Aftermath
So, the madness that is NaNoWriMo is over for another year, the TGIO Party last night was a blast (great food, and all the winners got little plastic trophies!), but it's time now to think about the months ahead.
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December 2, 2007
November 30, 2007
Winner!
There's something about a deadline that just forces you to get down to work. Thanks to a big push yesterday, I reached 50k this morning and got my total validated :)
Goal: 50,000
Done: 50,200
The first three days of the week went pretty well, and I managed to write about two normal days' worth on each of them. By Wednesday night I was within about six thousand words of the finishing line - close enough that it was almost achievable in one day. Well, OK, not quite, but I still managed 5,815 on my last full day of writing. That's my best every daily total, for this or last year's NaNoWriMo!
Now I've just completely run out of steam. I don't have the energy to write the big action finale, so I'm going to quit whilst I'm ahead and recuperate :)
November 25, 2007
NaNoWriMo Week 4
Despite my best intents, I have managed to slip back quite a bit this week, and I now have eight thousand words to make up!
Goal: 41,667
Done: 33,696
Mostly I found it hard to write during the week - the atrium, where I usually sit and write at lunchtime, has been busy, and I have also had lunchtime meetings to attend. Worst of all, I haven't written anything today, because I ran out of outline and needed to brainstorm some plot ideas.
I just hope I can make up the deficit in the last five days!
November 18, 2007
NaNoWriMo Week 3
After a couple more days of feeling unwell I finally managed to pick up the pace again, and have made reasonable progress. However I'm now a little over five thousand words behind, so I'll need to work hard for the rest of the month. This coming week I want to concentrate on not getting further behind; I have the whole of the last week of November off work, so I don't want to burn out now and be unable to write when I actually have the time free.
Goal: 30,000
Done: 24,537
November 14, 2007
Faltering
After a good solid start, I've hit the first major obstacle. Yesterday I started feeling unwell, with a kind of nebulous headache/earache/toothache. Not sure if it's a cold coming on, my wisdom teeth playing up or perhaps an ear infection. Anyway, I've hardly written anything in the past 48 hours :(
Today I took the day off work, but I still felt too ill to write. Instead I've been re-reading some old conlang notes. If I can do some useful world-building in my downtime, at least the day won't be totally wasted.
November 11, 2007
NaNoWriMo Week 2
A pretty good week, despite one off day - I'm very slightly ahead of the game, but nowhere near enough to feel complacent.
Goal: 18,334
Done: 19,109
What I am finding, however, is that it's hard to switch from the main plotline to the sub-plot and back again, so I think I'm going to have to write the scenes somewhat out of order if I want to keep up my momentum.
November 4, 2007
NaNoWriMo Week 1
I decided to adopt the carrot approach this week - catch up four days' worth and I can take time out to see "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" today. It seems to have worked, as the total below proves (goals listed will be number of days elapsed x 1667 words):
Goal: 6667
Done: 6814
As for the movie...
November 1, 2007
Slow start
Note to self: do not drink excessive amounts of cider at the NaNoWriMo Kick-Off. You will wake up with a blinding headache and not want to write.
I managed a grand total of 367 words today. Better than zero, I suppose - but not what I was hoping for :(
October 31, 2007
Stage fright
I'm now feeling decidedly apprehensive about NaNoWriMo. It's been eleven months since I wrote at such a pace, plus I've been in "edit mode" for most of that time, and on top of all that my outline isn't complete by a long stretch. I guess this is where I find out how well I can wing it...
Tonight is the Kick-Off party (meeting at the Cambridge Blue pub), so at least I've got that to look forward to!
October 27, 2007
Scene and sequel
I've spent the last couple of days working frantically on my outline of Book Two - last year I started outlining in August, so I fear I've left it a bit late this time around!
Earlier today my copy of "Scene and Sequel" by Jack Bickham arrived. It took me a while to get my head around the difference between his definition of "scene" (a section of narrative in which the character takes an action and discovers the consequences) and the definition I was more familiar with (a section of narrative which takes place in a single location and is told from a single viewpoint). Anyway, I'm giving it a go for this outline, and it has certainly helped me to come up with plenty of scenes and sequels (the viewpoint character's emotional reactions to the outcome of the previous scene)!
October 10, 2007
Titles
I've been struggling with the issue of titles for my works in progress. For Book One, I originally used a great title which all my beta-readers liked, but it no longer fits the book, so I really have to change it. And I wanted at least a working title for the sequel, rather than "Secret Theatre Book Two" :)
Thus, Book One is now "The Guiser". A guiser is someone who goes in disguise, specifically (in regional British dialects) a mummer in one of the winter celebrations. The title works on several levels: at least two characters disguise themselves at some point (one of them for the whole book), and many of the others are not what they seem.
