Measuring My Vocabulary

Recently, I saw this site which measures rappers vocabularies and compares them to Shakespeare and Moby Dick. It does so by counting unique words in a 35,000 word sample.

(Aside: There is a implicit understanding that more unique words is better. I'm not sure that I agree with the statement on its own. However, I of course wanted a bigger number than Shakespeare.)

Here are some notable benchmarks:

Moby Dick: 6,022
Wu-Tang Clan: 5,895
Outkast: 5,212
Shakespeare: 5,170
Beastie Boys: 5,090
Jay-Z: 4,506
Eminem: 4,494
Kayne West: 3,982
Snoop Dogg: 3,974
DMX: 3,214

So of course, I was curious how I measured up. I took the first 35,000 words from Autopilot.

So that shows that I've used more unique words than Beastie Boys and Shakespeare but not Moby Dick or Wu-Tang.

important week for james delmar

I'm not Nostradamus. My 2008 prediction of who would win the 2010 World Series didn't come true. In Autopilot, the Anaheim Angels won it all. So for a realistic rewrite, I would need to write a joke about the Giants.

Anyways, this weekend is an important one for Mr. Delmar. It's the weekend that the clocks get pushed back. [SPOILERS]

I Write Like...

I found this FASCINATING.

I stumbled across a site called "I write like" and allegedly will tell you what famous author you write like, based on a pasted sample.

The first thing I did was submit some quotes from Vonnegut and Palahniuk, and sure enough they correctly identified them, as long as there was enough content. It didn't do as well with 1-sentence quotes.

So I opened up my Autopilot document and copied and pasted each chapter:

Chapter 1: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 2: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 3: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 4: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 5: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 6: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 7: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 8: Ursula K. Le Guin
Chapter 9: Ursula K. Le Guin
Chapter 10: Stephen King
Chapter 11: Cory Doctorow
Chapter 12: Stephen King
Chapter 13: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 14: Cory Doctorow
Chapter 15: Cory Doctorow
Chapter 16: J. D. Salinger
Chapter 17: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 18: Stephen King
Chapter 19: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 20: Chuck Palahniuk
Chapter 21: Stephen King

- - -

I've always considered Palahniuk one of my favorite writers (along with Vonnegut) and cited him as a primary influence. Now it seems documented. I also love Catcher in the Rye, so I was excited to see Salinger pop up. So I checked out chapter 16. That is the chapter (spoiler alert) that the main character is walking around New York City. And despite the age difference, it sort of reminiscent of Holden walking around.

Of course, later on, I specifically reference Holden Caulfield in Chapter 19. How very Palahniukian of me.

So then I copied the entire novel, and pasted it. So I suppose it's true, in Autopilot...

autopilot in real time

I finished the first draft of my (unpublished) novel is 2008. At that point, 2010 was the future and it seemed unfamiliar. If it ever actually gets published (which it would need a rewrite, and even then...) 2010 will be outdated.

Anyways, the action of the novel begins in June 2010, with references to the World Cup in the first two chapters. So if you want to follow along, here is the rough timeline for Autopilot.

Chapter One: June 2010
Chapter Five: August 2010
Chapter Nine: September 2010 (9/11)
Chapter Ten: October 2010 (10/11)
Chapter Eleven: November 2010 (11/7)
Chapter Twelve: November 2010 (Thanksgiving)
Chapter Fourteen: December 1, 2010
Chapter Fifteen: December 2, 2010
Chapter Seventeen: New Year's Eve
Chapter Twenty-One: February 2011

autopilot stats

There have been 40 published copies of Autopilot.

8 copies have been sold at lulu.com. 6 of the purchasers have revealed their identity; 2 are still a mystery.

32 were purchased by me. 29 I have sold in person. 2 have yet to be sold. And 1 copy, the rough draft that preceded the release date...has been destroyed.

That means that my revenue for Autopilot has been $450. But the 32 copies cost $202.94. Which means that so far, the profit for Autopilot is $247.06.

I figure I probably spent another $75 or so in release party food and beverage. All told my bottom line is probably about enough to purchase two tickets to a Chiefs game, or something fairly decent off Craigslist.

site note

I'm still posting new content to the Autopilot Novel official site so check it out and keep an eye on it every so often. And forward the link on to your friends. I'm still waiting to see the first reviews pop up on the product page.

it's real

It's almost hard to believe that after all this time and effort, I've actually written a novel. And people are about to read it. A year ago I was halfway through the rough draft, and up until August I was still planning on releasing it on 11.22.08. And now it's finished.

