Extraordinary numbers

[desperance]

I like numbers. I always have. (My dad was an accountant, my granddad was a bank clerk, and you can tell me it's not genetic all you like, and I just won't care; numbers are good to me, and that's that.) But here is a number that I just think is extraordinary.

All throughout the writing of this book, I have been saying two things, to myself and to anyone who feigned any interest at all: that I was aiming at 450 pages, and that that would be 150,000 words.

I have just completed page 450. Guess how many words, by a precise Textmaker count? 149,990. How good is that?

The only trouble, of course, is that I haven't finished the book. But they never do come in on length, any more than they do on time. Everything Takes Longer, in all possible meanings of the words.

You'll excuse me, if I duck out now to go finish my chapter.

Comments

[synedrian.livejournal.com]

Heh. Numbers are magic for me, meaning I can't do either. But seriously, that's a really, really impressive guess. The thought of so many new words to read is also very pleasant.

Would it be a little like prying into the methodology of magic tricks to ask you what font you're using?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I use Bitstream Charter at the moment (available for free download here (http://www.download.com/Bitstream-Charter/3000-2185_4-896557.html)). 11-point and generous margins gives me about 350 words a page in double spacing; factor in short pages at chapter ends &c, plus dialogue-heavy pages being word-light, and over a long book it comes to around three pages to a thousand words. Or, apparently, in my case, bloody nearly exactly. 'Course, it depends whether you use long words or not...