311,796 Words.

(NOTE: Based on time elapsed since the posting of this entry, the BS-o-meter calculates this is 4.824% likely to be something that Ferrett now regrets.)

I know I’ve been absent from blogging and social media as of late, for good reasons, and I’ll explain that sooner or later (with a necessary apology appended, don’t argue, I know when and what I need to apologize for). But I’m firing up this dusty blog to mark one special occasion:

I have finished the longest novel I’ve ever written in my life.

It’s taken me eighteen months from start to finish to make even this rough draft, and it’s 311,796 words. For the record, Flex was 80k, Sol Majestic was 90k.

To answer your questions: Yes, this is an untenable length for a book. No, it’s not written as a trilogy. No, I have no idea whether I can sell it to a publisher or not. It’s just a sweeping lapbreaker of a book that covers multiple viewpoints over ten years, a big 70s-style generational saga with a fantasy twist.

No, it will not be available to read soon. It’ll take me months of effort just to get it ready and revised for beta readers. All this effort was just to push out the rough shape of it, and fine-tuning it to get the themes and characters and history right is its own separate effort.

And what’s it about? Well, it’s about 312,000 words is what it is. I can’t say more than that, simply because blasting out details of unsold projects tend to be difficult for publishing purposes at times. And this is a strangely personal project; I wrote it on the way out to help my mother with her cancer treatments, reading it to my wife chapter by chapter as we drove cross-country, and she absolutely adores it. If it turns out to have more use than that, then great, but as it was it did what it what it was intended to do.

(…I hope. I’ve still gotta read the last four chapters to her. This dysfunctional pile of pages also has 40,000 word chapters, so you gotta understand that the words “easily published” really do not apply.)

I’ve been quiet, and probably will continue to be quiet; if you miss me, feel free to contact me directly.

But this is a special day, and I am celebrating. If you too would like to celebrate, feel free to join me.

Love to you all.

9 Comments

  1. Doug S.
    Nov 14, 2021

    That’s not as bad as you think, really. Yes, it’s a big book but publishers do in fact publish fantasy novels that big. For example, “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell” is 309,000 words.

  2. Doug S.
    Nov 14, 2021

    Is this the book you were talking about on Substack?

    • The Ferrett
      Nov 15, 2021

      Different book by far. I may tackle the Substack one next.

  3. dcrampton
    Nov 16, 2021

    Glad you’re still there. πŸ™‚

  4. Michael Cahoon
    Nov 16, 2021

    I am very happy you’re alive and well.

    I look forward to reading this beast; I know it’d be tough, but is publishing it as a periodical possible?

    • The Ferrett
      Nov 23, 2021

      Not really, alas. Not with 40,000 word chapters. πŸ™‚

  5. Kim Brown
    Nov 16, 2021

    Welcome back! I was starting to get worried about you, but I figured you were probably working on something big! πŸ™‚

  6. cougrr
    Nov 17, 2021

    I was thinking of you just the other day and hoping you were well… and here you are, posting! Congratulations on finishing your book! That’s worthy of celebration πŸ™‚

  7. kaminiwa
    Dec 1, 2021

    Glad to here you’re still alive. I recently checked out a couple of your novels and quite liked them, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for the 300K behemoth someday πŸ™‚

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  1. I Need Beta Readers For My Excruciatingly Long Fantasy Novel! | Ferrett Steinmetz - […] in November, I mentioned that I’d written the rough first draft of a massive generational fantasy novel – 311,000…

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