The title of Book Two, "Treasons, Stratagems and Spoils" is taken from "The Merchant of Venice". I'm not sure yet how well it will fit, but when I heard the phrase during Saturday's performance it immediately clicked.
October 7, 2007
Transformations
What with changing some major details about one of my PoV characters (see "A rose by any other name") and merging two other, rather shadowy, characters to make one more important one, I've had to go back and fix the chapters I've revised so far so that my beta-readers don't get utterly confused!
Today I did the rest of the edits for Chapters 1-4, having already written a couple of new scenes for them. Thankfully there wasn't as much to do as I feared - I mostly had to adjust some character interactions (switching a character from a 20-something widow to a teenage girl disguised as a boy alters her relationships with men considerably!), and change a couple of scene transitions.
Next up, however, is a much bigger job - a substantial rewrite of Chapter 6. The first version was adequate but lacking impact; this one will be much more exciting!
October 5, 2007
A rose by any other name
It's funny - despite being female myself, I find male PoV characters much easier to write than female ones. I've really been struggling with the female PoV in "Secret Theatre", to the point where I need to change her name and history in order to make her more fun to write!
August 29, 2007
Week 5
OK, so August doesn't have five weeks, but this is my fifth (and final) report on my AugNoWriMo progress.
Despite having to lower my initial target, I feel pretty damned good! Once the finish line was in sight I put on a spurt and finished early (just like I did for NaNoWriMo - I wonder if this is shaping up to be a habit?). I've left the story at a good point, where my hero is about to start his mission, and I have a little over 38,500 words of half-way decent manuscript completed. Yay!
This week's total: 4336 (1445 per day)
Grand total: 25,110 (866 per day)
August 26, 2007
Week 4
I've had to reduce my AugNoWriMo target to 25,000 words - after my block over Chapter 11, there was no way I was going to catch up and still retain my sanity!
This week, I concentrated on getting my outline firmed up, particularly for the first four chapters of Act Two, which is now my milestone for this month. I had a bit of a slump mid-week when it was announced that the Foleo could be delayed until late September or even October, but I stuck at the outlining and made some progress in the end.
With my way ahead clear, I've been able to revise part of Chapter 12 and the whole of Chapters 13 and 14 (I'm saving the new material that begins Chapter 12 for next week). That will give me plenty of material to submit for critique this autumn!
This week's total: 4765 (681 per day)
Total so far: 20,774 (799 per day)
August 21, 2007
Immovable Feast
Whilst revising the outline for Acts Two and Three of "Powderkeg Walk", I encountered a problem. When I wrote the first draft, I envisaged ten days as being sufficiently long for the crime to be solved but short enough to add suspense. However the revised outline contains too many major events to plausibly fit into such a short time span.
Once again I was saved by my nigh-obsessive attention to historical detail...
August 19, 2007
Week 3
This weekend, flushed by my success on Friday, I sat down to tackle the Big Chapter. The problem was that I had not just one but two crimes to include - arson and murder - and any number of potential suspects, so it was a pretty daunting task. But, as with most things, I found that breaking it down into stages was a big help.
This week's total: 2601 (372 per day)
Total so far: 16,009 (843 per day)
August 17, 2007
I Am Writing
This week has been a big struggle to write - I've been busy at work (release deadline for Ensembl) and stuck on a Big Chapter, i.e. the big murder scene in my whodunnit. So, I more or less gave up trying to fight the block on work days, and just listened to "I Should Be Writing" :)
And you know - it worked!
August 12, 2007
Week 2
Some bad nights' sleep this week owing to the sudden bout of hot weather, but I'm making reasonable progress. Chapters 8, 9 and 10 are now finished, so only one more to go and I've reached the end of Act One :D
On the down-side, if anything I seem to be slowing down :(
This week's total: 7811 (1115 per day)
Total so far: 13,408 (1117 per day)
August 5, 2007
Week 1
The first week of AugNoWriMo has gone reasonably well - I completed chapters 6 & 7, and posted them to the CWIL website (mostly so I wouldn't be tempted to fiddle with them too much!). I do need to speed up a bit, though - 37,000 is more than 10 chapters at my average word count.
Total so far: 5597 (1119 per day)
July 31, 2007
AugNoWriMo
After a sluggish July, I've decided to knuckle down and actually get some writing and editing done in August. There's an AugNoWriMo website where you can set your own word-count for the month - it doesn't have to be 50k nor a new project. Since I have about 13k done on "Powderkeg Walk" so far, I'm setting a target of 37k - but that will be for words edited to critiquable standard, not rough draft - eep!
