Perhaps you want to write a book or have one written for you. And when it comes to size, you think about the number of pages. Non-professional writers often do. But you should not focus on the page count. Instead, target the right size for your book.
I’ll explain.
Writing clients often tell me they want their book to be ‘XXX’ hundred pages… 200, 400, etc. Usually a round number. Sometimes they’ll give an example. Something like this: “My story’s a bit like ‘Outlander,’ time travel and romance. Fictional but based on actual events in a different country and setting. From the present to two centuries ago and back to the present. So, maybe my book should be about the same size.”
It takes experience to judge the right length for a story, and professional writers use the market to gauge the parameters. But the number of pages is not what you should use as your guide to honing the plan for a book. Instead, use a word count target. I’ll get into that further, but first, here is some context.
One of my past projects, a Historical Fiction series, averaged over 176,000 words per book. In a 6-inch by 9-inch format: Book One is 151,550 words at 422 pages. Book Two is 155,096 words at 436 pages. Book Three is 166,685 words at 478 pages. Book 4 (ending the epic saga), is over 233,000 words and 706 pages.
Book One in the fiction series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is 850 pages, 255,781 words (format: 6.11-inch width x 1.42 spine x 9.23 length). To give you a nonfiction example: ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ by Spencer Johnson is 25,504 words, 96 pages in 5 x 6.75 format. And ‘If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood’ by Gregg Olsen is 115,391 words, 431 pages in 5.5 x 8.25 paperback format.
As with any published book, the page count includes all parts (not just the narrative) of the book. Front matter comprises the Title Page, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents, and often an opening statement by the author or an epigraph (to set the story’s tone to come). It can also contain other information the author—and story—might require to help the reader. The series project I mentioned above includes 6-8 maps per book, a historical setting preface, a recap of events in the preceding books, a Dramatis Personae (a guide to the cast of characters), and a book-specific opening epigraph. In the back (the back matter), the last page is the author/client’s bio. With some variation, all published books have front and back material that adds to the page count of the actual narrative.
So—and this is not uncommon—I often walk clients through how the page count of a print book is affected by its format. A 50,000-word book in a 5×8 Trade Paperback format will have more pages than the same number of words in a 6×9 book. The publisher or the self-publisher will determine what book size/format they want to produce the book.
When discussing writing, co-writing, and ghostwriting projects, I focus on word—not page—count. I can then set precise writing goals using a target word count and establish the work’s time frame. When working with a client, those goals become a contractual milestone schedule of deliverables for their project. It includes the Planning & Development stage (the story outline, initial scene/chapter list, and writing plan), the Writing stage (number of words delivered each month), the Internal Edit stage (writer/client collaborative), and if included in the contract, a Post-Draft Edit period of writer collaboration with the client’s third-party editor.
If you want to write a book, I recommend you set a word count target and use it to plan for story development and the actual writing (your word count goals per month). Below are average word count or word count ranges for works of fiction and nonfiction. These are important because a book intended to be sold commercially is a product, and there are market expectations. A professional writer or ghostwriter will know that market if you plan to have your book written for you. Still, you need to know it too.
Suppose the book you want to write (or have written) is complex, with multiple characters, story arcs, settings, and locations. [See what I mentioned above about the word count size of Outlander and the series I worked on for a client.] In that case, it will probably require planning for a higher word count than the following averages.
Fiction
Based on an analysis of the top 15 sellers in the respective categories at Amazon:
Fantasy: 109,000
Historical: 102,000
Horror: 102,000
Literary: 98,000
Science Fiction: 98,000
Action/Adventure: 96,000
Contemporary: 96,000
Women’s Lit: 94,000
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense: 91,000
Romance: 91,000
Crime: 89,000
Religious: 75,000
Erotica: 58,000
Nonfiction
How-to / Self-Help, Career, and Education: 40,000–50,000 words
Standard Nonfiction: 70,000 to 80,000 words
Creative Nonfiction: 80,000 to 100,000 words
Memoir / Biography: 60,000 to 120,000+ words
Stories can and should find their natural length. Achieving that comes from professionally proofreading/developmentally editing drafts that follow the first. [The first draft should be used to work out the basic story, arcs, theme, and content.] Then refining all elements further, assessing, sometimes addressing, the flow and pace, and marking up for another round of editing/rewriting.
You can make the above process more efficient. Use the average word count for your book type as a guide. Make the optimal size of your book an early consideration in the planning process. It matters to your story development.
As of this writing, Dennis Lowery has ghostwritten 37 books for clients and just started his 38th (15 novels, 12 nonfiction, 9 memoirs, and 2 creative nonfiction). He has also worked on dozens of titles to help improve, develop, edit, and provide publishing assistance.
The girl was bleeding, but I didn’t know that at first. She had burst running from the field. I heard her sobs and deep, wracking breath, a rattling shudder rising from her chest and whistling through her teeth as she drew closer.
At 20 feet, I saw that the back of her shirt was in shreds that flapped as she ran.
At 10 feet, I saw the tears that had left trails down her crop-dust-coated, dirty face. I saw the blood that had run from her ears and dried down her neck, half-hidden by lank, dirty blonde hair.
