Returning to the outline was definitely the right thing to do. I'll probably be working on this for the next week or so. The corpses remain the same, as does the killer. The story arc remains intact - the killer returns, kills people, gets caught - but the telling of the story is changing.
I have a different reason for bringing everyone together and a minor character is now the MC (Main Character). The focus is also shifting slightly. I might change the POV (Point Of View), but I'm currently undecided at the moment. The POV will shift slightly, just not change completely. I will probably write the opening using at least two different POVs and see how they work.
Of course the whole thing may change again, but I'm happier with this newer version than with the previous one. I probably won't use much of what I've already written, but I will use most of the scenes. These will have to be re-written due to the change of MC and POV.
Monday 30 November 2009
Verified!
I just verified and my word count was given as 51992 words. My word processor said I had 52020 words. I'm curious what the missing 28 words are.
One other point, this year I didn't have to expand all my contractions to win. One year, three or four years ago, I changed all my "don't" and "can't" etc. to "do not" and "can not" etc. in order to win.
And of course I didn't have to write a lot about nothing to make up the word count either. Both indicate progress on my part and I'm happy about that. Now back to the outline/synopsis.
The Last Day
I am going to verify my NaNoWriMo in a moment. It will end up as about 52k words. I haven't written anything since last week. I can't think of anything to write. Nothing. I need some more scenes, but right now I can't think of any.
What I need to do is go back to the outline and re-write it so that it matches the story I've written. Then I can create the new scenes. At least that's the theory.
Over the last few days I've tried just sitting down and writing, but it isn't working. I have no idea what I need at the moment. I'm getting lost. So it's time to review, delete and re-write.
I'm off to verify my first draft, knowing it is woefully incomplete and in need of a miracle. Let's hope in the next few weeks I find one...
What I need to do is go back to the outline and re-write it so that it matches the story I've written. Then I can create the new scenes. At least that's the theory.
Over the last few days I've tried just sitting down and writing, but it isn't working. I have no idea what I need at the moment. I'm getting lost. So it's time to review, delete and re-write.
I'm off to verify my first draft, knowing it is woefully incomplete and in need of a miracle. Let's hope in the next few weeks I find one...
Thursday 26 November 2009
Day Twenty Six
And again I have written 0 words. It's a good thing that I am already over 50k, because there's a chance I won't be able to write until the weekend.
Work got in the way. All the things I have been putting off, had to finally be done. So the day went in a blink. Looking on the bright side, I did get a lot of things done.
I gave to go out this evening, so I know I won't get anything done when I get back. Still there's always tomorrow...
Work got in the way. All the things I have been putting off, had to finally be done. So the day went in a blink. Looking on the bright side, I did get a lot of things done.
I gave to go out this evening, so I know I won't get anything done when I get back. Still there's always tomorrow...
Day Twenty Five
I didn't write anything yesterday. Not a single word. I didn't even open up the file. Hopefully today, 26th, will be better. All I have to do is think of something to write.
Tuesday 24 November 2009
Update day 24
So far today I have written 2270 words. I'm not sure I will write much more, hence I decided to write this post. My total is 52020 words. This is actually higher than I thought it would be, as I was unsure that I would write too much once I had reached the magic 50k.
But I reached 50k and, even with work and meetings, I continued to write. So not a bad total. Unfortunately tomorrow is Wednesday and I never seem to write on a Wednesday. I will try, but no promises.
I know I need to look at the outline again and completely re-write it so that it matches the current storyline and is more detailed. This will be the synopsis in the end. At least that's the plan.
Then the only thing missing is the cover letter, but that is for another day, which lies far, far into the future. Still it fills me with dread just thinking about it.
Back to the novel. I'm hoping by the end of December to have a completed draft. All the scenes completed and storyline fixed in place with no holes. I, also, hope to have about 80k-90k written. Then I will start deleting stuff, including full scenes. The idea is, I will write more than I need, so that I can get rid of the stuff I don't need and only leave the best in the book. That's the theory, I wonder what will happen in practice...
And by completed draft, I don't mean one ready to submit (not the final draft, the novel), but one ready to be properly edited for grammar and spelling and the like. At that point I would hope that there won't be any major re-writes. Famous last words.
But I reached 50k and, even with work and meetings, I continued to write. So not a bad total. Unfortunately tomorrow is Wednesday and I never seem to write on a Wednesday. I will try, but no promises.
I know I need to look at the outline again and completely re-write it so that it matches the current storyline and is more detailed. This will be the synopsis in the end. At least that's the plan.
Then the only thing missing is the cover letter, but that is for another day, which lies far, far into the future. Still it fills me with dread just thinking about it.
Back to the novel. I'm hoping by the end of December to have a completed draft. All the scenes completed and storyline fixed in place with no holes. I, also, hope to have about 80k-90k written. Then I will start deleting stuff, including full scenes. The idea is, I will write more than I need, so that I can get rid of the stuff I don't need and only leave the best in the book. That's the theory, I wonder what will happen in practice...