I hope people like it.

autopilot - the debut novel by dave fymbo (official site)

order it or preview it here for $15 (publisher's site)

novel update

I couldn't stick to my May 9th date. Stay tuned for updates.

Update: look up.

teasing the novel

So I made this teaser animation. I have no idea if I'll be able to stick to this date, but whatever. Of course, I'll keep updating stuff as I get closer.

novel update

Since you asked...

I've learned a lot in the editing process. One of the things that I've learned is that I probably shouldn't have sent out a Save The Date that far in advance.

I have a draft finished. That is not the same as being finished. I'm going through it, as I type, and there's significant work to be done.

For months I had been looking forward to having a novel release party on my birthday. And this week I'm coming to grips with the fact that it might not happen. At least not on November 22nd.

I would need to make the final bulk order by about November 5th, so I've still got a month, but that includes having my editors go through it and printing a test copy. Right now, I'm starting to accept that it would be better to release it at a later date when it's something that I'm 100% proud of, than to release it on time if I know it's not as good as it could be.

This is the most personal, important, and meaningful thing I've ever done. And hopefully when I finish, it will be worth it.

rough draft finished

At over 46,000 words, I'm finished with phase one. Now it's on to editing, proofing, rewriting.

Still a lot of work left to do. But at least it's down on paper. It's a lot easier to fine tune, than it is to create.

For comparison, Roadside Attractions was about 20,000 words. Although this one will end up around 175 pages, instead of 116. There were a lot of filler pages in RA.

45,000 words

If you've been following along, you might expected this post to be called 90%.

However, a funny thing happened on my way to writing a 50,000 word novel. I'm almost finished at 45,000. But that's okay. Once I get the rough draft finished, then I can go back and edit, and see where I need to add scenes if I do.

So I might get closer to 50k than 45k when it's all said and done.

And I'm almost tantalizingly close to finishing the rough draft.

80%

It's been a while. It's already July 8th. It looks like it will be Mid-August before I finish. That's okay.

70%

Home stretch. Everything's falling into place and it feels good. I'm feeling good about having the rough draft done by July. That would be just about 6 months. That's not too bad.

67%

Okay, sure it's not a major milestone, but after it took me 5 weeks to write 10%, it's pretty cool that I wrote another 7% in 3 days.

And this is the 2/3 mark. I wrote the first 1/3 in about 10 weeks, and I'm still on that pace.
That would put me at the middle of August, but I might be able to finish sooner. My theory is now it's sort of like a puzzle, and once you get the outer frame, the inside's a lot easier to fill.

60%

Well, these last 5000 words were slow going. I just haven't had time to work on it, with everything else going on.

I'm way off pace and won't finish the rough draft in July, but that's okay. I should still be able to hit my target release date. Maybe I'll be able to get into a groove. If I could write 5000 words every two weeks, that would put me at July 29. We'll see.

50%

I'm halfway there. I'm excited because I was able to write these last 5,000 words (what I'm assuming to be 10% of the end product) in just a week. Now I don't expect to keep up that pace, since it was almost all novel, all the time. But if I can manage to stick to a 10% every 2 weeks pace, that would currently have me finished by July 2nd.

Another way of looking at it, is that I started on January 25, so that's basically halfway there in 3 months. Which would have me finished by July 25.

Although I'd rather finish in June, I'd take July. That would still give me time to let it settle in mind, then come back with a few months of revising before my intended release date.

40%

Phew. I cranked out that last ten percent in 3 weeks. That has me finishing just the first draft around September 1st. Hmm...I've got a special release date in mind and I know I'll need a couple months of revising/proofing before it's ready to go. Looks like I need to speed it up a notch.

30%

After really starting on about Jan 25th, I'm 30% of the way through my first draft of my novel. Although a fair chunk of that was using passages and ideas that I had written before Jan 25th, so I'm not sure that I can claim a rate of 15% every month. Although, the last three weeks, I really didn't get much done, because I was preparing for London.

It's frustrating because I have the outline, and I'd love to wrap this thing up by June or so, but it just takes a long time.

a novel idea

Although I let the cat of the bag last July 30, this is the first official word that I am in fact writing a novel that will hopefully come out in Summer/Fall 2008.

Since this is a Hoagie Central exclusive, I'm offering a special promotion to loyal HC readers. If you submit some content, whether it's a personal story, something made-up, or just a funny thought or whatever, I'll try and work it in to the novel.

Note: this does not apply to just saying some stupid inside joke like "toast" or "hershey highway" as that is quite lame. cough mark cough.

So if you have an idea, you can be a part of the next great American novel. Just don't be lame.