Hi, All! If I seem to have been missing recently, I’ve had nose to grindstone (aka keyboard). In September I was ploughing slowly through a very big, complex WIP, when I had an idea for another novel (displacement activity?). Deciding I wanted to get it down fast, I spent October doing minimal research, then took on the NaNoWriMo challenge to force myself to meet a deadline.

If you aren’t familiar with it, the NaNoWriMo challenge takes place in November: write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days. My first drafts generally run to around 90,000 words and grow with editing. Also, I have a number of commitments towards the end of the month. Consequently, for me it would mean working VERY fast.

Thought I’d report back on my experience.

Finished yesterday, Day 20, with a first draft of 91,616 words. What was it like? I’ve never written this fast in my life and I am totally drained – exhausted mentally and physically. However, I do now have a workable first draft, though it will need a lot of editing. Once the pervasive headache subsides, I think I’ll feel quite euphoric.

Would I recommend it?

Deadlines do concentrate the mind and I know I’m prone to potter along with the research for too long because I really enjoy it. So if you’re a potterer you’d probably find it would help. It requires a lot of self-discipline and the ability to turn a blind eye to all the other things you’ll have to neglect. If this would make you anxious and unhappy, then I’d say, no, don’t attempt it. It was a strange, surreal experience, almost hypnotic, so you need support and understanding from your nearest and dearest, as you wander around like a zombie, which I was lucky enough to get.

Would I do it again?

Ask me in a couple of months’ time!
Ann
My Website

Yes, I think this is the thing. It forces you to make time, no excuses.

I don't make detailed outlines either, but I know where I'm starting and finishing, and the main milestones along the way. Even with NaNo I did what I always do: at the beginning of each day's writing I make a short list (headings only) of the scenes I want to cover.

Oh, the joy of ticking them off!

Of course, new scenes present themselves as I go along. I couldn't do what some people do and plan in immense detail. Where would be the excitement of discovery as you go along?

It's different with non-fiction, where I think a careful plan is essential.

Enjoy the rest of November, Denna!

Ann
My Website

I can only speak for myself when in the middle of creating a story. I always start with an idea of who the main characters are, their personalities, and what I want them to gain in the journey I'm about to send them on. But like real life, we can plan all we want and the journey will still change before we reach the end, sometimes big changes, sometimes small.

I don't go backwards during the creating time because this will throw off my forward motion (if that makes sense). I need to keep following the path where my characters and plot is taking me. I will, however, make notes when something big changes that I hadn't planned for. Just as with the story I'm working on now. I didn't plan for my two main characters to ever be separated, but as it worked out, separating them was best for my story. It was growing stagnant and I needed a change. One big change brings in a whole pile of smaller changes and the story begins to flesh out, become more interesting in my opinion.

I have an idea of where I'm going to end up, but I won't hesitate to veer off if necessary. Once the rough draft and notes are finished, I put them up on a shelf for about six months and forget about it. When I start my edits, I'll pull everything together, fill in details missing at the start because of changes made later on. Though I understand why people feel it's necessary to keep fiddling with beginnings, I don't do it myself. I'd rather wait and make all my changes at one time. Besides, though I'll sometimes place beginning chapters up for review to see if a story is interesting to anyone but me, no one will read the rest until after my first two edits are finished. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my rough draft, just work out the bugs. NaNo forces you to work without fiddling and I think this is good for everyone to at least try.

91k ?? Well done!

I am a planner. Last year I laid out 25 x 2k chapters, they came in at around the 2- 2.5k mark and all went well.

Apart from wife and family, they booked everything from christenings to weddings deliberately to throw me off. I admit to a crazy scramble on the last weekend, but it was fun and a good experience.

This year I thought I’d got it covered, around 20 chapters, but they were going to be good and solid. Wife and family were told the last weekend of November is mine.

Ha! The 2.5 – 3k chapters melted. A couple of 1k’s and then 300 words! I needed a whole new storyline to thread through or it wasn’t going to happen. Then work hit, every morning an early start to sit on the motorway for a week, emergency baby-sitting duties and this weekend, although she didn’t tell me, darling beloved booked us to do more grandchild care.

I’m on track to finish over 50k (91k? show off!) hopefully by the end of the weekend, but grandchildren do wash away the creativity a tad. I do have a good crescendo ending planned I just need to get the time to type it out.

At the moment, I’m saying ‘never again’, but I said that last year. What did I get? Last year’s nano is almost at a complete stage and posted here. I always find editing arduous, but my terse style really doesn’t give big word counts and so the nano tends to be well and truly over written (a habit I then have to break when I come back to reality.) I know I’ve got some major threads to fix. Characters who were going to be important faded out and a couple of bit players became key, but, for me, it’s actually good to let creativity take over for a time.

During this process, there is no real going back and reworking and allowing characters to blossom, they get foibles – live with it until the real edit occurs. A couple of places, the story does fracture. I know exactly where and exactly what needs to be fixed. At the moment, it will only get fixed if I have time and if it adds to the word count.

Crossed the 50k line mid morning Sunday. Read a blog somewhere that said count your Nano as draft zero, rather than a first draft – I can go with that.

Now I have to adjust back to “real” writing. Only using one word, where five will fit.

End result is a story that will definitely receive another couple of edits and then be launched into the world of rejections – Cynical moi?