Target: 1194 words per day
June 16, 2007
Plot Mark II
I've signed up for the FM word-count marathon again, and this time I'm having a lot more success. I've managed to rack up 2898 words of world-building and outline today, so that 5k pip is in sight!
May 9, 2007
Making history
After months of soul-searching, I have decided that my current project needs to be alternate history, not conventional fantasy. The main city is so heavily based on Elizabethan London that it will take minimal editing to effect the change. The only thing that was holding me back was my previous decision to have non-humans across the ocean plus an alternative religion for my pseudo-Europe. However I came across a post on FM (a belated reply to my thread asking which way the book should go) that has opened up new possibilities.
April 13, 2007
Improving
Last night my revisions to the opening of "Powderkeg Walk" were critiqued by my fellow CWIL members. It seems to be getting better, as there were fewer out-and-out criticisms (apart from George, who still finds my writing style heavy on the description - tough! *lol*). It needs some more tightening, but I'm happier with the way it's going.
Of course now I need to write/edit some new stuff! To that end, I've signed up for the Word Count Marathon on FM. My target is 5k words - just about doable, I reckon.
April 1, 2007
End of EdMo
Well, NaNoEdMo is over, and I just about scraped through with my 50 hours done, no thanks to a rotten cold! I have three chapters completed (bar final polishing), and another new one drafted to fill in the new character/subplot. Today I'm going to concentrate on catching up on my 2YN assignments - only a mere 6 to do before we start the world-building section next week!
No, that's not an April Fool's joke - I really do have 6 assignments to do today... (sigh)
March 17, 2007
Editing progress
I've attended a couple of weekend "edit-ins" for NaNoEdMo, and revised my opening chapters of "Powderkeg Walk" based on critique feedback. Fantasy poses a particularly hard challenge when it comes to openings: too slow and the reader may lose interest, but too fast and he may have trouble taking it all in.
March 7, 2007
Delayed start
My NaNoEdMo efforts have been sadly delayed - I injured my back* on Monday and for two days was unable to sit upright without suffering agonizing pain. Added to that, my MacBook is wiped and packed up, ready to go off for repairs, so my only computer is the Mac Mini on the shared desk. And I can only sit at that for a few minutes at a time before it gets really uncomfortable...
I've been reduced to redrafting scenes in longhand, just to be able to make some progress on the editing front. On the plus side, I haven't been able to go to work since the accident - but it's getting really boring, not being able to do anything but read for most of the day :(
* trying to stop my cat pulling a large empty (but glazed) picture frame down on herself (rolls eyes)
February 15, 2007
Year-Long Edit Marathon
As well as NaNoEdMo, I've signed up for the Year-Long Edit Marathon at Forward Motion, because it's going to take a lot longer than a month to lick my rough draft into shape! The target I've set is 250,000 words, because although my novel is only going to be about 120k, it's going to take two full passes (rewrite plus polishing) to get it into submittable condition, plus I'm cutting at least 8000 words (!!) from my NaNo draft.
February 3, 2007
NaNoEdMo
This afternoon I went to the February Interim Meet of the Cambridge NaNoWriMo team, which was a fun chance to catch up - though we only talked and did no writing at all (d'oh!). However someone mentioned NaNoEdMo, which I had quite forgotten about, and so I've signed up :)
So much editing needed, so little time...
December 2, 2006
The Big Edit
So, NaNoWriMo is over, the champagne has been drunk and the winner's logo is on my home page - what now?
Overall I'm pleased with my rough draft. Sure it's full of gaps and continuity errors, but it has a dramatic ending and a strong theme, so I think it's worth revising for submission to an agent. That's a first for me, so I'm really happy with the outcome.
Now for the revision process!
November 27, 2006
Day 27 - Wow, I did it!
Just before midnight last night, I crawled across the NaNoWriMo finish line - 4 days early! My current word count is 50,107 :D
November 25, 2006
Day 25
I think my subconscious is plotting behind my back! Cue the theme to The Twilight Zone...
November 24, 2006
Day 24
I broke the 40k barrier at 7am this morning, which was a great relief. It was an easy 800 words, though - a frantic chase through the woods, which kept my fingers moving almost as fast as my hero's feet :)
The story's still moving along, but there have been some more seat-of-the-pants inspirations that have serious implications for the plot. Like the real villain not being who I'd planned it to be, for one! The next few scenes are going to need some serious rethinking...
