No more written

I've been busy, just not with writing. I've been catching up on other parts of my life.

Hopefully over Christmas, I will get a chance to work on my writing. I want to go through what I wrote for NaNoWriMo and rearrange the scenes and chapters. To do this I need to write an outline. Well to be fair, I have to do the 2 at the same time so that they match.

If I do get time, I will be able to start the second draft in January. If I don't get round to it, I won't start the second draft until March or later.

Time to get my act together.

Post-NaNoWriMo

I haven't written much at all since the end of November. I did need a break - I will admit to that, but now I need to get back to writing and I'm in two minds.

I had always intended to write some more scenes in December and then edit the scenes into the right order in January, ready to re-write them in February and March. Now I'm wondering if this is the right thing to do. Most of the story is there, but it does need organizing and bringing together.

I'm hald convinced that I should reorganize now and start the re-wrting in January. Trouble I know I don't stick with my descisions, which is exactly what I'm doing. In both cases, some scenes won't make it into the next draft and new scenes will have to be added.

I just feel, right now, that I'm writing stuff that won't be going anywhere and it would be a better use of my time actually fixing the scenes in order and seeing what is missing. As I have never managed to go much beyond the first draft, I think this is a barrier I need to cross.

So it looks like I'm going to start the reorganisation and then write more scenes. If I can do this and end up with a half decent and complete story, I will be happy.

Yesterday

Things went bad at work yesterday, so I got absolutely nothing written.

I'm glad it didn't happen before yesterday, otherwise I would have been much lower on my NaNoWriMo total. So there won't be much happening on the writing front until I get this mess cleared up.

Time to try shifting my writing to evenings and weekends.

It's over

So NaNoWriMo is over for another year. Congratulations if you won! I'm more statisfied with my writing this year than ever before and I seemed to have picked up a writing habit in the process.

I wonder how long it will last. Anyway time to go write another scene.

The end

I just wrote those words. Ywriter says I have written 61080 words in total. I'm about to export and validate.

Here's what NaNoWriMo's validator says 61032 words.

I wrote on 25 days, hence I didn't write on 5 days. On one of the days I was sick, on one I was on a business trip and the other 3 days were pure laziness. This is more active days than any other year to date. I'll analysis the day totals later.

I have to admit I sumarized the last few scenes, so I'll expand on those in the next few weeks. I wrote more than I've ever written in one month. It's also better than anything else I've ever written. I didn't have to pad or use any dirty tricks to reach the total.

I know it's not perfect and I know I still have scenes to write. I also know the whole thing needs to be reorganized and I need to work on the timeline and plot outline. I was originally going to write more scenes in December, but I'm half tempted to go through the plot and write a new outline and rearrange the scenes into the right order.

Well I'm going to take a short break. I might write a little, but no where near on the level I have been. I do want to write every day or most days, just not always on this story.

I won!

Day 30

I'm sick. It's not serious, but I feel really, really bad. I'm tempted to just verify and be damned.

However, I'm going to try to write a bit now and verify at lunchtime or early afternoon. Then I'm going to go to bed and hide from the world for the rest of the day.

So I should still make it to 60k, only about 1500 words to go...

Day 29

It's been quite a good day, though for some reason I found it impossible to produce a capital letter on the first try. I still managed to write 2503 words, bringing my grand total to 58514 words.

Writing was definitely easier today. No idea why. Tomorrow I'm hoping to add about another 2000 words so that my total in the validator reaches above 60k. I know that the validator and word counts from the editor don't exactly match, so if I can be 500 to 1000 words over I should be safe.

I might do a bit more tonight, I will see how things work out. It's going to be a busy evening so there may not be time. Still there's still tomorrow.

Day 28

I have written 2482 words today and my grand total is 56011 words. I'm on track to reach 60k if nothing bad happens. If something does come up, well I'm beyond 50k so I've won anyway. And yes it is backed up.

I will try to write another 500 words today if at all possible. If it is possible, I'll try to update here tonight. I will update NaNoWriMo.