And by completed draft, I don't mean one ready to submit (not the final draft, the novel), but one ready to be properly edited for grammar and spelling and the like. At that point I would hope that there won't be any major re-writes. Famous last words.
Day Twenty Four
I just passed the 50000 word mark. My total word count, for my original story, is 50005 words. NaNoWriMo is won! Now to finish the book.
Monday 23 November 2009
Day Twenty Three
I had trouble getting started today, which is not surprising due to the fact that I haven't written a word since last Thursday and that was only a few hundred words.
I wrote just over 2700 words today. My total is 49750 words. Only 250 words away from completing NaNoWriMo and a long way from completing my first novel.
I could write those 250 words today, but I think they will be improved if I leave them until tomorrow. There is no rush as there are still seven days to go.
I will continue to add to my word count until the 30th November, when I will verify my word count. Then I'll begin the real editing. That should be interesting. Or do I mean terrifying.
And yes, I know I repeat myself a lot, but as this blog represents my thought process that isn't so surprising. It does help me keep on track and that is important.
I wrote just over 2700 words today. My total is 49750 words. Only 250 words away from completing NaNoWriMo and a long way from completing my first novel.
I could write those 250 words today, but I think they will be improved if I leave them until tomorrow. There is no rush as there are still seven days to go.
I will continue to add to my word count until the 30th November, when I will verify my word count. Then I'll begin the real editing. That should be interesting. Or do I mean terrifying.
And yes, I know I repeat myself a lot, but as this blog represents my thought process that isn't so surprising. It does help me keep on track and that is important.
The Weekend - Days 21 and 22
I didn't write a word the whole weekend. I was very busy, but that is no excuse. On Saturday I took the kids to 2 parties and Sunday I was in recovery.
Still the kids were happy even if they were a little hyperactive. I was tired. Still am, but never mind.
So I still have 3000 words to write before I reach 50k. Then I still need to add at least another 25k to make my draft into a novel. I am halfway through reading what is already written. Most can actually stay.
I just need to add more. Not to mention I need to redo the outline. The change of murderer requires a few changes, not to mention the fact I changed my mind about one detail after I wrote the first scene introducing that detail. The scene does contain other information that is going to stay so I only have to delete or re-write the parts that are no longer relevant.
And I still have a missing body or planted evidence, which still needs explanation. I have no idea how I'm going to do either. I don't think I'll introduce another body, which means I need to explain the planted evidence instead.
Today I hope to write at least 2500 words. If I'm very lucky I'll reach the 50k mark. I will continue to write and I won't verify my word count until the last day. Hopefully it will be significantly more than 50k.
And while re-reading this post before publishing it, I just worked out how I can change my detail to allow give a reason for the planted evidence. I need to change the speaker, but otherwise it will work.
Still the kids were happy even if they were a little hyperactive. I was tired. Still am, but never mind.
So I still have 3000 words to write before I reach 50k. Then I still need to add at least another 25k to make my draft into a novel. I am halfway through reading what is already written. Most can actually stay.
I just need to add more. Not to mention I need to redo the outline. The change of murderer requires a few changes, not to mention the fact I changed my mind about one detail after I wrote the first scene introducing that detail. The scene does contain other information that is going to stay so I only have to delete or re-write the parts that are no longer relevant.
And I still have a missing body or planted evidence, which still needs explanation. I have no idea how I'm going to do either. I don't think I'll introduce another body, which means I need to explain the planted evidence instead.
Today I hope to write at least 2500 words. If I'm very lucky I'll reach the 50k mark. I will continue to write and I won't verify my word count until the last day. Hopefully it will be significantly more than 50k.
And while re-reading this post before publishing it, I just worked out how I can change my detail to allow give a reason for the planted evidence. I need to change the speaker, but otherwise it will work.
Friday 20 November 2009
Day Twenty
Bad day today. It wasn't the writing, it was everything else and that affected the writing. The result was that I wrote just 886 words. I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.
I will write over the weekend. I will. Until I don't do it of course and by then I should have thought of some excuse.
So my total for the original story is 47028 words and there is still ten days to go. Somehow I feel quite bad that I haven't finished yet, but I shouldn't. What I have written so far is better than anything I've ever written before. It's not perfect, but it is an improvement.
And yet I feel that I'm not doing enough. I think this is because I always won NaNoWriMo by writing 50k in ten days and so far I've spent 20 days writing just 47k. Doesn't really make sense, but it's how I feel. I know I need quantity, but I need quality too.
I will write over the weekend. I will. Until I don't do it of course and by then I should have thought of some excuse.
So my total for the original story is 47028 words and there is still ten days to go. Somehow I feel quite bad that I haven't finished yet, but I shouldn't. What I have written so far is better than anything I've ever written before. It's not perfect, but it is an improvement.