At 5 feet I stepped off the porch to meet her as she stumbled to a stop framed by the setting sun on her left. At the back of her neck, a 4 or 5-inch flap of skin had been three-quarters torn away. It poured blood down a once white t-shirt, what was left of it now crimson-soaked tatters.
She jerked her head around to look behind–toward the field–then snapped back to look up at me. The ragged flesh flung blood. Then–and I had to lean close to hear what she said–she whispered as if something might be listening for her, “It’s in the corn.”
No guns. No knives. They checked you at the door, so I left them with the man who eyeballed me before letting me in. But I always carried a cheap fountain pen that was empty, unlike the one in my jacket. No ink and in my back pocket where I could get at it with my hands lowered slightly behind me, on the hips… a non-offensive stance. You can do a lot of damage with a pen when you don’t have a blade.
I had learned that trick in Naples. In the Gut… a dicey place where women, the wrong kind, and trouble were always abundant. I had watched a local bully boy torn open with one. They don’t make a clean cut… the tip catches and rips. Afterward, the bully boy wasn’t so tough. He had riled the wrong man.
Like right now.
I’m a quiet man.
I mind my own business and don’t give a damn what others do. I got problems of my own and just want to sit and drink.
People think it means I let shit slide.
But when the jumbo-sized, scar-faced goon started slapping her around, I had to do something. What she was doing in this hole wasn’t my business, but she didn’t fit in…. didn’t belong.
Nice clothes. Her face… an un-inked ivory oval framed by dark hair. Eyes, deep indigo in the dimness, but more light would have probably turned them lighter blue. And curves. Distracting, follow her every move just to see the shifting of things under her clothes, kind of curves. The make-you-run-off-the-road or walk-into-a-door looking at her kind.
Why’d she have to be like that?
Why’d I look?
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Hey, gruesome… lay off. Leave her alone.” But I guess he wasn’t in a listening mood. He hit her harder.
I pushed back from my table, stood, and took off my jacket.
In three or four long steps, I reached and put my hand on his shoulder to turn him. I ain’t no pussy and put my grip into it. He wasn’t one either, and when he came around, he grabbed my hand and forearm and twisted. I felt it break. That’s when I pulled my pen from my back pocket, wrote him a little note, and stuck it under his chin. The nib caught and snagged flesh as I yanked it free. He gurgled as blood filled his mouth and throat. “Fuck you,” I shoved him aside and turned to the woman; one side of her face already had a bruised grape look. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Why’d you do that?” She glanced at the man on the floor, still spitting red bubbles, and then at my now crooked left arm with the splintered end of bone poking out.
I held out my good hand. “You need to come with me now if you want me to live.”
“What?”
It must have been the slaps and punch to the head that made her slow on the uptake. “We have to go.” I’d seen the small guy, the bartender’s runner, head to the back rooms. He’d bring back the even bigger, meaner motherfuckers. “I ain’t leaving here without you.” Shit. I couldn’t believe I said that even as I said it. She grabbed my hand, and I hauled her to her feet. “We gotta go, or neither of us is leaving.”
She stumbled along at my side, me more dragging her than she walked. Outside was like stepping into a coal sack. Down the street, the lamppost lights wrestled with the fog that rolled off the water in the dark hours after midnight and before dawn. The streets, stone, and stucco walls around us were damp and glistening. The fog hung low—clung to your legs—in wads, a tattered, yellowed rag. The kind you used to wipe off malaria sweats and never washed.
Rain started falling. Fat drops at first… then like dumping a bucket from a window as I headed us into an alley. I had learned that using the alleys kept you mostly off the streets. Five minutes later, we were deeper into the maze of old buildings that radiated outward from the port’s warehouses. I had to find my bearings to get to my flop. There, I could fix my arm and ask her questions. She probably had answers I didn’t want to hear. But I’d still ask her.
The publishing world is competitive. Targeting specific genres and subgenres can enhance the commercial viability of your book. Here’s why this strategic focus is so effective:
1. Meeting Reader Expectations
Genre Conventions:
Every genre has its own set of conventions and tropes that readers expect and enjoy. By adhering to these, you meet the expectations of genre enthusiasts, making your book more appealing to them.
Predictable Audience:
Targeting a specific genre helps you identify and understand your audience more clearly. You can tailor your marketing and promotional efforts to attract this well-defined group.
2. Niche Markets
Less Competition:
Subgenres often have less competition compared to broader genres. By focusing on a niche market, you can stand out more easily and attract readers looking for something specific.
Dedicated Fanbase:
Readers of niche genres are often dedicated and loyal. Once you capture their interest, they are more likely to become repeat customers and advocates for your work.
3. Effective Marketing
Targeted Advertising:
With a clear genre or subgenre focus, your advertising can be more precise. You can use targeted ads on platforms like Facebook, Amazon and Goodreads to reach the right readers.
Optimized Metadata:
When you know your specific genre, you can optimize your book’s metadata (title, keywords, categories) to improve discoverability on search engines and online bookstores.
4. Stronger Branding
Consistent Author Brand:
Writing within a specific genre or subgenre helps you build a consistent author brand. Readers know what to expect from you, strengthening your reputation and making cultivating a loyal following easier.
Series Potential:
Genres and subgenres often lend themselves well to series writing. A successful series can generate ongoing interest and sales as readers eagerly expect the next installment.
