NaNoWriMo: Final Word Count result

I got off to a great start for NaNoWriMo - around 16,000 written over the first fifteen days - but then I faltered.

I got distracted from adding to my word count when I spent four days making a story collage to help me get the storyline straight in my head.  And then my daughter moved overseas, and I lost a few days, helping her with final preparations, taking her to the airport, and then bawling my eyes out over her having gone (the loss and the pride).

But, I am pleased, that I successfully now have a final word count of 23, 908 words!  That's the first three or four chapters done.  Trying really hard not to bore (eventual) readers with too much backstory or scene set up, I've laid down the basics: I'm only a hundred or so words away from writing 'the inciting incident' that really gets the story kicking at a slightly higher level.

Next year, I think I might try officially enrolling in NaNo.

I've had great fun being lost in my story world, conversing with my characters and discovering the things sometimes mere seconds before they discover it.

Nanowrimo: Day 19 update

I have made NO progress with my manuscript word count over the last three or four days.

I have, however, still been 'working' on my storyline.  I mentioned in a previous post that I don't have drawing skills (and I still don't) but I am a visual person, so in order to cement my storyline in my mind, I made a collage of my storyline from pictures I found on the internet - some photographs, some artists drawings or paintings, clip art. Anything that was suitable to help me create a sort of 'storyboard' that I can reference when I need to.

I went through two glue sticks and a quarter of a ream of paper printing out various size images and pasting them into some sort of order; yet I don't think anyone would be able to flip through the visual art diary and work out my storyline because some of the images I included were things like just eyes (because that is the shape I imagine my heroine has), or something that is just meaningful to me about a character or setting, or moment.

And today, I drew a map of my world - something a lot of fantasy writers do.  I didn't create a map of the whole world, only the part relevant to the beginning of the story which I am still currently writing - if I know whereabouts roughly on the map my heroine lives, and I already know how long it takes her to travel to the 'heart of the city', then I'll be able to visualise and accurately describe length of travel later on within the story.

Another thing I did is, because I started writing the story a few years ago and it has undergone quite a few changes since as I've 'tightened up' my ideas or changed my mind about its progress, was to print out a copy of old story notes so I can go through and work out what is still 'rescueable' and what isn't in regards to manuscript, rules, plot points, characters etc.

I'm feeling really pleased with my progress even though I haven't succeeded in writing every single day... my novel IS making progress even though the last few days the word count has remained stable.

 

NaNo Progress: Day 14

I am feeling very excited about the progress of my novel - I'm a day off being halfway through NaNo, and as of this evening my word count has reached 15,200, which is Chapters One, Two and Three completed to my liking!

And that, is after I just brutally chopped 1216 words out of Chapter Two.

I know for some authors NaNo is about getting the words down, turning off the inner editor and coming back to do the rewriting and editing later - but I just don't work that way. I need to keep rereading my own story and like what I am reading, tweaking the words and sentences as I read through so I get into the zone so I can add more.

I often hear my characters conversations, so I try to capture it as quickly as I can, and then try to add their actions and other details later, when it seems like a good spot to insert it. I seem to work in lots of two or three chapters and need to get that right before I can progress with the rest of the story - even when I know where the story is heading.

I'm a long way from finished telling this tale - but at the moment I have the ideas, enthusiasm and momentum to get pressing forward.  But boy is my housework suffering!

NaNo progress: Day 10

I wish my creative abilities included being able to draw more than just stick figure drawings.

I like creating visuals to help me 'see' the world I am writing about in clearer details.  I just managed though to draw a rough image of the apartment my main character is living in, so the details can be accurately and consistently described within my story as she moves about inside (when she is home), but it would be so much nicer (for me anyway) if I had the ability to draw because then I would be drawing scenes and characters as much as I write about them, and if ever published one day I could do what J.K. Rowling did, and release some of the images that I generated about my story. But regrettably, I don't possess that skill so I have to make do with inept stick drawings which is the best I can manage.

NaNo progress: Day 10.  Have so far stuck to my goal of working on my novel every single day. Manuscript currently stands at 10,038 (following me last night ruthless chopping about 500 verbose wording to tighten the story pace), and my Story Notes file has increased slightly to 6,579 words (this doesn't include notes scribbled into my spiral notebook); so clearly I am averaging around 1,000 words per day, and if I continue to achieve this, the "Beginning" of my novel will be completed by the time NoNo winds up. 

NoNoWriMo Progress: Day 5 and making progress

I'm feeling rather proud of myself for how I am sticking to my NaNoWriMo goal to write each day. My novel manuscript is currently at 7256 words, and my Story Notes file that I have sitting open next to the manuscript, which I use to record ideas and reminders to help me progress the story in the direction where I want to head it, has increased to 6302 words.

And yesterday's significantly doubled word counts came despite my having broken my glasses for which I am totally reliant upon.  I had my daughter drive me to the optometrist so I could initiate emergency repairs, and while I was there, had another eye test.  Being thorough and needing to check that my diabetes hasn't caused damage to the blood vessels at the back of my eyes, the optometrist put drops in to dilate my pupils, which left me sensitive to light for the next few hours. Do you know how hard it is to see through watery eyes? 

I couldn't read, I couldn't do much housework because I kept bumping into things, and for a while there I worried I wasn't going to be able to add even a single word to my word count, thus ruining me reaching the simplest of goals to write each day on Day 5!

But, as hard work would have it; I am a touch typist. And, seeing as my task did not involve transcribing, I happily let those pupil dilating drops wear off by closing my eyes and just letting the words running around my head be typed into my manuscript and story note documents.  It helps that Microsoft Word allows you to Zoom the text, so I enlarged the text so when i really had to I could open my eyes again and make sure that I had typed coherently because I had correctly positioned my fingers over the keyboard.

And today, bright and early I am back working on my novel - the one I have been 'brewing' in my mind and on paper and electronic file for about five years now - re-enthused because the project is going the best i ever has.  Maybe I have found the key to overcoming writer's block - committing to working on it every single day even if I only add one word, or maybe I finally have the story starting point right.  All I know is that I am back loving working on the story that I would love to read and want to get out of my head and finish - and floods of refreshed ideas are coming to me. To the point I can't keep up!

Anyway, I'm outta here - I want to try and finish this chapter off, on its natural cliffhanging moment!

NaNoWriMo: so far so good!

I often read some of the strangest things on the internet, perhaps useful for my novel writing some time in the future, so I hand write out some notes and file it in a folder for the story line I think it would best suit.

Well, because it is NaNoWriMo (meaning National Novel Writing Month), I decided to commit to working on my novel manuscript every single day during NaNo rather than strive to reach the 50,000 word count NaNo promotes.

Up to day three and tracking well, I needed to refer to a minor character (who may or may not have a bit part later on in the story) so I wanted to use that character's first name in passing reference, so pulled out my WIP file looking for the list of names I've built up over time for this particular storyline (some of which will never be used, but are there on stand-by in case I need them), when I came across some old handwritten notes about love and intimacy.

So now I've just found myself a handy checklist, so I can incorporate the exact opposite of 'what makes a good relationship' so readers can work out long before my main character that the person she is dating is 'completely wrong for her' and no she shouldn't trust him, and yes, she should most definitely break up with him!

After so many false starts with this particular manuscript, with my character undergoing so many changes, like her age, and her name, and her background situation, this Chapter One is starting to feel the best its ever felt - yes, I know I said that last time, but still... we writers can be a fickle bunch when we put on our editor's cap.

Here's hoping that every day in November allows me to add to my manuscript word count, even if it is only one word some days.

Day 3 Word Count (progressive) total: 4609.