And yet I feel that I'm not doing enough. I think this is because I always won NaNoWriMo by writing 50k in ten days and so far I've spent 20 days writing just 47k. Doesn't really make sense, but it's how I feel. I know I need quantity, but I need quality too.
Thursday 19 November 2009
Day Nineteen
I switched back to the original story today and I have so far written 3629 words. I am going to drop the words I wrote for the other story and move them to another file. So my grand total is 46142 words.
I probably won't reach 50k tomorrow, but I might over the weekend and even if I write nothing at all on Saturday or Sunday, I will hit 50k on Monday. I'm way ahead of schedule. I know I won't end up with anywhere near 75k before the end of November, but I will have written more towards a book than ever before.
I've hit 50k for four different NaNoWriMos. In each case, that was it. I did nothing more on the stories and to be truthful, they weren't very good. In fact most of the time they didn't really have a story line buried anywhere in them.
This year I do have a story line and I have scenes and I have subplots and everything else. This year I planned and this year I intend to edit and rewrite until I have a novel. I've never done that before and it should be interesting to see how it goes.
I probably won't reach 50k tomorrow, but I might over the weekend and even if I write nothing at all on Saturday or Sunday, I will hit 50k on Monday. I'm way ahead of schedule. I know I won't end up with anywhere near 75k before the end of November, but I will have written more towards a book than ever before.
I've hit 50k for four different NaNoWriMos. In each case, that was it. I did nothing more on the stories and to be truthful, they weren't very good. In fact most of the time they didn't really have a story line buried anywhere in them.
This year I do have a story line and I have scenes and I have subplots and everything else. This year I planned and this year I intend to edit and rewrite until I have a novel. I've never done that before and it should be interesting to see how it goes.
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Day Eighteen
OK. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Wednesdays are no good for writing. My schedule is much more erratic and this means that my usual writing time isn't available. And no I can't move things round, unfortunately work doesn't allow for that.
I might write this afternoon, but I might not. I did print out what I have already written and I'll start reading through it to find out where I can add. (And where I need to delete.) I won't rewrite anything yet, but I will mark it out for later.
Still 12 days to go, so I should still make it. It is definitely harder now I've finished the story line. I think I should have marked the places that I skipped, so that they were easier to find. But I didn't.
The story needs to reach 75k to 90k in order to be of publishable length, so I must be able to add in stuff somewhere. Either that or I need to add to the body count again.
So my status so far:-
Original story 42500 words (approx.) and story line is complete.
New story just under 3000 words and only just getting started and I have no idea where this ones going.
If I stick to the original, to win NaNoWriMo I need another 7500 words, which should be doable.
If I work out a very detailed outline plus some scenes for the second story, I only need another 4500 words. All numbers are approximate values. In this second case, I would end up with 2 "first drafts", but I fear I'll get sidetracked if I do.
See http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3138144 for a good explanation for my fear.
The link is also in the comments of yesterday's entry. All thanks go to Bill, because it is such a perfect match.
I will add one little thing, all this blogging is definitely helping my spelling.
I might write this afternoon, but I might not. I did print out what I have already written and I'll start reading through it to find out where I can add. (And where I need to delete.) I won't rewrite anything yet, but I will mark it out for later.
Still 12 days to go, so I should still make it. It is definitely harder now I've finished the story line. I think I should have marked the places that I skipped, so that they were easier to find. But I didn't.
The story needs to reach 75k to 90k in order to be of publishable length, so I must be able to add in stuff somewhere. Either that or I need to add to the body count again.
So my status so far:-
Original story 42500 words (approx.) and story line is complete.
New story just under 3000 words and only just getting started and I have no idea where this ones going.
If I stick to the original, to win NaNoWriMo I need another 7500 words, which should be doable.
If I work out a very detailed outline plus some scenes for the second story, I only need another 4500 words. All numbers are approximate values. In this second case, I would end up with 2 "first drafts", but I fear I'll get sidetracked if I do.
See http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3138144 for a good explanation for my fear.
The link is also in the comments of yesterday's entry. All thanks go to Bill, because it is such a perfect match.
I will add one little thing, all this blogging is definitely helping my spelling.
Tuesday 17 November 2009
Day Seventeen of NaNoWriMo
So writing was easy today. Better than I expected. However (in my own opinion) I did cheat a bit. I started writing something new. I have added it to the NaNoWriMo word count, but I might delete it from there later. For some reason this new story got stuck in my head and I had to get rid of it. I should add that it is only the beginning of a story, but it's not bad despite that. At least I think it's not bad....
So today I wrote 2610 words, giving a grand total of 45123 words. However it is across two stories. But I did have to write the second one.
Tonight I plan to print out what I've written so far and then start editing it. I'll cross out the bits I don't want and I'll mark where I need to add stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I'll write some of the new stuff. From the main story I won't delete anything, just white it out. Still undecided about the second story. Maybe I'll move that one.