5. Community Engagement
Reader Communities:
Each genre has dedicated communities and fan groups. Engaging with these communities can provide valuable feedback, promote word-of-mouth marketing, and create a sense of connection with your readers.
Industry Events:
Genre-specific events, such as conventions and book fairs, offer opportunities to network, market your book, and connect with readers and other authors.
6. Higher Conversion Rates
Focused Efforts:
Concentrating your efforts on a specific genre makes your marketing and promotional activities more likely to convert into sales. You can craft compelling messages that resonate with your target audience’s desires and interests.
Enhanced Reader Engagement:
Books that align with genre expectations are likelier to keep readers engaged. Satisfied readers are more inclined to leave positive reviews, recommend your book, and look for more of your work.
7. Adaptive Strategy
Trend Monitoring:
Keeping a pulse on genre trends allows you to adapt and evolve your writing to align with changing reader preferences, ensuring that your work remains relevant and appealing.
Feedback Utilization:
Focusing on a specific genre makes gathering and using reader feedback easier to refine your writing and better meet market demands.
Conclusion
Targeting specific genres and subgenres is a powerful strategy to enhance the commercial viability of your book. It allows you to meet reader expectations, tap into niche markets, optimize your marketing efforts, build a strong author brand, engage with dedicated communities, achieve higher conversion rates, and adapt to market trends. By understanding and leveraging the unique dynamics of your chosen genre, you can increase your chances of success.
‘Write to Market’ means understanding what readers crave and tailoring your writing to meet those desires. It’s about hitting that sweet spot where your creative idea is shaped to meet market demand.
There are specific things you should look at when evaluating your market. The information you glean can help you write a more commercially competitive book. Here’s what that information should comprise:
Comparative Title Analysis:
Revenue Assessment for the Top 20+ Selling Books in the Genre and Subgenres. See the revenue estimates for top sellers in your genre and subgenres (which show the market demand and potential).
Specific Title Strengths & Weaknesses Breakdown. Analysis of a title’s strengths and weaknesses, why readers bought it, and why some might not buy it.
Specific Title Discourse Breakdown. A comprehensive report on how language is used throughout the book, such as the choice of words, how sentences are structured, and the language and communication strategies used by the author to convey their message and engage with their audience.
Specific Title Thematic & Narrative Breakdown. A comprehensive and detailed thematic and narrative analysis of the story, examining the structure, content, and meaning. Analyzing patterns or themes, looking for commonalities and differences that can be used as writing guides.
Specific Title Structural Breakdown. A comprehensive and detailed structural narrative analysis highlights the structure’s benefits to the reader.
Genre / Subgenre Analysis:
Market Intelligence (Overview)
Market Trends
Reader Demographics & Psychographics
What Readers Need & Desire (Audience Feedback)
What Story Elements and Qualities Readers Look For
Critical Success Factors (for Fiction or Nonfiction)
These are the same Write-To-Market reports we generate and use for developing, planning, and writing our stories. The information comes from qualitative analysis, machine learning and predictive modeling using a combination of historical Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble reviews, historical customer reviews and ratings, market research, on-site analytics, key element analysis, social media insights and other historical insights to provide a deep understanding of the reader’s demographics, interests, psychographics and sentiment toward books in the genre and subgenre.
The truth doesn’t always set you free… sometimes it can kill you.
When a young FBI agent discovers a symbol linking a cold case to her family’s tragic past, she embarks on a perilous quest to uncover the truth, only to find that the answers could threaten her life and reveal who—or what—she truly is.
Twenty years ago, five-year-old Elin’s father vanished without a trace, and her mother was brutally murdered, the killer NEVER caught. Raised by a distant grandmother who disapproved of her biraciality, Elin grew up with unanswered questions and a determination to find answers.
After joining the FBI, Elin’s dreams of solving her family’s mysteries are dashed when she’s assigned to the Records Management Division. When an unsolved missing-person-turned-murder cold case crosses her desk, featuring a photo of the victim with an odd mark above their left breast, Elin is forced into a confrontation. Told to ‘process it and move on,’ she can’t. The mark, unknown to investigators, is identical to one of the four symbols on a pendant owned by the woman she swore she’d NEVER see or speak to again: her grandmother.
Her grandmother, a harsh woman Elin thought fearless, pales when told the circumstances and questioned about the symbol. She warns Elin to NEVER ask again and sends her away.
Then, a still-angry Elin receives a call that her grandmother is in critical condition from a series of strokes. Desperate for answers, she arrives in time to hear cryptic last words as her grandmother—who disliked touching—grips her hand: “The hunters… they found your father… NEVER reveal what you are….”
Stunned, Elin returns to work and discovers another cold case. This victim’s chest is marked by another of the symbols. She suspects the murders and other missing persons cases she finds are linked to her family’s tragedy. Her grandmother’s last words echo in her mind, the warning about what she is, not who. An unexpected bequest from her grandmother—a property in Wychaven, Connecticut—reveals an even greater, darker secret about her family and herself.
Determined to unravel the tangle her life’s become, Elin’s private investigation turns deadly, exposing a hidden past and threats lurking within it. She’s forced to confront truths she was NEVER prepared to face.
What if after World War Two, U.S. Forces didn’t return home… and the United States…
RULED BRITANNIA
Note from Dennis Lowery: This is a ‘first draft’ story idea and premise for further refinement.
