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Post by TheOogieBoogieMan on Nov 2, 2006 18:25:48 GMT -5
Whoops...turns out I got the name wrong in my first post. It's National NOVEL Writing Month, not NOVEMBER Writing Month.
I have brought myself great shame.
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Post by Head Mutant on Nov 3, 2006 12:44:57 GMT -5
Brush off that shame, soldier!
So far, so good. Pushed through a long chapter and finally have my entire cast of main characters on the table. 12 pages and 5,275 words done. As I told Sue yesterday, I have NO idea what this story is about, where it's going or how it's going to end. Just kind of writing itself, I guess.
Everyone here thinks I'm insane for doing this. Time? What time?
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Post by TheOogieBoogieMan on Nov 3, 2006 17:57:12 GMT -5
I typed my 3000th word a while ago.
Needless to say, I've been having a hard time keeping up with that "1677 words a day" plan. Hopefully I'll catch up this weekend.
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Post by Head Mutant on Nov 5, 2006 14:39:59 GMT -5
Wait, I'm a HORSE, Sue?
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Post by pfrsue on Nov 5, 2006 17:35:20 GMT -5
You're not a HORSE, Justin. There just happens to be a horse in it NAMED Justin. (I did warn you about this, you know.) I've already figured out that when all is said and done, I'm completely rewriting the first three or four chapters. I just can't take the time to do it now. At least I think a plot is finally starting to establish itself in my fevered little brain, and supporting characters are popping up as needed. (I also wish I'd started it in third-person instead of first, but first has been my default setting for five or six years.) I think I'm around the 7300 mark, but I really need to push. I haven't gotten diddly squat accomplished today. Maybe I'll pull an all-nighter since I have off tomorrow. Maybe not. |
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Post by pfrsue on Nov 5, 2006 21:23:01 GMT -5
Incidentally, just out of curiosity, do you guys listen to music while you're writing, or do you need silence?
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Post by Head Mutant on Nov 5, 2006 21:57:29 GMT -5
Silence for me. I can never do any sort of work with music on -- website, work work, whatever.
Today was tough. Ear infection and a fever and zero energy to go on, but I pushed another 1200 words in. 'Tis silly nonsense. But that's what I expect, being a horse and all.
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Post by TheOogieBoogieMan on Nov 5, 2006 22:10:58 GMT -5
I tried listening to music at first. Music usually helps me focus on work and whatnot, but it would just distract me whenever I'd try to write. So silence for me too.
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Post by pfrsue on Nov 5, 2006 22:53:36 GMT -5
I'm up to 9,639 words now - a productive evening after all.
I've been listening to music, but there are only four or five songs in the playlist and they're all fairly unobtrusive. (Although not Barry Manilow-ish.) It sort of puts me in the zone.
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Post by Head Mutant on Nov 6, 2006 19:42:17 GMT -5
11,102. The deeper I get into this, the more I'm feeling suffocated by the enormity of it all. Just feels like so much to get done, so much more to go, and I'm scared like crazy that I'll run out of ideas or that I'll miss a day or two and then suddenly have thousands and thousands of words to write to catch up.
But, that said, it goes well. On to chapter 7!
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Post by TheOogieBoogieMan on Nov 7, 2006 0:36:26 GMT -5
I'm at 10010 words. Last night, as I was about to fall asleep, I realized I was pretty much out of story for one of the characters my novel focuses on, and I was close to running out for the other character. So I just said "to hell with it" and made a character melt away. I did it at first just to turn things upside down, but now that I've done it, I know exactly how to make it make some sort of sense, so I have some ideas up my sleeve again.
I'm not expecting what I'm writing to be any good. Even looking over what I've written now, it's not anything I would read and enjoy if someone else published it. But that doesn't bother me. To me, doing this is more about testing whether I can take an idea and turn it into a novel. It's also about testing my endurance; I've been writing everyday, whether in the mood or not, and I always pull out 1500 to 2000 words.
Wow, this was a pretty long post, by my standards. It's a shame this wasn't my 900th post. Yay for 901!
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Post by pfrsue on Nov 7, 2006 20:22:51 GMT -5
I really pushed it today, because I'm not sure how much time I'll have to do things at work tomorrow and I'm getting ready to go out to a campaign party tonight while we wait for the results to come in. I'm thinking minimal sleep since even during the primaries it took until close to midnight before the precincts all reported in. When you have to be at work by 6am, this is not optimal.
Anyway, 14,127 words and a very unexpected dramatic shift. (And I hate to admit it, but I'm not sure I haven't started drifting from literary fiction to chick lit. Heaven help me!)
Justin, you're still separating it into chapters? I gave that up on day two. I'll have to sort out the scene spacing later.
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Post by Head Mutant on Nov 7, 2006 22:03:17 GMT -5
Good luck with the vote, Sue!
And you guys seem to be chugging along -- I think that's great, and it's encouraging to me to keep going. I had my first serious "should I keep going?" moment today, which passed. Then, sort of out of the blue I realized that I'd been unconsciously structuring the book in a certain way per chapter, and once I realized that, I was able to sit down and map out the next 10 or so chapters. Nothing super-fancy, but chapters help me keep going -- I need the breaks, the separations between events, and they're mini-milestones that help out. If I can get the start of a chapter going, I can go all the way, even if I don't have a clear idea of what's going to happen.
My only reservation is that I anticipated writing a LOT more humor... today's chapter was mostly void of laugh-out-loud funniness, although there's still quirk and whatnot. If I force it, then it's going to seem very forced, and I'd rather go where the book takes me. But if I get too far from acknowledging the humor of the whole situation, it just gets ridiculous.
I've also started a "bible" for the novel, to keep track of who's who, and what places are what. It takes place at a summer camp with a potential cast of 200ish, so I'm trying to limit things somewhat and keep what I've written straight.
Toward the end of the month I'm planning on going back and adding more padding -- descriptions, more humor, etc.
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Post by Head Mutant on Nov 7, 2006 22:08:11 GMT -5
Just for fun, here are my chapter titles so far:
1. Of Bullies and Anthills
2. A History of Camp Teakwood, Part I
3. Hungarian Goulash
4. The Gnome of Cabin 12
5. The Cult Of Pickles
6. The Forbidden Shore
7. It Was A Dark And Stormy Night
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Post by pfrsue on Nov 8, 2006 6:29:46 GMT -5
Good luck with the vote, Sue! We won! (If the noveling thing doesn't work out, maybe I have a future as a campaign writer.) I need a nap. |
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