Still there are still 13 days to go, so I should do OK.
So today I wrote 2610 words, giving a grand total of 45123 words. However it is across two stories. But I did have to write the second one.
Tonight I plan to print out what I've written so far and then start editing it. I'll cross out the bits I don't want and I'll mark where I need to add stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I'll write some of the new stuff. From the main story I won't delete anything, just white it out. Still undecided about the second story. Maybe I'll move that one.
Still there are still 13 days to go, so I should do OK.
Monday 16 November 2009
Quick update
I thought I'd just have one last try at a few more words and I made my daily goal of 2500 words exactly. So my total for day 16 is 42513 words.
And I am happy.
And I am happy.
Day Sixteen
So here we go again. Unfortunately that's the way I feel today. Still I've so far written 1991 words, taking my grand total to 42004. Not bad, but I haven't reached my daily goal.
At least not yet. I might write some more. I might not.
The story line is now finished. I'm just starting on the aftermath section. In which, I'm putting in any missing explanations and showing what happens to the characters. This section will almost completely vanish in the final version, but I want it here so that I don't miss anything. If the novel works properly, there should only be need for a short summary at the end.
Only 8k words left to find in order to "win" NaNoWriMo and two weeks left to write them. From that point of view, I'm ahead.
At least not yet. I might write some more. I might not.
The story line is now finished. I'm just starting on the aftermath section. In which, I'm putting in any missing explanations and showing what happens to the characters. This section will almost completely vanish in the final version, but I want it here so that I don't miss anything. If the novel works properly, there should only be need for a short summary at the end.
Only 8k words left to find in order to "win" NaNoWriMo and two weeks left to write them. From that point of view, I'm ahead.
Sunday 15 November 2009
Day Fifteen
So I wrote today. I managed 2456 words, which is just under my target of 2500 words per day. My total is a very respectable 40013 words and the story isn't finished yet.
I thought that it would be over by now and I would be wrapping up the loose ends, but due to a change in the killer I'm still to finish. It won't be long now, probably around the 45k mark. Then some wrapping up, most of which probably won't make it beyond the first draft, but I want to include it for now.
After that I will add some scenes so that I go over 50k and then I'll start editing. Hopefully by the end of NaNoWriMo, I'll have something decent to work with. And a good habit that I can keep up.
I thought that it would be over by now and I would be wrapping up the loose ends, but due to a change in the killer I'm still to finish. It won't be long now, probably around the 45k mark. Then some wrapping up, most of which probably won't make it beyond the first draft, but I want to include it for now.
After that I will add some scenes so that I go over 50k and then I'll start editing. Hopefully by the end of NaNoWriMo, I'll have something decent to work with. And a good habit that I can keep up.
Day Fourteen
Well I didn't write at all yesterday. So my total for the day was 0 words. Real life got in the way, but I did get all my Christmas shopping for my family in England done. So now all I have to do is wrap the presents, put them into boxes and send the boxes abroad. If my family are very lucky, they'll get their presents before Christmas this year.
As for today, day fifteen, I'm already at 500 words, so maybe I'll make my goal. We'll see.
As for today, day fifteen, I'm already at 500 words, so maybe I'll make my goal. We'll see.
Friday 13 November 2009
Day Thirteen Update
Starting to write today was like pulling teeth - extremely painful.
The result was 2546 words, giving a total of 37557 words. So I made my 2500 goal. Just.
I guess, and from current experience, bad days are more common than good ones. I don't know if this is because this I am new at this writing business or whether it is just me or whether other writers find this as well.
Now there is one difference here to most writing situations and that is NaNoWriMo. I have to write everyday. I can't decide to edit instead. Having said that, I think it is a very good thing.
My reasons:-
1) I am actually going to complete my story. No procrastinating and using editing as an excuse. I will have written the story.
2) It forces me beyond the "I don't want to write" or "I can't write" stages of the day and it makes me write. I feel guilty if I don't write something, even if it is only 400 words.
When I finally finish the story, I will go back and edit, and add, and do all of that, but when I reach that point I will have a first draft. It won't be 50k, I know that, but I will have a draft. I'll add to it until I reach 50k and then do some more serious editing.
And the other thing that happened today was that my nicely planned reveal has completely changed. The murderer is someone who I thought was completely innocent, but can be completely guilty without having to change the story line. It was not one I had considered before, but it works.
At least it works at the moment. Perhaps when I re-read it all, it won't make any sense. We'll see.
The result was 2546 words, giving a total of 37557 words. So I made my 2500 goal. Just.
I guess, and from current experience, bad days are more common than good ones. I don't know if this is because this I am new at this writing business or whether it is just me or whether other writers find this as well.
Now there is one difference here to most writing situations and that is NaNoWriMo. I have to write everyday. I can't decide to edit instead. Having said that, I think it is a very good thing.