Story Description (shorter version)
As World War Two ended, the balance of power in Europe was shattered when the Soviets revealed they had captured six undiscovered atomic bombs the Nazis could not deploy. Refusing to accept only their post-war gains, the Soviet Union’s ambitions expanded, leaving President Harry Truman with a dire choice: pull American troops back to Great Britain or risk a nuclear war in Europe.
Truman’s decision to cede Europe to the Soviets ignites a fierce debate within the U.S. government. Many senior military leaders and politicians view the Soviet Union as the next great enemy. When Truman died under suspicious circumstances, a coup led by senior military officials thrust America into a new era of authoritarian rule.
Amidst this turmoil, U.S. military intelligence collaborates with British anti-monarchists, hollowing out the British government from within. The new regime proposed a radical solution to prevent Soviet invasion: annex Great Britain as the 49th state of the United States.
But rebellion brews on both sides of the Atlantic. British patriots and disillusioned Americans unite in their quest for freedom, determined to reclaim their countries and their heritage from the grip of tyranny.
Story Description (longer version)
What if, as World War Two ends, the Soviets reveal they’ve captured six just completed, undiscovered atomic bombs the Nazis could not deploy, and it shifts the balance of power in Europe? The Soviet Union will no longer accept only their Allied apportioned post-war gains.
Not wanting to start a new conventional war and not willing to drop an atomic bomb in Europe and trigger a nuclear weapons-based one, President Harry Truman ordered all American troops pulled back to Great Britain, ceding Europe to the Soviets.
But a faction in the U.S. already believes that the Soviet Union is our next Great Enemy who must be confronted. General George Patton himself wants to move his 3rd Army against the Soviets. That faction gains power when Harry Truman dies (or, as some suspect, was assassinated).
U.S. military intelligence officers recruit British anti-monarchists and anti-crown politicians and reward their collaboration. The British government is weakened and then hollowed out.
The new ‘President’ of the U.S., the leader of the coup—at least its public ‘face’—hardens what has become a U.S. military occupation of Great Britain into an annexation.
Some British men and women of influence now loyal to (owned by) the U.S. bring forward the idea that the only way to stop the Soviet Union from also swallowing the United Kingdom… is for it to become part of the United States, a 49th ‘state’ (before Alaska and Hawaii in 1959).
But rebellion is growing in Britain even though the Soviet Union is now only across the channel in Soviet-France. They want their country and their heritage back. So do many Americans who can’t abide by what’s become an authoritarian society. The American and British rebels join forces in a quest for freedom.
From a premise by Dennis Lowery. In our story development pipeline, RULED BRITANNIA is the first story in a thrilling alternate-history series where the fight for liberty knows no borders.
While looking through a collection of Depression Era public domain photos (one from Taos, New Mexico was used for the story cover), one sparked some thoughts: What were the two men on the left talking about? And what about the man by the depot window with hunched shoulders? What’s up with him? That picture became this story from Dennis Lowery. Here are some of the reader comments:
“Excellent. Loved the twist. You paint characters so well and with so few words, too.” –Vicki Tyley
“Really cool! Thanks for sharing!” –CN
“Awesomeness!” –Susan Gabriel
“Incredible…” –Lena Kindo-Kamara
“A great little read!” –Rebecca Harden-Heick
“They think,” Henry nodded in the cop’s direction at the sidewalk, “the killer’s headed to Santa Fe.”
“Nah, I bet he went north.” Joe drew hard on his cigarette, taking the smoke deep and letting it out in plumes. “Folks on the radio are warning people to watch out… whoever he is, he’s a dangerous man.”
Henry shook his head slightly. Joe was one of those men who sounded, with dead-solid certainty, like he was right. But he was always mostly wrong and sensationalized everything when he passed it on to others. “What makes you think it’s a man, Joe?” He wanted to wind him up a bit and see where he spun.
“Bud Carson’s my wife’s nephew… he works with Tom Flint’s cousin. Tom’s the deputy who found the man on Old Mill Road night before last, just as he rattled out his last breath. Tom told his cousin the killer caved the man’s ribs in—someone beat the shit out of him. And get this,” he took a last drag from the cigarette butt in his hand and flipped it to the ground, “the head had been twisted, so it was turned around backward.” He shook his head. “The poor bastard was belly down but looking up at Tom when he died. Musta happened not long before Tom rolled up.” He pinched a piece of tobacco off his tongue and spat. “Ain’t no woman strong enough to do that.”
“You haven’t been here but a year, Joe. And haven’t seen Bill Stoudemire’s wife, Maggie.” Henry shook his head and winced, remembering his single date with her when they were young. “She’d go 200 pounds… and none of it fat.” He shuddered again at the thought of when he told her he wouldn’t go out with her again. “And she’s a mean bitch. That’s probably why Bill ran off a couple of years ago.” He looked thoughtful. “Maggie, she doesn’t come to town much… stays on her place east of town.”
“Well, I don’t think no woman could do it.” Joe turned away. “See you later.”
Henry watched him walk toward Mabel’s Diner and thought, Old Mill Road runs east-west…. right by Maggie’s land. He let the idle thought slip away. It was time to pick up that load of lumber from Granger’s and get to work.
