person who gets stuck thinking about what my writing career would look like based on the novel I’m currently working on, and that that causes me to think about ‘the next one’.
Your next idea sounds like the movie “you’ve got mail” with a setting twist. Which is actually a re-make of “little shop around the corner”. I’d be interested to see how you use it in this soul mate setting.
"Shiny new idea"-syndrome is a real struggle for me as well, but at least I do finish my projects... it just takes longer. I get this! Great video, as always :)
Kat: "don't get attached to the title"
Me: BUT IT WAS MEANT TO BE!!
yay anothe writing vlog! its so nice to see this window on you writing process and I am also really excited for the writing craft video :D
I’m so exited to read a full book of yours when it comes out! The sample you put out of Storyteller was so good and I need more of your writing!
Yeah do whatever works for you the best. I love your videos regardless. I'm a big Stan of you .
Also, the business aspect of this is hitting home so hard that I had to comment twice. Not me planning a saga and how to release and market it when I haven't written a book since 2017.
yayy! I thought you had changed projects and that was why you were MIA. glad to see you are sticking with the soulmates trope cause it's one of my faves🤗 also please gimme those 500+ pAGES!!!!
I LOVE to hear all about your writing progress and new ideas!
And here I was *literally yesterday* wondering how your writing was going! Sounds like you're doing great, even if the word count is out of control. That's what final edits are for, right? Right? Also, your comment about writing fan-fiction and getting immediate feedback sounds a lot like Cath from Fangirl... :D
I'm so happy your writing is going well!
If there's any advice I could give, it would be this: keep going on what you're doing. Keep adding those words. But afterwards, once you've gone through adding everything you need to, go through your novel again, but this time with goal to cut. Cut words, cut sentences, tighten words, tighten sentences. Tighten up conversations, extra dialogue that doesn't need to be there. Search your doc for words you know you use a lot and see how many times you use them.
When I finished the "final edit" of my epic fantasy book, it was 144k words. I went through it once more and the final amount is now 139k. Don't be afraid to cut. You got this!
I'm excited for you. I've been a quiet viewer over the years. 🥰
Kat I don't know if it's of any consolation but I absolutely adore 500-page contemporary novels so.. yes please!!!
Nobody else is allowed to use the love triangle trope. You come up with the best ones 😂
I've been thinking a lot about a second book because I'm almost done drafting and prepping for revision. When I started drafting, I had this idea that all my books would be set in the same world. So as I'm writing, I'm obviously putting easter eggs to my other projects. I absolutely love it and hopefully this all works out!
I'm so glad your words are going well! I am usually an overwriter, so I feel the slight panic of word count. My goal is 85K for the first/zero draft, but I have a feeling it will be higher lol.
I miss you and your videos
I also struggle with high word count, but I know exactly what my problem is, and it's my struggle with "staying within one medium". I'm not so much a writer, as I am a comic artist; I write my stories like a novel, then attempt to convert them into a comic, and when I know my novel will turn into a comic, I tried to limit my use of description, since art will handle that for me, however, I also inflate certain describing movement/actions to tip myself on how I am going to draw the scene; finessing this technique, I found I struggled with confirming that my novel WILL be a comic, and settling on if this particular work would "stay" a written book (this made me flip-flop between novel descriptive writing, and the "pillar" description thing writers do to keep up with inside information not meant for the readers). It's not until recently I've decide I'm going to illustrate all of my writing, so now I just let the word count flow out as much as it wants, because it's information that is meant only for me, and will be chopped off when I start to illustrate.
Currently, my writing project is for a visual novel game, so I have a lot of excess information on how the scene is going to look, what the sprites are going to do, and none of it, but the text/chat of the characters, is going to get recorded into the final piece; because the art is going to take out the use for most of the words. I still struggle with finding my narrative voice, but I've also found, in finishing older works, that when I start to draw the scenes, my narration finds its voice that I am satisfied with.
I hope you find a solution to your word count "problem"! (I don't know if you're struggling with it?), I'm sure once you get out of the first draft, your second (maybe third, fourth!) will show you what voice you need to have a steady word count flow!
Thank you for blessing us lately!! I know you sometimes hate that you have an internet presence and are being perceived on the internet (pretty sure you’ve said that before right??) - I can relate, it’s why I never made a book channel myself all those years ago lol - but thank you nonetheless!!
Already can't relate with the title, must be a Kat vlog! 😂
I suffer from SERIOUS Shiny New Idea Syndrome - like, I get the idea, I work on it for like two days seriously, and then I just... give up. That's the problem. I give up on the idea and I move onto a shinier idea! I never am able to finish the projects I begin. How do you manage to push through?!?!?!? (Also, great vid Kat!)