My reasons:-
1) I am actually going to complete my story. No procrastinating and using editing as an excuse. I will have written the story.
2) It forces me beyond the "I don't want to write" or "I can't write" stages of the day and it makes me write. I feel guilty if I don't write something, even if it is only 400 words.
When I finally finish the story, I will go back and edit, and add, and do all of that, but when I reach that point I will have a first draft. It won't be 50k, I know that, but I will have a draft. I'll add to it until I reach 50k and then do some more serious editing.
And the other thing that happened today was that my nicely planned reveal has completely changed. The murderer is someone who I thought was completely innocent, but can be completely guilty without having to change the story line. It was not one I had considered before, but it works.
At least it works at the moment. Perhaps when I re-read it all, it won't make any sense. We'll see.
Thursday 12 November 2009
Day Twelve Update
So I reached 35011 words. Amazingly, I'm still going.
Today I wrote a total of 3520 words, which is not bad as I was having a bad day. I wrote in short 500 word sections. Then did other things, such as work or lunch. Slowly the writing got a bit easier and I went over my goal of 2500 words. So I made up 1000 words missed yesterday, which is not bad.
I just had a difficult time persuading myself to write. I want to go back and edit stuff, deleting and moving parts around. Instead I wrote and I had to force myself, but I did it. I know at the end of NaNoWriMo, I've got a lot of story to move and delete.
Still I should reach the end soon, which will be a relief. I will have to add either more scenes or more detail to reach 50k, but I can also start moving text so it makes more sense within the story. And of course, I can blank out bits that I don't want. (Turn the text color to the same as the background color.)
Hopefully I'll be a lot further on by the end of NaNoWriMo not just with the story, but also with the novel.
Today I wrote a total of 3520 words, which is not bad as I was having a bad day. I wrote in short 500 word sections. Then did other things, such as work or lunch. Slowly the writing got a bit easier and I went over my goal of 2500 words. So I made up 1000 words missed yesterday, which is not bad.
I just had a difficult time persuading myself to write. I want to go back and edit stuff, deleting and moving parts around. Instead I wrote and I had to force myself, but I did it. I know at the end of NaNoWriMo, I've got a lot of story to move and delete.
Still I should reach the end soon, which will be a relief. I will have to add either more scenes or more detail to reach 50k, but I can also start moving text so it makes more sense within the story. And of course, I can blank out bits that I don't want. (Turn the text color to the same as the background color.)
Hopefully I'll be a lot further on by the end of NaNoWriMo not just with the story, but also with the novel.
Day Eleven
I wrote practically nothing on day eleven. In fact I wrote just over 400 words all day. I have no excuse. I just got caught up in work and my home life. However I will try and catch up at least some of the missed words, but I'm not going to worry about it.
Even with missing a day, I still have plenty of time to reach my goal. I currently have written 31491 words and, if I write every day, will pass the 50k mark in about a week. As it is only the 12th November, I have plenty of time, not just for writing but also to begin the first edit.
And hello to Wendy :)
Even with missing a day, I still have plenty of time to reach my goal. I currently have written 31491 words and, if I write every day, will pass the 50k mark in about a week. As it is only the 12th November, I have plenty of time, not just for writing but also to begin the first edit.
And hello to Wendy :)
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Day Ten
Well today I hit 31k words about which I am very happy. I might write some more later, but for now that's it. So my total written today is 2659 words.
I definitely much more relaxed about the new daily goal and I find I can write better. I'm less concerned with hitting the 5k and more concerned about the story and where it is going.
I still think that I will finish the storyline before I reach 50K, never mind 75k. However I know I've skipped over sections and there are definitely some scenes missing, so I can go back and add.
I know I've contradicted myself at least once, and probably more times. These I am going to leave in situ at the moment and only delete them or re-write them once NaNoWriMo is over. Chris Baty would skin me alive if I deleted something during this month.
However once I'm over 50k and the storyline is finished, I am going to start some editing. I just won't get rid of it before November 30th. I will add to the file and move sections around. This means I should finish with a good total.
The further I get through the story, the better I can see how it should be. If that makes any sense. The story is definitely evolving and it is not the one I originally thought I would write. Having said that, it is one that I like and I think I can make it into a book.
I don't think it will be the longest book in history, but I hoping for 75k to 90k in total. I would guess it will end up at the lower end of that scale. I know I'm writing a first draft, but I can start to see what might actually come out of it.
Altogether it's been another good day.
I definitely much more relaxed about the new daily goal and I find I can write better. I'm less concerned with hitting the 5k and more concerned about the story and where it is going.
I still think that I will finish the storyline before I reach 50K, never mind 75k. However I know I've skipped over sections and there are definitely some scenes missing, so I can go back and add.