Oh and I'm still not at the end. I was hoping to make it before the 30th, but now I'm not so sure. The ending seems to be getting further away at the moment. Having said that, I'm not sure how much of the scenes I'm writing now will make it into the next draft as the story seems to be shifting direction.

However, maybe this new direction is the right one, and the previous scenes will go. Well I'm making no decisions now, that will have to wait for the new year.

(Updated with the extra words)

Friday and the weekend

Over the last three days I wrote nothing. Not a single word. I didn't even open up the file. I have to admit I enjoyed the break, but it's not exactly what I should be doing.

So I have until midnight on Wednesday to write as much as I can. To be honest I will probably verify sometime on Wednesday afternoon, just to make sure that I do get round to it. It would be a nightmare if I did all this and then I forgot to verify.

So I'm currently at 53529 words. So 60k is not out of the question. Let's hope there's not too much other stuff I have to do in the next few days.

Day 24

I jsut found out that I made a mistake in my spreadsheet and I only had two days when I wrote nothing instead of the three I had been claiming. It may only be a small improvement, but it makes me feel better.

Today I wrote 3027 words, bringing my total to 53529 words.

Tomorrow I am out all day, so I'm not likely to write very much. I will try to write something in the evening, even if it's only 19 words - my minimum above zero word count in one day.

Starting to write the end now. I should hit 60k, I think. Still it's definitely more difficult to write now. I think it's the over-50k-syndrome.

At the end of November I will take a short break, before continuing with writing scenes - some scenes I still have in summary. Hopefully I will still get everything I want written before the end of the year. Then all I have to do is make the scenes into a book...

update

Yesterday I added another 500 words after writing the blog entry. I ended the day with 50502 words.

Today I'm struggling to write anything. I think it's because I've reached the 50k and I know that as far as NaNoWriMo is concerned I've won. When the validator goes live on the 25th, theoretically I can enter my text and seal the deal.

However I haven't finished the draft and I don't want to validate unless it's finished. I now know how it ends and who the murderer is. I've avoided the obvious suspect and made the actions of the killer work with the people involved. I could just write a summary and leave it at that.

But I don't want to. I want to write the scenes. OK maybe not all of them, but enough to make it part of the novel rather than an outline. I'm hoping to add about 10k before the end of November. It would be really cool if I could make it to 70000 words, but that really is pushing it.

In December I'll probably keep writing the first draft scenes as there are some I haven't completed yet. Then in January next year, I'll start cutting and pasting the scenes until a book emerges. I've written quite a bit in a linear time line, but that makes no sense for the storyline. Some will become flashbacks, other scenes will simply not make it into the book, but it was still worth writing them.

Once everything is in the right order, I'll go through each scene and chapter again. This time I'll rewrite them. For some this will only be a tweaking, but for others it will mean a complete rewrite.

After that, and if I get that far, I'll need to send it out to beta readers. Then it's to the last edit run. Of course this is all very far in the future, but this story is the best I've ever written and that may not be saying much, but it means a lot to me.

This one I will finish.

Day 23

So far I've written 2502 words, giving a total of 50045 words. I broke the 50k. I will still be writing and it would be nice to reach at least 60k before the end of November.

What I would like to manage is to write at least 5000 words per day on four of the remaining November days. This is including today. But I don't think I will. I'm leaving in half an hour and I will be busy for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is a possibility as are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. However nothing can go wrong on those days and somehow I don't see that happening.

Work has been extremely busy and frustrating. Home has just been busy. I will continue writing after the 30th until I have all the scenes written. Then I'll cut and paste them until I have a coherent story. Then it's time for the first rewrite. Hopefully this will be at the beginning of next year. I might take a break in between, but I'm worried I won't be able to get started again.

Please ignore any typing errors if you see them, for some reason things always get worse towards the end of NaNoWriMo. I can't seem to type the simplest word without making a mistake.

Day 22

Yesterday I wrote 5019 words, bring my total to 47543 words. If things go well today, I will break the 50k mark. If that doesn't happen today it will happen tomorrow, but I think today. I'm very happy about this.

