You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November 2010.
Total Word Count: 50906
Today’s Word Count: 2159
Today’s Writing: inspired and surprising
Today’s Energy: high
I woke up with my head spinning. My muse is back in town with a load of marvelous ideas for my book. I sat down and wrote first thing this morning, trying frantically to keep up as she dumped everything out of her sack. It’s amazing to have Day 30 feel like Day 1, although I am not quite as wired or giddy as I was back at the beginning of the month. I did have the high of hitting 50,000 words today, a reminder that one way to feel good about what I’m doing is to set measurable goals, even if they seem somewhat arbitrary.
While my story isn’t finished yet, I did get to write a great scene. The prince learned that Wren is alive, only to discover that she has disappeared and that his trusted vassal lied. So there is more for him to do, and more for me to write. I will definitely be working on this again tomorrow.
The surprise for me during writing today was how I thought this scene was going to come together versus what actually got written. The characters took things into their own hands and the results were smoother and more realistic than what I had initially imagined. I enjoyed seeing this critical moment evolve without feeling like I was pulling strings. For me, this is one of the high points of writing, when things just seem to happen naturally and there is no apparent effort on my part.
Another National Novel Writing Month has come and gone and once again I am grateful to have participated. Tomorrow I’ll post about what I’ve learned this month.
Today’s Word Count: 1976
Today’s Writing: convoluted but moving forward
My energy level: increasing
tick-tick-tick-tick tick-tick-tick-tick
The end looms.
The end of November, anyway. And I am so close to 50,000 words I can taste it.
The end of my novel? Not there just yet. But now that I’ve gotten myself into an interesting part of the story, I don’t mind the idea of continuing to write into December. I am back to wanting to find out what happens to my characters, cheering or booing them, crossing my fingers that things turn out the way I’d like them to. I know that sounds idiotic, since as the author, I dictate how things go. Only I don’t. As has been the case all along, I know some things with certainty, but what will actually happen feels out of my hands. My characters are fairly strong-willed. They’re going to do what they’re going to do no matter what I think. As much as I have complained about that fact all month long, I think I prefer it that way. I’d be bored to tears if I knew exactly what was going to happen. I prefer being surprised. It’s a lot more fun to write and I assume it will be more fun to read.
Roderick is being charmed by the Lord’s daughter, and Wren is afraid for the first time in her life. The bad guy is about to make his move. I’m just waiting for him to tell me the details of his plan so I can write it all down.
Tomorrow: 50,000 words, the end of NaNoWriMo, and where I go from here.
Word Count:
Day 27: 1729
Day 28: 2340
Energy: exhausted when I started, merely tired by the time I was done
I goofed. When I skipped a day of writing earlier this week, I didn’t skip the matching line in my word count spreadsheet. The result: I was actually behind on my word count the last few days and had to do some serious writing today to get back on track.
It didn’t help that I discovered my error while I was agonizing over what to write. My reluctance to write today was monumental, and I went through a page of notes exploring my options before I started. I realized I needed to stop forcing myself to go through the story chronologically and just move on to something that actually interests me right now. So I summarized as best I could the two threads of the story I hadn’t finished yet, and came up with something fun to write: how Wren and Roderick finally meet. I had the idea that at some point Wren and her friends would disguise themselves as servants to attend a feast without detection, only I had no idea why they would do such a thing. Then it occurred to me to make the feast in honor of Prince Roderick and to give Wren an attack of nerves. She knows he’s at the castle and all she has to do is go introduce herself, but she wants to get a look at him first, without him knowing about it. So I am building towards their meeting, which is complicated by the fact that Roderick believes that Wren is dead and is looking around frantically for someone to marry so he can avoid Princess Priscilla.
Now that I’m actually working on something closer to the ending, I see that knowing what finally happens could really help me to unravel the boggy messy middle of my book. I have a character ready to mislead Roderick about Wren’s death. I just have to take advantage of him. But that’s for later. Right now, it’s time for the minstrels to strike and the guests to sit and for Wren to finally see Roderick for herself, just as he is coming on to every pretty woman at the high table.
It should be one heck of a party.
Word count update
Day 24: 0
Day 25: 1692
Day 26: 1828
My current view: not too encouraging.
My word count is great, despite skipping a day this week. I should reach 50,000 on November 30, possibly earlier.
My book is another story. As I have been complaining all week, it’s a struggle right now to know what to write. I don’t know where this book is headed. My headlights have died. I’m crawling in the dark, feeling the floor ahead with my hands, and hoping I’ll recognize any major obstacles before it’s too late.
Wren was captured by bandits and wound up dueling with their leader. She won, of course. She is after all 1) a princess, 2) the heroine, and 3) student of the 11th greatest swordsmen in the Twelve Kingdoms. The bandits have asked her to be their new leader. She quite cheerfully said “yes” leaving her friends and her author to wonder if she’s lost her mind and what the heck she is up to now.
I think she may have secret hopes of reforming the bandits in some way, but I have no idea what that might be. I know for sure she is looking to have a good time while she still can. While she believes whole-heartedly in the prophecy and knows it is both her destiny and duty to marry Roderick, she doesn’t see any reason to rush. I may have to find a way to explain it to her.
Tomorrow I need to check in with Roderick and find out where he’s got to. Somehow I have to get all my characters to the same location so things can come to a climax, ideally before the end of the month. Since everyone is currently all over the place and none of them shows any signs of cooperating, I’ve realized I may have to keep writing into December. While my main reason for tackling NaNoWriMo this year was to have fun, I also want to have a complete draft when I stop. So I will keep writing until this story is finished, even if it means carrying on after I planned on being done.
Last night, I picked up the latest issue of Poets & Writers and I found a reassuring passage in which an author talked about the chaos inherent in creation. She has a mental illness that she claims makes it easier for her to wrestle with the unknown and the uncertain. I was just grateful to be reminded that I am not the only writer who has to inch along in the dark, hoping somewhere along the way to stumble into something good without breaking a leg.
Today’s word count: 1721
Today’s writing: easier than I expected
My energy level: medium
I can’t say that a miracle happened. I can say that I found something to write about. As planned, I picked a few things from my list of possibilities: a storm and bandits. Both kept coming to mind whenever I thought “now what?”, so I figured I should give them a try.
The real bonus, today, however, came from an unexpected source. When I complained that I was stuck, my sister challenged me to include a tea fairy, so I did. Sassafras is The Tea Fairy, and Wren knows a song about her. So I turned on the storm, stuck Wren, Greer, and Bayard in the bushes trying to sit it out, and had Wren sing the Tea Fairy song to the bard, who had never heard of it. By the time the song was over, bandits were on the scene, so I finally made some trouble for my characters. I admit that at the moment they are pretty benign bandits, but still. No matter how they act, bandits are not who you want to meet in the middle of nowhere during a thunderstorm.
So I’m working on it. I still don’t know what happens next, but I got through another writing session successfully, and that’s something.