I know I've contradicted myself at least once, and probably more times. These I am going to leave in situ at the moment and only delete them or re-write them once NaNoWriMo is over. Chris Baty would skin me alive if I deleted something during this month.
However once I'm over 50k and the storyline is finished, I am going to start some editing. I just won't get rid of it before November 30th. I will add to the file and move sections around. This means I should finish with a good total.
The further I get through the story, the better I can see how it should be. If that makes any sense. The story is definitely evolving and it is not the one I originally thought I would write. Having said that, it is one that I like and I think I can make it into a book.
I don't think it will be the longest book in history, but I hoping for 75k to 90k in total. I would guess it will end up at the lower end of that scale. I know I'm writing a first draft, but I can start to see what might actually come out of it.
Altogether it's been another good day.
Monday 9 November 2009
Update day nine.
Well today went very well. Much better than I ever expected it to. I actually wrote almost 5000 words without much effort at all.
I think that this lower day goal I have set myself is working. I'm not spending my time worrying about whether or not I can write 5k words. I just write.
So my total for today is 28360 words and the story is going smoothly. I am more almost two-thirds of the way through the storyline, but much less than that on the word count. I am not worried, because I know that when I finish the storyline, there are plenty of scenes to go back to where I can add detail or change things from telling to showing.
I deliberately skipped over some scenes because I didn't want to write them at that time, but that means I can easily up my word count. I think that there are some scenes that are also missing. I have added a few already. I will go back over the beginning of the story and add a few extra there.
Overall it's been a good day. The words came easily and I wrote a lot of them. Let's see if this continues tomorrow.
I think that this lower day goal I have set myself is working. I'm not spending my time worrying about whether or not I can write 5k words. I just write.
So my total for today is 28360 words and the story is going smoothly. I am more almost two-thirds of the way through the storyline, but much less than that on the word count. I am not worried, because I know that when I finish the storyline, there are plenty of scenes to go back to where I can add detail or change things from telling to showing.
I deliberately skipped over some scenes because I didn't want to write them at that time, but that means I can easily up my word count. I think that there are some scenes that are also missing. I have added a few already. I will go back over the beginning of the story and add a few extra there.
Overall it's been a good day. The words came easily and I wrote a lot of them. Let's see if this continues tomorrow.
Sunday 8 November 2009
Update Day 8
Well all I had was a bad cold. I soon got over it and I did manage some writing over the weekend. My total is 23364 words in the first week of NaNoWriMo. Not quite the 30k I had originally set myself, but still not a bad total.
This week I'm going to write a bit slower and attempt to average 2500 words a day. This should give me an extra 12500 words over Monday to Friday. I'll use the weekend to make up any shortfalls that may occur and perhaps to give myself a boost for the following week.
Overall I'm happy with how the first week turned out. Let's hope the rest are as good.
This week I'm going to write a bit slower and attempt to average 2500 words a day. This should give me an extra 12500 words over Monday to Friday. I'll use the weekend to make up any shortfalls that may occur and perhaps to give myself a boost for the following week.
Overall I'm happy with how the first week turned out. Let's hope the rest are as good.
Thursday 5 November 2009
Damn it.
Ok, I'm sick. I admit it and I'm going to bed. So I'm not going to make 30000 words by the end of tomorrow. I'm probably not going to hit 30k until sometime next week.
I'm at 21k as I write this and I probably won't write any more today. If I'm lucky I'll hit 25000 words by the end of Sunday. At least it would be nice to get there. In the worst case, my total for week 1 of NaNoWriMo is 21100 words, which still gives me a nice cushion.
I might post an update if I feel up to it. Otherwise it will be next week.
Good luck all.
I'm at 21k as I write this and I probably won't write any more today. If I'm lucky I'll hit 25000 words by the end of Sunday. At least it would be nice to get there. In the worst case, my total for week 1 of NaNoWriMo is 21100 words, which still gives me a nice cushion.
I might post an update if I feel up to it. Otherwise it will be next week.
Good luck all.
Day Four Update
Well I made it to 20k words. I acutlly took my total to 20011 owrds. Not bad at all. Yesterday was a good day. The writing was much easier than Tuesday's.
Not much else to say. Except that I might change my word goal at the end of the week. At the moment I am trying to write 5000 words a day, with the goal of reaching 30000 words by the end of Friday. This is a lot of writing in a day onto of my regular work. So starting next week, I'm going to change my goal slightly.
I'm going to have 2 goals - a minimum goal and a "would-be-nice-to-get-to" (wbntgt) goal. The minimum I want to write in one day is 2500 words, which is still more than the NaNoWriMo minimum. And my wbntgt goal is 5000 words per day as I have been doing this week, but I'm not going to go to extremes to get there.
I believe that the result of this, will be a more balanced writing habit that I can continue to use after NaNoWriMo. At the moment, I find the balance completely wrong so that I find I'm not sleeping well and my hands are killing me from all the typing. Of course, if I ever give up my job, I will spend more hours writing. But for now, less is more.