I think I will end up with about 60000 words by November 30th. Less than I originally hoped for, but more than I've ever written during NaNoWriMo. The story is interesting as are the characters. This one I'm really going to try to transform into a readable book that can be submitted to agents.

I will probably start with writing some more scenes before I start cutting, rewriting and reorganizing the ones I have. At the end I hope to have a book of about 75000 words.

This year has gone so much better than any other year to date.

Day 21 update

I managed to write a grand total of 19 words yesterday. That is pathetic, but at least I wrote something. I did not update NaNoWriMo.

Let's hope today goes better. Trouble is I know I'm going to be busy again, because of the trip last week. Should be quieter from Wednesday onwards, so my word count should increase dramatically then.

Day 21

So far today I have written 0 words. And there is nothing missing from that previous sentence. Work has been completely crazy and I have not had time to do anything else.

Since last Wednesday I have written 0, 2207, 774, 793, 1210, 0 words up to and including today. Not the best of records, but except for the day I traveled to my business meeting and today, I have written everyday. I'm hoping to write tonight as well.

In my original plan, I should have written 63000 words, or at least to have been above the 50k. I'm at 42505 words, which is not bad. I'll definitely make it to 50k, but I'll have to summarize more scenes than I originally intended, so that I can finish on time.

Not a disaster, just annoying. I didn't always get a chance to update NaNoWriMo, but yWriter's log keeps track of my daily totals. A wonderful tool it is too.

Next few days...

I will be leaving for a business trip in 5 hours time. I will try to at least write the minimum between then and now, but no guarantees as I have to prepare for the trip first. Also I will have much less time to write. I'll be working about 12 hours a day and then there's the 7 hour drive each way (today and Friday).

And yes it's by car, so no chance to write on the way. I am not happy about this, but sometimes you just have to do things you don't like doing and I haven't had to go on a business trip since the summer. I know it's not that bad, but right now I keep thinking 'why me?'

Day 15

I've written 5494 words so far today, bringing my total to 37521 words. I should break 50k in the next three days, if I keep up this rate. I probably won't write any more today. I'm going quite fast, which was never the intention I meant to go at a more steady pace, so that I didn't get lost.

However having said that, the story is going very well and is on track. I'm in the middle section at the moment, which is good and where it should be. I don't think I'll make it to 80000 words. I might make it to 75000 words, which isn't too bad. Anything over 50k is a bonus and I'll be happy.

I think this is my best year yet. I had a rough outline and some subplots, a good storyline, and interesting characters. It's not turning out how I originally thought it would, but it is staying inside the broad lines and the characters are speaking for themselves.

I hope this continues.

Yesterday

I ended up writing 5271 words, giving me a total of 32027 words. It was the first time I'd written over 5000 words in one day. I'm not particularly keen to continue with such a large amount, however I still need to catch up if I want to reach the 80 000 word goal.

Let's hope today goes as well.

Day 14

Today was a good day. So far, I've added 4765 words, bringing my grand total to 31521 words. I'm hoping to write some more later, but I wanted to put an update here first. So I have less that 20000 words to go to make the 50k. In that respect, I'm ahead of the game.

I'm slightly behind my optimistic goal, which called for 3000 words per day. I'm currently on a 2251 words per day average. I did know I wouldn't write everyday, but this is still lower than I was hoping for at this stage. I would like to write another 500 words today and then write a similar amount tomorrow.

I have to go on a business trip on Wednesday, so I am unlikely to be able to keep up the word count. I'll try to compensate the following weekend, but if last weekend is any indication that won't happen. Still it might...

The weekend

went badly. I wrote 240 words on Saturday and 19 0 on Sunday (apparently I didn't save my 19 words). I didn't bother to update NaNoWriMo. I knew I would have off days. Still my total is now 26756 words, which means I'm still on target to reach 50k before the end of the month.

I am, of course, behind on my goal of 80k by the end of November, but that was wishful thinking. There are just too many things on my plate for me to keep up with writing 3000 words every day. Still I'm hoping I'll do better today.

