Alan Moore finishes million-word novel’s first draft

Alan Moore has finished the first draft of his novel, Jerusalem. And it’s more than a million words. God Save The Editor! And God help whomever decides to delve into this albatross.

Robot 6:

After eight years, Alan Moore has completed the epic first draft of his long-discussed novel Jerusalem, which clocks in at more than 1 million words.

“Has finished the first draft of his second novel, Jerusalem,” the writer’s daughter Leah Moore announced Tuesday on Facebook. “Now there’s just the small matter of copy editing a more-than-a-million word document, and its all done.”

The Verge offers a bit of context for that staggering figure, noting that it’s the equivalent of more than two Lord of the Rings novels, or the first three installments of the Song of Ice and Fire series. The Guardian adds that it’s 200,000 words more than the Bible.

In the works since at least 2006, Jerusalem explores the history of Moore’s hometown, Northampton, England, using stories from his family’s past, with his own interpretations of events, and fantasy elements that detour into other dimensions, and into other genres.

When he spoke with the New Statesman in 2011, the writer envisioned a 750,000-word novel. “Any editor worth their salt would tell me to cut two-thirds of this book, but that’s not going to happen,” Moore said. “I doubt that Herman Melville had an editor — if he had, that editor would have told him to get rid of all that boring stuff about whaling: ‘Cut to the chase, Herman.’”

Man. I can’t even be assed to edit a sixteen-word post introduction. Let alone one-million fucking words. So a tip of the cap. Anyone actually interested in this book? Seems…daunting.