November 13, 2006
Day 12
Broke the 20k barrier today! Time really flies when you're having fun - especially if your characters aren't! Writing everyone's reactions to the murder, and their attempts to cope with the mess that's been made of their lives, has definitely been the best bit so far :)
November 10, 2006
Day 9
I'm afraid I've been too busy either working, writing or resting my weary brain and fingers to keep up with all my word-count updates. The early part of the week was very sluggish, probably because I knew I had a big scene coming up and was itching to skip ahead!
I finally wrote it the day before yesterday (murder - yay!), and last night did 1500 words of reaction scene after getting home from my writers' group meeting, so I'm feeling pretty good despite being 500-odd words behind target.
TGIF - I should be able to pull ahead again at the weekend :)
November 5, 2006
Day 5
Had a pretty good day today - didn't spend as long writing as yesterday, as I had other things to do (like mucking out the chickens and tending a neglected allotment!), but still pretty productive. Most importantly, I nudged over the 10k mark, so I'm on target to finish on the 25th (or write 60k - which would be great!).
I also helped out Rebecca, my fellow CWIL member and NaNoWriMo participant. She has a lot of extra work on at the moment, which is eating into her weekday evenings, so we held an informal write-in here at my place and both managed to make good progress. We celebrated with a G&T and an episode of Buffy :)
November 4, 2006
Day 4 - New Words
Managed to clock up a good total today after all, despite needing a big midday nap to finish catching up on sleep. A big banquet scene with people making speeches helped :)
Day 4 - Word Count Hell
I finally got around to pasting my Alphasmart documents into a word-processor this morning, and got a nasty surprise! First, I seemed to have lost about 40% of my word-count, which I eventually traced to a syncing problem - new files were being added to my Wordsmith folder but existing ones had not been updated. However even after retrieving the missing paragraphs, Wordsmith has turned out to be extremely optimistic in its wordcounts, to the point of over-estimating them by nearly 9%! Hence I'm now slightly below my 3-day target instead of comfortably over :(
Oh well, forewarned is forearmed - I shall be aiming for 5500 words on the Alphasmart this weekend, which should translate into a shade over 5000 on my laptop.
Technology - don't you just love it?
November 3, 2006
Day 3
Slowing down a bit - all those sleepless nights of anticipation in late October have caught up with me! Since I'm on target for 50k, I think I'm going to take the evening off and recharge my batteries ready for this weekend's Forward Motion word-count marathon!
November 2, 2006
Day 2
Got off to a steady start, averaging a little over 2000 words per day, @ ~680 words per hour. Not spectacular, but I'm trying to balance quantity and quality - no point writing complete garbage!
November 1, 2006
And they're off!
NaNoWriMo started today, and I'm happy to announce that I've already written 886 words in my first session :)
It took me an hour and a half, which is a bit slow - but then my husband was pottering around the living room and my cat decided she wanted to go to sleep inside my dressing-gown because it was cold!
October 23, 2006
Countdown
Not long now until NaNoWriMo starts, but thankfully I'm fairly well prepared. I've just finished the Forward Motion week-long outlining marathon - made the 30-scene mark, yay! - so the outline for "Powderkeg Walk" is pretty much complete, with nearly 90 scenes planned. If that can't get me through NaNoWriMo, I don't know what can! :)
October 2, 2006
Signed up for NanoWriMo 2006!
Well, I've gone and done it now - guess there's no going back. 50,000 words, here I come!
October 1, 2006
First Milestone
Altogether I've done 4000 words for the character marathon, but sadly I can only count the 2500 I did today, at least as far as getting an official 'pip' is concerned - I had too many wedding errands to run on Saturday to be able to do 48 contiguous hours :(
Still, I know I did it, and 2000 words every 24 hours is easily enough for NaNoWriMo!
September 28, 2006
Marathon Woman
Forward Motion is running a series of NaNo-prep marathons in October, so I'm going to do as many as I can fit around the wedding (only eight and a half days to go!). Starting tonight, and fired up as I am after an evening of coffee and critiquing, I'm aiming for a minimum of 2500 words of character development in 48 hours...
September 25, 2006
Plot Bunnies, Ted!
After a week of struggling with the middle of my plot, I finally had a rush of inspiration and have now outlined about 60 of the projected 88 scenes!
September 17, 2006
Straying from the path
I've been playing with the Marshall Plan for a few days, and although it's very good for getting the thoughts flowing, I've decided I'm not going to follow its structure too religiously.
August 16, 2006
Preparing for NaNoWriMo
I've decided that what with wedding plans and late summer gardening, I'm just not going to have much time to devote to writing over the next two months; however I should be relatively free by November, just in time for NaNoWriMo :)