The worst is that from Wednesday I will be away on a business trip. I should be able to get something written, but it's unlikely I will be anywhere near my target for those 3 days. I'll try to catch up over the weekend, but if this weekend was anything to go by, that just won't happen.

Day 10

Well the day isn't not over yet, but before I forget to write an update, here it is. Today I have written 3150 words, bringing my total to 25509 words.

I had originally hoped to reach 30000 words today, but due to illness I didn't. I don't consider this a failure for two reasons. The first is that I have written more consistently this year than ever before. I have written every day even if it was just a few words.

The second is that I'm enjoying writing. This year is a joy. I'm enjoying the characters, the plot, the setting, the everything. This is in complete contrast to last year when I hated the whole thing.

I know I can write to a deadline, but I know I'm lousy at writing without one. Without a deadline, everything else seems suddenly so much more appealing. This year's NaNoWriMo is changing that, because I'm changing the way I write.

I write in smaller chunks - just 500 words at a time. These can quickly add up and I don't need to set aside a large chunk of time to write thousands of words in one sitting.

I write every day. In previous years, I wrote 5k a day for ten days, normally the last ten days. This year I want to write almost every day.

I keep back ups on all my available computers, but my main file is on my USB stick. This means that I can use any computer to write on. I also have a netbook, which allows me to write almost anywhere. I used to keep my main file on my work laptop and a back up on the USB. This made it difficult to write at weekends as I didn't always take the laptop home with me.

What I've done, in essence, is to make it easier to write and it's having an effect.

Day 9

Spent  most of the day asleep. However I did get to write this afternoon. I added 2167 words, bringing my total to 22359 words.

I'm still behind my perfect target of 3000 words per day, but still on target to finish 50k well in time. I'm hoping to catch up a bit over the next few days, but I'll have to see how ill I am.

Day 8

I'm really not very well, but I did add 669 words to my total. I might add a little more later, but maybe not. I can barely keep my eyes open. So my total is 20192 words. A little behind my perfect total, but still way ahead of my expectations.

At home tomorrow and I'll take my netbook upstairs tonight, so I should be able to add some more tomorrow.

Sick

I'm definitely sick and will go home soon. I still hope to do some writing today, but I don't think it will be as much as other days.

Day 7

Due to a rush at the end of the day, I never updated my blog. So yesterday I wrote 2314 words. Bringing my total word count to 19523 words. If I was writing 3000 words per day I should be at 21000 words at this time. I am instead averaging 2789 words per day, which is not bad.

So far I have written every single day, which is also a record. I don't think I will manage every day in November, but I'm hoping to get close. I know I won't write on either the 18th or the 25th as I have a trip that will happen on one of those two days. Date is yet to be fixed.

Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

NaNoWriMo update

So for the first time ever, I believe, I actually wrote on the weekend. Not a huge amount, but more than ever before. Beating zero words isn't exactly hard, but still it's an improvement.

On Saturday I added 1635 words and on Sunday 2051 words. Bring the grand total to 17209 words. This is slightly under my target of 18000 words by Sunday, an average of 3000 words per day. But I'm happy with it and that's all that matters.

Now for today's writing...

Day 3

I didn't blog yesterday simply because I didn't have time. I added about 2500 words to my total, which ended up at 10007 words. Not bad for three days or writing. I wrote less because it was a busy day and I had less time to write. The writing is still going well and is not slowing down at all.

Let's see how long that continues for. Today I'm hoping for at least 3000 words. It would be nice to do more, but I have a busy afternoon/evening so I don't think that's going to happen. And for the first time ever, I'm going to write at the weekend too.

In previous years I have only ever written on weekdays, during quiet periods at work. This year I'm trying to be a bit more structured and write less per day, but for more days in the month. I normally write the 50000 words in ten days randomly spread out through the month.

This year I'd like to reach 80000 words or there about. I'm using a new editor, yWriter, which allows me to write in scenes. These I'll rearrange later on into the correct order. I find I write better if I write the first draft using a linear time line, however the story works better with flashbacks. I find I can lose consistency if write a later flashback before and earlier one.