I will probably change my mind next week and then again the week after and so on, until I find something that works for me and that I can use in my everyday life.
So time to write today's 5000 words and get a total of 25k words.
I hope everyone else is doing well and acheiving their own goals. Good luck to you all.
Not much else to say. Except that I might change my word goal at the end of the week. At the moment I am trying to write 5000 words a day, with the goal of reaching 30000 words by the end of Friday. This is a lot of writing in a day onto of my regular work. So starting next week, I'm going to change my goal slightly.
I'm going to have 2 goals - a minimum goal and a "would-be-nice-to-get-to" (wbntgt) goal. The minimum I want to write in one day is 2500 words, which is still more than the NaNoWriMo minimum. And my wbntgt goal is 5000 words per day as I have been doing this week, but I'm not going to go to extremes to get there.
I believe that the result of this, will be a more balanced writing habit that I can continue to use after NaNoWriMo. At the moment, I find the balance completely wrong so that I find I'm not sleeping well and my hands are killing me from all the typing. Of course, if I ever give up my job, I will spend more hours writing. But for now, less is more.
I will probably change my mind next week and then again the week after and so on, until I find something that works for me and that I can use in my everyday life.
So time to write today's 5000 words and get a total of 25k words.
I hope everyone else is doing well and acheiving their own goals. Good luck to you all.
Wednesday 4 November 2009
Day Three Update
So yesterday I was supposed to hit 15k words. I didn't make it. I only reached 14610 words, which means I missed my goal by 390 words. Not too bad, but also not good. I mustn't let the gap get any bigger.
I have to admit that my cunning plan to write at work was the reason I missed my target. I'd set things up so that I would be running simulations all week. Unfortunately events took over and I actually had to do other work as well, meaning I had less time to write.
Well that was one of the reasons. The other was that yesterday I had a bad day. I had trouble writing, even though I knew what I had to write, I just couldn't seem to get into it. But I persevered and ended up with a decent total. Towards the end of the day, it did get easier to write. It never flowed quite as well as the previous day, but it wasn't that bad.
Of course now I'm worrying I won't have enough story and I won't make 50000 words. I get the same worry every year and I always seem to find enough to write about. I also know that I can go back and fill in some of the parts that I've skipped over. Where I've used a lot of telling, I can replace it with showing. It will take longer to write, but it will produce many more words.
If I'm having trouble with a scene, I tend to tell the reader about the scene. I've done that in a couple of places so far. I know that writing those scenes so that I show the reader the action instead will take me quite a bit of time and mean I will need to look up some details first. If I have time at the end, I will do this. But only if I have the time.
For now I will continue as I have been going and try to write another 5000 words today and reach 30000 words by the end of Friday. If I fail, then I'll make up the difference over the weekend. If I succeed then I'll take the weekend off - for the most part. I'll probably write 2500 to 5000 words over the two days, but this is a lot less than I've been doing per day so far.
So my tally so far: 1 good day and 2 bad/not-so-good days
I have to admit that my cunning plan to write at work was the reason I missed my target. I'd set things up so that I would be running simulations all week. Unfortunately events took over and I actually had to do other work as well, meaning I had less time to write.
Well that was one of the reasons. The other was that yesterday I had a bad day. I had trouble writing, even though I knew what I had to write, I just couldn't seem to get into it. But I persevered and ended up with a decent total. Towards the end of the day, it did get easier to write. It never flowed quite as well as the previous day, but it wasn't that bad.
Of course now I'm worrying I won't have enough story and I won't make 50000 words. I get the same worry every year and I always seem to find enough to write about. I also know that I can go back and fill in some of the parts that I've skipped over. Where I've used a lot of telling, I can replace it with showing. It will take longer to write, but it will produce many more words.
If I'm having trouble with a scene, I tend to tell the reader about the scene. I've done that in a couple of places so far. I know that writing those scenes so that I show the reader the action instead will take me quite a bit of time and mean I will need to look up some details first. If I have time at the end, I will do this. But only if I have the time.
For now I will continue as I have been going and try to write another 5000 words today and reach 30000 words by the end of Friday. If I fail, then I'll make up the difference over the weekend. If I succeed then I'll take the weekend off - for the most part. I'll probably write 2500 to 5000 words over the two days, but this is a lot less than I've been doing per day so far.
So my tally so far: 1 good day and 2 bad/not-so-good days
Tuesday 3 November 2009
I reached 10K
To answer Bill's comment from yesterday: yes, I do care about my characters. In fact yesterday's writing went extremely well, much better than I had been expecting. I really got into the story and made up for the low word count on the first day. I wrote 6272 words yesterday and ended the day with a grand total of 10029 words. Pretty good even if I do say so myself.