The hatless man near the bus depot window stood shoulders hunched and faced away from the others waiting for the bus. They never should have come to Taos, he thought. But they’d heard there might be work. There was. But he and Johnny never should have taken that laborer job. Poor Johnny. He had to flirt with that woman who hired them… and then tap it. He’d grinned and said, “In the dark, there’s more of her to grab. And man, she can squeeze her thing tight.”
But something about her had bothered him. The way she watched them. He had slept in the barn, but Johnny was in the farmhouse with her after the first night. The fourth day, yesterday, he had come to breakfast to find that Johnny was gone. She had smiled at him—a gap-toothed invitation—and came close enough to brush his shoulder with the biggest tits he’d ever seen. “Your friend took off… you can sleep in the house tonight.” She had put her hand on his shoulder and given it a crushing pinch. “Come supper time, I’ll pay you your wages,” she waved a five-spot in her other hand.
He had nodded and gone out to the stretch of fence he and Johnny had been mending the day before. They both needed money, and Johnny wouldn’t have run for no reason, but he hadn’t wanted the kind of trouble this woman seemed capable of dishing. He had decided to finish the job and get the Hell away from her, but with that fiver.
At sundown, she had called him to dinner, “Come and ‘get it’….” He couldn’t help but hear her emphasis on her call to eat… and to something else.
At the table, he had wiped his plate clean. She had studied him, an up-and-down run of her eyes. “You eat like a starved man…” She had gotten up from the chair and moved to sit beside him, touching his forearm. “I do love me a man who has a hunger,” she squeezed and let go to hand him the five-dollar bill. “I’m the hungry kind, too….” As she got up, she leaned forward to drag the tips of her chest across his arm and straightened, her eyes shifting toward the room where she’d taken Johnny the last time he’d seen him.
He had stuffed the money in his pants pocket. “I left your tools out; gotta go put them away….” The look on her face had hardened into something he’d never seen on a woman’s face. He had met her glare, worked up a smile, and squinted at the darkened entry to her bedroom and back, “I’ll be quick… for some of that dessert.” The smile returned, and she showed the edges of her teeth behind the curl of her lips. “I’ll get it ready,” she had walked to the bedroom as he headed outside.
When he was near the fence line, he had shifted from a walk to a sprint. On the dirt road, he had slowed for the long run to town. He had spent the night hiding in a patch of woods, walked in at daylight, and waited. The morning bus for Santa Fe was late. He had heard from the newsboy working the corner with a stack of papers at his feet, ink so fresh the kid’s hands smeared with it; a body had been found the day before just off the road near town. And now a cop was checking people at the depot.
Maybe I should tell the police what happened, he thought. Maybe Johnny ran from her but was hurt and didn’t make it. But that arrest warrant for him in Los Angeles was waiting to land like a ton of brick. They’d send him away for a long time on that one. Where was that bus?
* * *
Years Later
By Jack Freeman, TTR
When Maggie Stoudemire died without kin in what appeared to be a tragic car accident, little did citizens of Taos know it would lead to the most shocking crime scene in the history of northern New Mexico. When the county took the Stoudemire land for taxes and sold it at auction, the farm’s new owners found twenty bodies. All male, some dating back more than twenty years. The most recent appears to have been dead for several months. They have identified only one body, Bill Stoudemire. Maggie’s husband, who had been reported missing in 1932. The Taos County Sheriff’s Department reports they have been working with federal and state authorities to review missing person reports to help identify the remaining bodies.
For the past month, Samantha’s grandfather had sat on the front porch each day as the summer deepened into a scorched August, whose heat often lasted into the first weeks of September. His face had drawn tighter each day as the grass and weeds grew tall and wild around the tree, crowning the crest of the hill. Samantha knew about the tree and what it meant to him. She hated it.
That morning she had seen the—about to do something you’d rather not but must—expression on her grandfather’s face. She thought of the same one her mother used to get as the ‘time-to-clean-the-cat-litter-box’ look. When she’d grown older and her mom had passed the chore to her, Samantha had understood. Her grandpa had come inside, sighed deeply, crossed the room, and got his broad-brimmed hat from the peg by the kitchen door to the backyard. He set the cap on his head and stepped outside without a word. From the window over the sink, she saw him enter the barn. In a few minutes, she had heard its starting cough, and the chuff and chug of the Massey-Ferguson’s engine got louder as the tractor approached the house and less so as it moved toward the hill.
Samantha went out onto the front porch to watch him. She cursed the sun’s blistering brightness with a sideways scowl beneath her headscarf. She hated it most of all.
As the tractor huffed along—spitting through the vertical exhaust pipe her grandfather always warned her not to touch—it grew even louder as the sound echoed off the hillside. Grandpa headed up in a straight line and would work his way around the tree and outward in an expanding concentric circle. As he closed on the top of the hill, the sun focused all its rays. This side of the knoll where the clump of rocks created an overhang showed a sliver of shadow as the sun arced over to fall full force on Grandpa.
“Samantha.”
She turned as her grandmother came out onto the porch. Dangling by the plastic loop connecting them, in one hand, she held two bottles already sweating with condensation. “Run these up to your papaw and make sure he drinks them.”
Samantha peeked again from beneath the edge of the porch’s shade at a sky, so piercing blue her eyes ached.
Her grandmother studied her for a moment, measuring her reluctance. “Please, honey.”