If I don't use some of the scenes, that easy and I can still add in new ones. But seeing them laid out in the correct time line means I don't have the reaction happening before the action.

Day 2

And I'm currently at a total of 7246 words. So I've written 3213 words so far today.

I have changed my goals again. I still of course want to write the minimum. That is the basic goal, which won't change. However my daily goal is now 3000 words. If I do this every day then I will write 90000 words in November.

To be honest I don't think I will reach 90000 words, but I hope to get close to this total. I know I won't be able to write everyday, but I should manage to write most days. And some days I will write more than others.

I'm still finding it astonishingly easy to write at the moment and I still have lots of scenes lined up. I actually know what is going to happen next.

I will admit to only writing the backstory at the moment. It will be placed at appropriate points in the story to illustrate some points. But I'm writing the whole thing in chronological order at the moment and I'll move the scenes around later on. I'm also trying to write more than I actually need. I think this will help too.

So currently I'm very happy with my progress and excited by the project. Can this last?

Day 1

And it's a good one. I have written 4033 words. I'm not going to add to it again today. I think 4000 words a day is a good total to aim for. I would like to have a grand total of about 80000 words or more by the end of November, which might even be possible.

Of course I am having a good day and I'm pretty sure there will be bad ones too. Not to mention days off too. But if I make it to 50000 words, I'll be happy. If I make to 80000 words, I'll be ecstatic.

The whole thing just flowed today. I almost can't believe it.

Not starting off too well...

After being so tired last night that I forgot all about writing to being woken up twice in the night by a power failure and a mouse, I'm not getting off to a good start for NaNoWriMo.

I completely forgot my files as well. I'll start without them and hope that what I write now matches what I wrote then. It's mostly names that I forget and sometimes I transpose characters.

Still here's hoping I make it to 1700 words. Making it to 5000 words would be fantastic, but I'm not betting on that.

One day to go

I'm still behind on my plot outline for NaNoWriMo. I'll write some more this evening and then it's time to write the real thing.

I'm a little bit nervous and a little bit excited. I have a good feeling about this year. I hope it works out. I'll aim for 5000 words a day, with the 1700 words as a minimum. I'll take most weekends off - probably. I can't ignore the family completely.

With luck and hard work, I'll end up with a reasonable first draft at the end. This time I'm going to work had to write in scenes for the most part and write a lot less of the narrative summary. If I'm not interested in a scene I tend to just summarize it quickly with the intent to go back to it, but somehow that never happens.

This year it will happen. (Maybe if I say/type it enough times I actually will do it.)

A few days off...

Plus some computer troubles, means I haven't posted in a while. So much for trying to post twice a week. I'm behind on my outline for NaNoWriMo, but I will get that done in time. In fact I could use what I have now, but I'd like to add a bit more detail if I can.

Salvaging my computer was good as it meant I didn't have to spend lots of money on a new one. It just took most of my time off to fix, which was not so good. I don't know how stable it will be, but I'm hoping for at least another six months, maybe a year if I'm lucky.

I just hope this year's plot clicks. By that I mean that I can connect with the plot and the characters. I seem to manage one or the other, but not both at the same time. This is annoying and the reason I have never bothered an agent to date. It would be a waste of time for both of us.

Instead I waste my own time trying to find the write novel to send out. If I write enough I'll get there. I know I will. (Don't you just love positive affirmations - well it might work.)

Characters

I love inventing characters. I find that it’s no work at all and it seems to come easily to me. I have no idea why, but it is also the reason that I always start off with characters and let the plot follow in its own good time.

All of my characters – at least I can’t think of an exception at the moment – are a result of many small bits of information and snippets of stories. All this merges together into one distinct character. I don’t use the normal ways of creating a character and background. I don’t write a biography and I don’t answer the 30/50/100 or more questions that some sites give to help produce a well-rounded character.