My goal this week is to reach 30000 words by Friday. That's 5000 words a day, which I know I can manage easily. Anything above that is more of a stretch. I know yesterday I wrote more, but the last 1000 words were very difficult and took the longest amount of time to write. Not because I had nothing to say, but because I start to struggle at this point even if I have a clear path and I know where the story is going.
The most that I have written in one day was over 10000 words, but that was so hard. It was made worse by the fact that I had no outline to follow and the result was dreadful. Yesterday, I had a clear outline of which scenes I was writing, but the last part was still hard to do. I know that when I look back over what I have written, that last section will be one of the worst and need the most changes.
However if I can keep up the momentum, I should have no problem finishing before 30th November, even if I need to take some days off. I just have to write whenever I can and not make excuses for myself. Remember to reach 50k, when writing 5k per day, you only need 10 days. To reach 75k, you need 15 days.
So what I have learnt is that I can write 5k a day and I should write 5k a day. If I miss a day, it won't be a disaster, but I need to get back writing as soon as I can. I can't write more than 5k a day easily. Maybe that should be I am not happy in writing more than 5k a day. I find it becomes to much of a strain on my poor little brain...
And as for my story, that's going really well. It is definitely mutating, but I knew that would happen. Some of the minor characters are taking over a bit, but that isn't a bad thing and some, which I thought were a little boring, are becoming far more interesting. The story line is still intact and my preferred ending looks like it will still happen.
So onwards and upwards...to 15ooo words.
My goal this week is to reach 30000 words by Friday. That's 5000 words a day, which I know I can manage easily. Anything above that is more of a stretch. I know yesterday I wrote more, but the last 1000 words were very difficult and took the longest amount of time to write. Not because I had nothing to say, but because I start to struggle at this point even if I have a clear path and I know where the story is going.
The most that I have written in one day was over 10000 words, but that was so hard. It was made worse by the fact that I had no outline to follow and the result was dreadful. Yesterday, I had a clear outline of which scenes I was writing, but the last part was still hard to do. I know that when I look back over what I have written, that last section will be one of the worst and need the most changes.
However if I can keep up the momentum, I should have no problem finishing before 30th November, even if I need to take some days off. I just have to write whenever I can and not make excuses for myself. Remember to reach 50k, when writing 5k per day, you only need 10 days. To reach 75k, you need 15 days.
So what I have learnt is that I can write 5k a day and I should write 5k a day. If I miss a day, it won't be a disaster, but I need to get back writing as soon as I can. I can't write more than 5k a day easily. Maybe that should be I am not happy in writing more than 5k a day. I find it becomes to much of a strain on my poor little brain...
And as for my story, that's going really well. It is definitely mutating, but I knew that would happen. Some of the minor characters are taking over a bit, but that isn't a bad thing and some, which I thought were a little boring, are becoming far more interesting. The story line is still intact and my preferred ending looks like it will still happen.
So onwards and upwards...to 15ooo words.
Monday 2 November 2009
NaNoWriMo has begun!
Which will come as no surprise to most. I have started to. I wrote 3747 words yesterday. Less than I had hoped for (which was 5000 words), but more than I needed to write (min. 1667 words).
What I do know is this, and it is as I suspected, I have no sense of urgency at all in my writing. I was afraid that this would happen. Thirty days seems like such a long time and I know I can write 50000 words in ten days.
The upshot is that I feel like I don't have to write. I have no motivation to write. I have to force myself to sit down and write. And that worries me. I am afraid that at some point soon, I'm just not going to do it and I'll leave it until the last few days as usual and write very badly as usual.
One difference I have this year that I didn't have last year is a detailed outline of the story. This might help me write better at least, so that I might end up with a coherent story at the end of November, which is more than I have achieved before. It will need serious editing and I do mean serious, but maybe having the story there will be enough.
Perhaps what I need to do is set myself one or two week deadlines. So I have to write 25000 words in one week or I need to edit a chapter a week. Something like that. Maybe that will work for me.
Well I just hope that I can complete NaNoWriMo and end up with something usable. Here's to the next 5000 words.
What I do know is this, and it is as I suspected, I have no sense of urgency at all in my writing. I was afraid that this would happen. Thirty days seems like such a long time and I know I can write 50000 words in ten days.
The upshot is that I feel like I don't have to write. I have no motivation to write. I have to force myself to sit down and write. And that worries me. I am afraid that at some point soon, I'm just not going to do it and I'll leave it until the last few days as usual and write very badly as usual.
One difference I have this year that I didn't have last year is a detailed outline of the story. This might help me write better at least, so that I might end up with a coherent story at the end of November, which is more than I have achieved before. It will need serious editing and I do mean serious, but maybe having the story there will be enough.
Perhaps what I need to do is set myself one or two week deadlines. So I have to write 25000 words in one week or I need to edit a chapter a week. Something like that. Maybe that will work for me.
Well I just hope that I can complete NaNoWriMo and end up with something usable. Here's to the next 5000 words.
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