Tbh I'll glady read a 500+ page contemp novel by you so don't worry about this!! (has fanfic skewed my perception of word counts? Probably)
nothin like reading a 400,000 word fanfic to make most published novels seem tiny XD
@@Katytastic oh so true bestie
4:30 can you break down this chart for us. Maybe it's super easy and I'm just not awake yet... but please :D
sure thing! i realized after posting that it might not be super clear to other people XD so basically the column that starts with P1 is for part one, which is my focus at the moment, and the MS column is for the full manuscript. i'm bad at working in linear order, so i've restricted myself to only part one, but i am jumping around a lot within that section, so it makes more sense to count total word count for that part rather than the word count of the completed linear chapters. so like, in week two, i added 4,776 to part one, and 6,009 total (which means about 1200 words were added to parts two & three). then i also note when i finish a chapter, and finally that little checkmark at the bottom is for when i last saved to my external hard drive (i try to do that everyday but sometimes i'm lazy and this reminds me how much work i could potentially lose if i don't save lol) hope that all makes sense! XD
@@Katytastic ohh that makes so much sense. Thank you. It has always fascinated me how you're able to jump around. I've tried but my brain only does chronologically.
Here for WHATEVER you do as long as you cultivate your creative space. Now might be the time to go back to basics, like top level basics. [It’s probably not lucid, but I’m thinking of the vlog format.] There is probably a great new format collecting form. You just need to think about the ABT (and but therefore) level. You have your agreement (AND) you see your conflict with how your vlogs are coming to & breaking away from form (BUT); how you find your way forward, the consequence for your vlogs in formula (THEREFORE). Glad you took steps away to mindfully see your regression & progression. You never need to keep to an artificial schedule especially when said schedule is not supportive of your near future path forward.
So glad to see your face again in my subscription page and i'm glad you are still writing :)
This is a bit random, but would you be willing to talk about procrastination/fear of obligations and how you manage it in one of your videos/vlogs? I think you mentioned before that you struggle with it before and lately i've been having such a difficut time to glue myself off of my phone, mostly i''m either on twitter or ao3 (ahem 😅) and even when i'm doing chores like cleaning, cooking or walking i'm always on youtube. i tend to listen to podcasts and stuff that i can learn from but still it's not healthy to do it all the time - and yet it's so painful to stop. 😞
Sorry that i used your comment section as a diary. 😅 I feel like you've probably been through something similar, would you like to share your experience/tips?
i still want a fleshed out " the chosen ones girl friend " hehe,. but i am exited for your first novel.
haha it's on the agenda! :)
the companion novel reminds me of 'spoiler alert' :D
did you ever revisit the ghost sister story? i watch those videos every time i plan to draft something new
i haven't revisited it yet but only because i plan to film every step of the process and those videos tend to get complex! i will return to it at some point though! :)
You know how people say a book is as long as it needs to be? I'd say to take that to heart, but like, I feel this spiritually and would be a total hypocrite.
Also, if this gets published, longer = better IMO 👀
Rn I'm scratching my head wondering what I should do with that one chapter that's 10,000+ words long...
i mean, that's not unheard of, especially with scene breaks! i believe cassie clare writes long chapters around that length! i'm mostly stressed because i have 25 chapters, and if they were all that length then that's like 1000 pages XD
Oh I also get way too caught up in what I want my debut to be and what that means for anything else I write 🥲 why do we torture ourselves like this?
Also I’m so excited to hear you talk about scene planning!
My wip before nano is 3 years old, over 100K words and is only in part 2. I feel like i"m never going to be done with it. My current story for nano21 is at about 28k and I'm on chapter 5 still super early in part 1. I feel like i'm never going to get feed back and I'll be forever writing first drafts
do you know the musical she loves me? because book 2 sounds a lot like it. super cool!
I just handed off my draft two to beta readers and I’m excited and anxious about it!
ooh yes that's always a fun / terrifying time XD
I would totally buy a Kat tastic brainstorm hoody as long as you wore it for one day is that bad??? whatever
Book Title Idea - - - "Kismet"
Ride the high! 🌊
Can you make a video on the meditation book "Quagmire to Awakening" scientific approach of buddha ... I would really appreciate your effort
I still want you to write the sorcerer warrior story that you talked about years ago. Are you ever going to revisit that story?
i actually do have plans to revisit it! i thought of a cool way to connect it to another one of my stories (set in the same world, but centuries apart) so i definitely want to write it eventually!
Girl i feel you. I'm at 130K and still far from the midpoint help (and its not even fantasy or such, its a litfic coming of age historical romance)
dude , please post a vid we miss you . even if its shit
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
don't get attached could be the title
can I be one of your book illustrators Kate ee
You look like Aubrey Plaza and Mary Elizabeth Winstead mixed into a single person 🤔😄. Hahaha'.
Hello 😍
Are you an over-writer who "trims the fat" during edits?
zero draft i underwrite and just get down the bare bones, first draft i overwrite as i flesh everything out, second draft is where i get serious about cutting!