Instead I write little scenes. These are defining moments for the character. They may show how mean they are or how generous. They help explain what makes that character who they are. I do include some aspects of a biography, such roughly how old they are, but unless there is some need for it, I tend to leave that alone.

I will say that if something becomes important in a story, such as the heroine having red hair, green eyes and is exactly 24 years 3 months and 16 days old, then I do add these facts to the character sheet. And yes, I do have character sheets. They just don’t look like the examples you see on the internet or in books.

I normally outline four to five characters in detail for each story. There are far more than this in one novel, but the others don’t have such a detailed outline as I may only use one or two aspects of their character. But in these cases, they are noted in the minor character section of my notes. I do this because I have a nasty habit of using the same name more than once. I tend to forget these rather quickly.

I have fun creating characters and if I get really stuck I simply fall back to character creation. For some reason this is easier than some other aspects of writing, like sticking to a timeline…

I didn't write much at all over the weekend and yet I know I was busy the whole time. Well most of it anyway. Time seems to fly by at the moment. At this rate I won't even get my outline finished before NaNoWriMo.

That's not entirely true as the main story is outlined, but the subplots and extras have yet to be added. I might try to get the scenes worked out too, but that might be a step too far. I don't want to end up in the same situation as last year. I hope it goes better this time.

Inspiration and writing

I have to admit that I have no problem finding inspiration. Every day there is something that gets my mind whirring. I don't always record it. If I don't think it stands out enough I leave it alone. If I wrote every thing done I wouldn't have room in my bookcases for books.

Some do make it into one of the three places I use to record things. The first is as a file on my computer. The second is my A4 student notepad, from which I can tear the pages so they can be added to a folder and the last is my small, hardback notebook that travels everywhere with me. In fact I have three small notebooks as I have a terrible habit of losing them. It takes a while to rediscover them.

Each of my characters gains something from these snippets. Perhaps not the full character comes from here, but everyone is affected somehow. And from my collection of characters, comes the plot. I write murder mysteries so the victim(s) and the murderer tend to develop naturally from the pool I have created.

Sometimes I find that it isn't working out at all, but if I replace a character or two then things start to go better... I don't delete characters. They go into a sort of hibernation, so that when I need one I take a look at what I have in stock and see if there's a good fit. Some characters seem to stay in my mind more than others and develop more. They tend to end up as either a victim or a killer.

I know that there are those who are all about plot and I did try this for last year's NaNoWriMo. I had a good, complicated plot all mapped out. All the subplots too and then I added the required characters. I hated the whole thing. It never seemed to flow and everything felt wrong. I know there were no plot holes, but to be honest, I would prefer them to the uninspired drivel I produced.

There was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing to make it stand out either. It was a story I've read before so many times. Only those were better written. I did finish NaNoWriMo, but only just and it was hard. This year I'm going back to what I do best - plot holes and the rest.

Now I'm not saying that plotting is wrong. I do now plot a bit more. But I can't plot and then add in characters. It just doesn't work for me. But no matter how you write, inspiration is out there just waiting for you to grab it.

Blog-chain

I've joined the NaNo blog-chain. You can join too. The link is here, then just follow the simple instructions at the bottom of the list of blogs.

In case the above link fails to work, the correct URL is:-

http://ameliajune.net/the-nano-blogchain/

Annoyed

I don't seem to be able to paste text from the clipboard into the blogger editor. If anyone knows how to do this, let me know. It's starting to get annoying as I do quite a bit of writing off-line. In fact my main writing computer never connects to the Internet and I did this deliberately so that I wouldn't get distracted while writing.

blog posts

Instead of thinking about and writing the outline for NaNoWriMo, I've been thinking about and writing outlines for blog posts. Not exactly what I thought would happen, but I am writing a bit more. I'm slowly clearing my evenings and a bit on weekends so that I can write more.

I'll post another short post on Friday.

Plot of character? How is your writing driven?

I actually started off writing about inspiration, but I got sidetracked, so I decided to leave that for another day and write about plot versus character instead. Below is what I wrote...