Her grandma couldn’t climb the hill. “Okay, Mamaw,” she took the bottles of water, Grandpa’s favorite flavor Kiwi-Strawberry, and set them on the porch rail. The long sleeves of her white shirt now rolled down; she picked up the umbrella always with her outside during the day.
The gray-haired woman surveyed Samantha’s preparations, and a growing sadness tightened her face. Her granddaughter had lost more than her mother. She was losing—to bitterness and fear—the joy she could still find in the simple moments of growing up and the pleasure and beauty in the world.
Samantha scrutinized the hill, haloed by the haze of dry-summer dust settling in the still air. Younger, she had begged her mom to carry her up there when her little legs couldn’t make the climb. A little older, and she’d made it holding her hand. As she grew up, it became a mother-versus-daughter race to the top. There they’d have picnics under the sun and in the semi-shade of the tree. Her mom would pick thistles blowing on them to make their tiny stalks float and dance in the air. “Make a wish Samantha,” she would tell her. Sometimes the wind carried them out of sight. She always wanted to ask her mom what happened to those wishes—the ones that sailed away—but never remembered. Now it was too late. She’d never know her mother’s answer.
Samantha popped the umbrella open, picked up the water bottles by the loop, and stepped off the porch and under the sun. Entering the field through the gate, her dragging steps scuffed up puffs from the dried grass clippings left by grandfather’s bush hog. The mower attachment his tractor towed to cut field and pasture grass. Ten minutes later, already drenched in sweat, she reached the base of the hill. With the umbrella angled to cover her, she climbed for another ten minutes to the top. Papaw waved as she approached. He had cleared the area around the tree and gestured for her to follow him as he turned toward it. He lowered the brush hog at the edge of the tree’s shade and shut off the tractor. In the silence, there wasn’t a whisper of wind.
The summer had been hotter than any she could remember. She still smelled the creosote of the asphalt—a stench she forever associated with her mother’s death—in the hospital parking lot. The heat had leached upward through the bottoms of her shoes and climbed her legs like the mercury in the thermometer Grandpa had put on a post by the porch. Then would reverse once she stepped into the over-air-conditioned hospital to sit with her mother, growing colder as she lay dying.
She glared at the underside of the black umbrella through the sting of sweat in her eyes, the pull of the headscarf’s edges sticking to her brow. She held the sides of the bottles against a cheek, a temporary relief. Her grandfather wiped his face with a handkerchief when she reached the tractor. He took off his hat and mopped his bald head.
“Here you go, Papaw,” she handed him the water. He stripped one bottle from the loop, unscrewed the top, drank, and smacked his lips. He gave it back and stuck the second bottle into his pants unbuttoned right cargo pocket. She took a drink as he rolled his sleeves up. The hair on his arms—so thick she always wondered what happened to the hair on his head—was matted with sweat.
“Hot one today,” he grunted as he slid off the seat and straightened. Both hands pressed at the small of his back as he pushed himself erect. “I need a breather.” He smiled, patted her shoulder, and walked to the tree’s base. He thumped the thick trunk with the palm of his left hand. “I planted this when your Mamaw told me she was pregnant with your momma,” he stroked the rough bark. “This was our—mine and your mom’s—tree.”
She didn’t want to listen to the story again. “Papaw,” she touched his arm. It wasn’t just sweat on her cheeks.
“Okay, honey.” He lowered to the ground with his back against the tree he had seen grow up with his daughter and wiped his eyes, rubbing at the corners with his thumbs. Samantha sat next to him. After a minute, her head was on his shoulder. He turned and rested his chin on her. “But your mother loved this tree… this hill.”
“I hate this place.”
He knew she didn’t. What she hated was the hurt of being here without her mom, at becoming a teenage girl—facing life—without her mother. He hated that, too; his remaining years spent without his daughter, Annie. Nothing could fill the void; he’d never recover from losing her. But he had to say something, had to help his granddaughter grasp something positive—something meaningful—from their loss.
He studied the frayed ends and tight knots of the rope around the thickest limb overhead. He had pruned away the smaller, lower limbs so the tire swing would have clearance. The tree hadn’t been big enough for Annie—she grew up as it did—but by the time Samantha was born, it was sturdy enough. She had swung, kicking chubby, baby-fat legs, and laughed. “Push me higher!” Samantha had told Annie as he and Helen had videoed them. One of those moments when still new grandparents are about to burst with love for their child and grandchild.
Last summer, he had taken the tire down to replace the ropes. Then Annie got sick, and he and Helen went to her and Sammy in the city to tend to things. He never got around to it. That summer began the last of many things for his daughter… with his daughter. He tilted his head to one side and squinted at his granddaughter. Samantha clutched the rolled-up umbrella to her chest. Her legs were pulled in tight under the shade of the tree as if the sun’s touch was poison. He and Helen had talked to her about the melanoma that had killed her mother. Then the sadness of her mother’s death hardened into a layer of hate against the cause.
A hint of a breeze teased them. The smaller branches above swayed. “Feels good, right?” Samantha turned her face up to him and nodded. The dust the tractor had kicked up had settled on her hot cheeks, and the fresh tears had created tracks. She lowered her head and stretched her right leg to half kick at a clump of thistles too close to the tree to mow with the bush hog. Dislodged, the stems caught the wind and twirled away.