I have thousands of ideas floating around in my head, some of which I write down. These are plots or people by prototypes, which can be expanded as needed. Part of this is due to how I write. I always start off with characters and the plot develops from there.

I find if I have interesting characters, I never have to make things happen, they will occur on their own. In fact, if I get stuck at all I put some or all of my characters in a room and see what happens.

For example, in my NaNoWriMo outline for this year, I started off with a character similar to one I had read about in a news story. It was about a man who's dead body had been lying for months in his flat. Not an unusual story except that the man had not been a recluse. He was in fact an obnoxious weirdo, who was disliked by everyone including he own family.

Most of the neighbours assumed he had been rehoused by the council, His family weren't talking to him and didn't really make a huge effort to contact him. It was only when a workman needed access to the flat to fix a leak that his body was discovered.

This started me thinking about all the horrible people I know and the victim of my NaNoWriMo was born, well died. She, in fact, starts off dead. But her nastiness leads to all sorts of possibilities and without her needing to go over the top in any of her actions. This gives me a large pool of suspects. It's a murder mystery in case you were wondering.

Everything I've written has always started with one or more characters. It's the only way I seem to be able to write. Last year I tried starting with a plot. I did write the 50 000 words, but it was a slog and not one I want to repeat. The result is incredibly bland. There aren't any plot holes, as in my other attempts, but it will send you to sleep quickly.

Not much...

has happened. I haven't written that much more on the plot. I need to, I don't have all the sub-plots yet, I just didn't do much this weekend. Instead I enjoyed a beautiful autumn day with my family. And did some housework.

Now back to writing...

Posting

I don't want to tempt fate or anything, but I'm hoping to start posting twice a week starting next week. The first post will be as is, an update on what if anything I have written towards a book or NaNoWriMo. The second post will be different and on a writing subject, such as inspiration or character vs. plot.

I'm not sure how long this will last, but it's worth a try.

Plot

I've got the plot sort of worked out. No details yet, but a time line and a storyline. I have to work out the sub-plots and other details. I need to also do some research into dead bodies, time of death and that sort of thing. It's a murder mystery by the way. I mention this just in case you haven't worked it out yet.

I haven't got an updated word count, because it's all plot, time line or storyline. Still there is progress and it's not even October yet. And of course I've remembered to post again :)

Eek

I just realized it's almost 3 months since I posted. That's terrible. I just added a note to every Monday's to-do-list from now until November to write a post. In it I will say what I have or haven't done and I'll include a word count no matter what.

Today's word count is 259. That's how many I wrote yesterday. Today I hope to at least double that number.

It's been a very long time...

since I last posted. I went on holiday and did all the usual stuff, but the one thing I didn't do was write. Yesterday that changed.

For some weird and wonderful reason I thought NaNoWriMo was October - stupid I know. Of course it's November. However I had a slight panic attack when I thought it was only a couple of weeks away and I hadn't even thought about what to write.

My exact thought was 'I have no plot or even a single character...maybe that will work...damn complicated though...might work...let's see' and I started to write. OK not a huge amount, just a few hundred words, but it's more than I written in months.

I don't know why I stopped writing. Probably it was because it just seemed like too much trouble. By the end of the last school year I was getting very tired and stressed. Not a real excuse, but I think the break has done me some good.

What it all amounts to is a very complicated plot for NaNoWriMo, which will span 80 years, with five or six separate stories that will weave in and out of each other. Did I mention it's complicated. I have no idea if it'll work, but if it does it could be the best thing I've ever written.

Should be fun to find out. So back to writing the plot summary, which will be in the form of a time line spanning the eighty odd years that the book will span. The actual book will not follow the time line, but the stories will be revealed in flashbacks. Maybe flashbacks is not the right word, still the actual story line will move back and forth through the time line.

Hi, ho, hi, ho, it's off to write we go...

long time, no blog

I've been writing scenes. Quite a few and new ones at that. I've also planned out a timeline, which means it is now easier to write some parts. I'm about halfway through and I am slightly stuck. I'm not sure which scenes should come next. I've been thinking about it for over a week now and I still can't get them in order.