“Papaw, what about the ones floating off? You don’t see them coming down….”
“What do you mean, Sammy?”
“Mom always told me to pick one, make a wish, and blow. And you had to hold the wish in your thoughts until the thistle landed.” She sat up and spun on her rump to face him as she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “What happens to those wishes? The ones that blow away?”
He rubbed his nose and shifted his legs. He had told that folktale to Sammy’s mother when she was a child, but Annie had never asked that question. “Well, those wishes land somewhere. Wherever the wind takes them, and they carry seeds that can take root, and there, in that spot, they can grow more.” He brushed her chin with his fingertips. “So little girls and boys can find them to wish upon.”
“So, they’re not gone, not lost?”
He twisted the top off the second bottle, took a drink, and passed it to Samantha. “Have some.” She preferred the black-cherry flavor but drank and swallowed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She handed the water back, and he spun on the cap. “No, they’re not gone. Things in life move on, but the important part of them stays with you. That doesn’t change… if you decide to hold them tight. In a way, that’s called faith.”
“Are memories like that? I mean… we can only see them in our minds. But we still feel them.” She paused. The wind had picked up, and he almost didn’t catch what she added. “Like mom.”
“Yes, honey, memories are like that. But we should only keep and cherish the good ones like of your mother.” He paused; the damned sweat was in his eyes. Kerchief out again, he tilted his head back to wipe them and his brow, then folded the sodden cloth to stick back in his pocket. “Your mom’s still with us. She touched so many people’s hearts, and the memories of her are what we hold close.” He looked into his granddaughter’s eyes, so much like Annie’s. “The wind doesn’t always blow things away from us, Sammy. And what does isn’t what’s important. What remains is.”
“God damn melanoma. Goddamned cancer,” she spat.
He agreed. “Shhhh, sweetie, don’t curse. Your Mamaw will kick my butt if she hears you.” His knees told him he had sat too long as he used one hand to push up and steadied himself with the other on the tree trunk. He had brought up a handful of grass and earth in his fist and sifted through his hands. “Too dry,” he brushed a piece of bark from the tree, and it crumbled into powder. “Worst in decades,” he muttered as he rubbed a drooping leaf between thumb and forefinger. Brittle. He worried he’d lose the tree too and considered what to do to run an irrigation line up the hill.
“Papaw?” she waited a moment and tugged his pants leg. “Grandpa.”
He felt the pull as he put his hat on, squaring to sit above his eyes, and glanced down at her. “Yes, Sammy?”
“Why today?”
Thumbs in two belt loops, he hitched up his pants. “What, honey?” He reached down and held out a still strong, sinewy hand to help her stand.
“We don’t come up here anymore,” she pointed up at the tree. “Why today? When it’s so hot.”
He studied her face, framed by the scarf, the red hair, and a dusting of freckles. Her eyes when she stood were not far below his. He realized Samantha would be a tall woman like her mother, his Annie. “We lose things. Sometimes small stuff. Little things that aren’t too valuable we don’t miss. But sometimes,” he paused and thumbed the corners of his eyes again. Damned sweat, he thought. “Bad shit happens—don’t say that word, remember Mamaw—to something or someone important to us. It gets damaged, or they get hurt. They break down or get sick. Sometimes we can’t fix things or them. One day they’re gone, and some we can never replace.” He rubbed the tree’s trunk again and glanced up through the leaves. “Because they were the only ones you….” He blinked, coughed, and thumb-spun the lid off the bottle. Offering to her, she shook her head, and he drank the last. He crumpled and placed it with the cap in the cargo pocket of his pants. “They were the only one of them you’ll ever have.” He put his hands on her shoulders, “We honor what we’ve lost by taking care of what we still have,” he patted the tree again. “I see this tree, and I think of your mother.”
Samantha turned her head. “It makes me sad.”
He stood still, waited for her to look at him, and then continued. “This morning, I remembered what makes me happy and not what makes me unhappy.” He scanned around them and turned back to her. “Your mother loved this hill, this tree, and I have to care for it no matter how miserable I am. And now I’m here again, remembering the echoes of her laughter and the beauty of her smile.” He closed his eyes and sang, “In this place, full of empty space. Her soft and tender love will always shine for me.” The song trailed off as he gazed at the tree’s canopy above them, its leaves moving with the wind. He squeezed his granddaughter’s shoulders and walked toward the tractor.
Samantha thought Grandma will be happy when I tell her he’s singing again. He hadn’t done that since he sang to her mom in the hospital. She bent and plucked something from the grass, held it to her lips, and blew. The wind caught the stalks before they drifted to the ground. And bounced them up to form a line like connected train cars pulling away from them on a current of air. Before they were out of sight, she whispered, “I love you, Mom. I’ll never forget you.”
She turned to follow her grandfather. Now in the tractor’s seat, left-handed, he twisted the key and pressed the starter button. He reached down right-handed to lift the lever to raise the bush hog. As she climbed on the fender next to him, a gust of wind caught her scarf, lifting its loose twining to whirl into the sky. The umbrella unfurled and pulled from her grip, billowing open to sail high, tumbling and spinning over the hill, dancing along with her headscarf away from them in the same direction as the thistles. They watched until they, too, were gone. She squinted up at the glaring sun. He took his hat off and plunked on her head. “Here you go, kid.”