I've decided to start writing the scenes from the first half and see if it all fits together, perhaps then I will see the second half more clearly. Of course the fact that I keep changing the climax of the story isn't helping. A little distance is needed.

update

I added approximately 1500 words last week. Not a huge amount, but not bad either. Currently, I write for just one hour a week. I know I need to write more. I just have trouble getting motivated. I'm so tired in the evenings that all I want to do is sit down and vegetate.

I worked out that if I continue at this rate, I will finish after one year. Better than never, but could be improved.

writing

When I first started this blog, I was worried that I would write here more than anywhere else. In fact it's turning out to be the opposite. I'm actually writing my novel and I hardly ever write here. I never really think about it to be honest.

I suppose that's a good thing, though the purpose of this blog was to give me more accountability. Still my writing has improved no end and even though I'm still not writing as much as I like, I am writing.

Chapter 4 is currently being written. I won't say re-written as I am changing almost everything except the broad out line. Not much is left from the original version. I'm not allowing myself to write anything in narrative summary, which is about all my previous drafts have ever amounted to. OK, so there was dialogue, but not much else.

This version is in scenes with action, dialogue and descriptions - totally different from any previous version. At times I have to force myself to write, but it is working.

I'm bad.....

at writing blog posts. I can't believe it's been so long since I updated. I have done some writing and I can honestly say that the quality of my writing is much improved.

OK, I'm not going to win any awards, but I am writing scenes and not just narrative summaries, which was my favorite way of getting out of the bits I wasn't enjoying.

I am now up to 6000 words of a novel. Here's to many more.

Yesterday

I had a good day writing. Wrote for just under an hour, but got a lot done. I am very happy with what I wrote and how much I wrote. Feeling much better because of it.

An update

I haven't been here for a while. A death followed by a health scare meant I just didn't have the energy to update the blog. Sorry.

Now all of that is over and I'm sort of catching up at work, so it is time to get back to writing or at least writing about not writing. I have my story. I know what's wrong with what I have written. Now all I need to do is make it right....

This should be interesting. I am attempting to get into the habit of writing every day, even if it is only for 5 minutes or so. I would love to write for an hour a day, but I'm not going to run before I can walk.

So time to finish the urgent stuff for work and then I will write. At least one sentence...

Tuesday's report

I forgot to write in my diary yesterday. I think I need to have it with me so I can write in it when I have the time or the inclination, rather than leaving it at home to write in it at 6pm.

However, I did write. I wrote a piece, which is part of my "novel" and I am using as a writing exercise. I'm trying a new way to create scenes. Hopefully it will work, but only time will tell. This method fits in well with my current writing style, so it's not like I have to make big changes. I will however have to go through my current draft and split it up differently and work on the individual parts. This is not a bad thing.

If I can get the individual parts to work, then I can put them back together and make the whole thing work. Well that's the plan anyway.

Yesterday

I didn't write. Well that's not entirely true. I wrote in my diary, but I didn't add to my novel.

What I did do is read about scenes. I found that I keep summarizing scenes and not actually writing them. If that makes any sense.

I summarise what the scene is about, maybe add in some dialogue, and that's it. I'm not describing the scene or moving people, not even allowing them to fidget or breathe. In fact some of my scenes are just talking heads, nothing more and I seem to be having trouble adding action or surroundings.

So I'm going to start some writing exercises in order to help with describing place and time and adding in actions. I start today. I have an hour free in which I will start.

Re-reading NaNoWriMo, I noticed that almost the entire thing is written in summary form. That is sad.

Bad end to the year

I did no writing in December 2010 due to personal reasons. Also, I was sick. Nothing went right.

Christmas was good when it finally happened as was old and new, which means New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Slowly I'm getting back into writing. Very slowly. I've been reading about writing at the moment. Today I need to start writing and I mean more than this post.

I'm thinking about writing a diary. That's something I've never done, but I know several writers who find it very useful. They begin with writing their diary entry and then find it easier to move to their work. I'm going to try this, starting tonight.