They bounced downhill, the tractor jarring on patches of uneven ground. Still thinking about what Grandpa had said, Samantha glanced over her shoulder at the tree as it got higher and smaller. She took the hat from her head and leaned over to shout so he could hear over the engine noise, “Papaw…” She put the cap on his head, careful not to pull too low over his eyes. “You need this more than me!” She leaned in again to kiss him on the cheek, and he held her with one arm, the other gripping the steering wheel. The clean wind steadied and took away the sting and ache.
He pointed up at the line of clouds bunching ahead and above. They were dense, dark, and charging on the wind toward them. “Breathe, Sammy,” he smiled, “and see what the wind’s bringing us.”
She saw the wrinkled furrows on his forehead smooth as the scudding clouds blocked the sun and cooled the sky. The wind swirled, casting the first drops. Something pirouetted before her nose, and she caught it in cupped hands and peeked inside. An intact thistle. Thinking more about what her papaw had just told her, she grinned into the wind. “Thanks, Mom!”
As a writer, you believe what you’re creating will touch someone in some way. But you send your creation out into an often silent world. Maybe it’s just not found so it can be read. After all, we live in a world where we’re inundated with information, social media shares, and posts. Pictures of cute dogs… cute cats… cute girls… and bacon. In all of that, sometimes your writing gets missed. BUT then there are times when you get a message from a reader like this. And it confirms that what you’re doing does reach some people and that it’s touched their hearts. I received this message–screen-grab below–from a reader of the excerpt from this story that I posted.
So, I posted the full story.
Here are some of the reader comments:
“Great story–and very timely. I lost one of my Marine buddies this week.” –Jim Zumwalt
“Loved it. I felt like I was there…I could smell the mown grass and feel the sting of the glaring sun. I could relate to Sammy’s anger and sadness and when I read those familiar lyrics that her grandpa sang…I was hooked. It was very touching Dennis. Thank you for the thoughtful take on how we keep memories of our loved ones near and dear. The title is beautiful.” -Bobbie T.
“Superbly written.” –Gwendolyn M.
“Wow, what a bittersweet yet beautiful story of love and loss and healing… Thank you for such a poignant and touching story!” -Lisa Wolfington
“Loved your story. It made me think of loved ones that are no longer here. They will always be with me. Thank you.” -Marsha Mooneyhan
“Beautifully written, Dennis.” -Michael Koontz
“A beautiful story of loss and healing; so touching and lovely.” -Nina Anthonijsz
“Talk about tugging at the heartstrings.” -Vicki Tyley
“I love your story; it’s a touching and poignant piece.” -RC de Winter
“Left me speechless and filled with precious memories from when Mom was around. Thank you for this beautiful story.” -L. Moncivaiz
“Thank you, so much. It’s a beautiful story; a sweet and touching read. I need to explore that connection [in the story] I am glad you wrote this as it’s nudging me to explore what it is.” –AD
Here’s a straightforward explanation of the benefits of being a Plotter (versus Pantster) and how planning and outlining a story can boost productivity and improve story quality.
Why Plotting Works:
Clear Roadmap
Efficiency: With a detailed plan, you always know what happens next. This saves you from wasting time figuring out where your story is going.
Focus: An outline keeps you on track, helping you avoid unnecessary detours and distractions.
Consistent Progress
Daily Goals: A clear outline allows you to set specific, achievable writing targets. You can measure your progress and maintain steady momentum.
Avoid Writer’s Block: Knowing your story’s direction helps you keep writing, even on tough days.
Better Time Management
Prioritization: You can allocate your time more effectively, balancing writing, research, and character development.
Meeting Deadlines: With a plan, you can estimate how long each part of your story will take to write, making it easier to meet deadlines.
Enhancing Story Quality
Solid Structure
Coherent Plot: An outline ensures your story makes sense and stays consistent.
Balanced Pacing: You can control your story’s flow, ensuring it’s neither rushed nor slow.
Rich Character Development
Detailed Profiles: Planning lets you develop in-depth character backgrounds and arcs, making them more believable.
Consistency: Your characters remain true to themselves, avoiding contradictions.
Thematic Depth
Cohesive Themes: With planning, you can weave themes and symbolism throughout your story, adding depth and meaning.
Effective Foreshadowing: You can plant hints and clues that pay off later, creating a more satisfying reading experience.
Well-Defined Conflict and Resolution
Clear Conflicts: Planning helps create meaningful conflicts that drive the story forward.
Satisfying Endings: An outline allows you to craft resolutions that tie up loose ends and fulfill your story’s promise.
Practical Benefits
Flexibility
Adaptability: Even with a plan, you can still be creative and make changes as new ideas come up.
Easier Revisions: A solid outline simplifies spotting and fixing problems in your story.
Collaboration
Feedback: You can get better feedback on your story structure and direction before writing the entire manuscript.
Team Projects: If you’re co-writing, an outline ensures everyone is on the same page.
Publishing and Marketing
Effective Querying: A clear outline makes your query letters to agents or publishers more compelling.
Targeted Marketing: Knowing your story’s key points helps you craft a stronger pitch for readers.
Being a Plotter means you’re prepared and organized, boosting your productivity and enhancing your story’s quality. It’s about having a clear path to follow, making your writing process smoother and more effective.
Do you need help with story planning and plotting? We can help.