90,517 words and a complete novel draft.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/200650
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Full Speed Ahead
I had planned to take yesterday off from my writing. The story was going well (I knew where it was going now and was confident I could finish it by month end) and I hadn't taken a day off all month. My local library is closed on Wednesdays, and my home was not at all conducive to writing, so I headed out to do some other things.
The day passed pleasantly enough, but I was bothered by the fact that I hadn't written. It was a persistent itch that I just HAD to scratch, but it was 8 PM by the time I realized I wasn't going to be able to get away with a day off, and I was tired and groggy. So I downed a can of Monster...
... and I played solitaire.
For hours.
"What was the problem Laura?" you ask. "You said you were gung-ho to write and you know where the story is going now."
I'll tell you: The problem was those pesky polls.
When I started this project back on November 1st, I really didn't know what the story was going to be about. I had no plot and no characters and was just making things up as I went along, so I figured that whatever direction my readers wanted me to take the story would be fine.
Then I posted the first poll.
And I was stressed out. I was worried for my poor character (who'd I'd only just made up that afternoon). What would you all make her do?
I forced myself to get over my overprotectiveness. I'd promised daily polls so we were going to do daily polls.
Then I found that the polls were starting to crimp my pacing. My own fault that, totally, because I kept asking questions the answers to which needed to be acted upon within the next moment -- but my readers have almost 24 hours to respond to each poll. Made it a little difficult for me to advance time for a bit there.
Then I wised up and started to ask questions that didn't need to be answered until tomorrow. That worked much better. I learned to go with the flow and create the story from whatever the readers wanted. I soared through 50,000 words on November 17th and the world was all blue skies ahead.
So why did I spend last night playing solitaire and stressing out instead of writing?
Because I'm running out of good poll questions.
I thought I had an idea for one, but it was four or five scenes away. I didn't really have time to worry about whether or not I would be able to write that much in one night, however, as I immediately realized that "Should India do an interesting, heroic thing that might help to advance the plot or should she stay home and sulk?" was a pretty lame question. (Although, surpassed in lameness by the alternative: Should Cleopatra wear a red shirt or a black shirt today?)
The trouble is, I now know where the story needs to go in order to reach a satisfying conclusion by the end of the month, but my readers don't. So...
I've decided to put the polls on hiatus for a week. I'm making an executive decision that I've fulfilled my polling commitment since I ran them daily through the first 50K -- which was the official word count goal. This final week is the icing on the cake, and I need to be able to run with it.
I would like to thank the people who have been reading and voting regularly for your support. I hope you will continue to visit Raindancing Dragons as I am still updating the story daily (it appears that I won't be taking a day off after all!) and we're just starting to get to the juicy part.
I will have one final poll for you which, while it doesn't have the power to be a plot-killer, will I hope at least be of some interest, so watch for that on November 29th. (Yes, I aim to be writing right through to the end of the month at this point and finish in style on November 30th.)
Back to the grindstone.
The day passed pleasantly enough, but I was bothered by the fact that I hadn't written. It was a persistent itch that I just HAD to scratch, but it was 8 PM by the time I realized I wasn't going to be able to get away with a day off, and I was tired and groggy. So I downed a can of Monster...
... and I played solitaire.
For hours.
"What was the problem Laura?" you ask. "You said you were gung-ho to write and you know where the story is going now."
I'll tell you: The problem was those pesky polls.
When I started this project back on November 1st, I really didn't know what the story was going to be about. I had no plot and no characters and was just making things up as I went along, so I figured that whatever direction my readers wanted me to take the story would be fine.
Then I posted the first poll.
And I was stressed out. I was worried for my poor character (who'd I'd only just made up that afternoon). What would you all make her do?
I forced myself to get over my overprotectiveness. I'd promised daily polls so we were going to do daily polls.
Then I found that the polls were starting to crimp my pacing. My own fault that, totally, because I kept asking questions the answers to which needed to be acted upon within the next moment -- but my readers have almost 24 hours to respond to each poll. Made it a little difficult for me to advance time for a bit there.
Then I wised up and started to ask questions that didn't need to be answered until tomorrow. That worked much better. I learned to go with the flow and create the story from whatever the readers wanted. I soared through 50,000 words on November 17th and the world was all blue skies ahead.
So why did I spend last night playing solitaire and stressing out instead of writing?
Because I'm running out of good poll questions.
I thought I had an idea for one, but it was four or five scenes away. I didn't really have time to worry about whether or not I would be able to write that much in one night, however, as I immediately realized that "Should India do an interesting, heroic thing that might help to advance the plot or should she stay home and sulk?" was a pretty lame question. (Although, surpassed in lameness by the alternative: Should Cleopatra wear a red shirt or a black shirt today?)
The trouble is, I now know where the story needs to go in order to reach a satisfying conclusion by the end of the month, but my readers don't. So...
I've decided to put the polls on hiatus for a week. I'm making an executive decision that I've fulfilled my polling commitment since I ran them daily through the first 50K -- which was the official word count goal. This final week is the icing on the cake, and I need to be able to run with it.
I would like to thank the people who have been reading and voting regularly for your support. I hope you will continue to visit Raindancing Dragons as I am still updating the story daily (it appears that I won't be taking a day off after all!) and we're just starting to get to the juicy part.
I will have one final poll for you which, while it doesn't have the power to be a plot-killer, will I hope at least be of some interest, so watch for that on November 29th. (Yes, I aim to be writing right through to the end of the month at this point and finish in style on November 30th.)
Back to the grindstone.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Coming Together
56,132 words so far.
Sometime last week I actually figured out where my story needs to go, so I took some time over the past couple of days to storyboard out what needs to happen with everybody so that they can all get to where they need to be. It turns out that I've written very close to two thirds of the scenes my novel needs so far, which is sweet seeing as how we are now two thirds of the way through the month.
Write on!
Sometime last week I actually figured out where my story needs to go, so I took some time over the past couple of days to storyboard out what needs to happen with everybody so that they can all get to where they need to be. It turns out that I've written very close to two thirds of the scenes my novel needs so far, which is sweet seeing as how we are now two thirds of the way through the month.
Write on!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Massively Interview
I'm interviewed by Akela Talamasca on Episode 19 of "On the Inside" available online now at Massively:
http://www.massively.com/2007/11/17/on-the-inside-episode-19-rainbow-drake-and-nanowrimo/
all about NaNoWriMo and the SL Wrimos!
http://www.massively.com/2007/11/17/on-the-inside-episode-19-rainbow-drake-and-nanowrimo/
all about NaNoWriMo and the SL Wrimos!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Ready for the Final Sprint
Just cleared 45,000 words tonight.
My word count for the day was a hair short, but I just finished up a nice little character scene and am in a good spot to stop for the night and pick up the adventure again in the morning.
Tomorrow night I do not intend to sleep until I have crossed the 50K line.
My word count for the day was a hair short, but I just finished up a nice little character scene and am in a good spot to stop for the night and pick up the adventure again in the morning.
Tomorrow night I do not intend to sleep until I have crossed the 50K line.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Report from the Trenches -- Mid NaNo
I signed off last night with 43,189 words in the bank.
I could write less than 500 words per day for the rest of the month and still complete the NaNo word count. My story is obviously not going to be finished in so few words, however, but if I keep going at a minimum 2000 words per day pace for the remainder of the month, I think I will be able to complete the first draft of the whole story by month end.
That's the goal at this point, at any rate. Finish the story by the end of November. I have the house to myself this weekend so expect to be able to put in some serious time on this thing.
The SL Wrimos are still going strong and in-world write-ins remain a popular method for boosting members' word counts. On my local front, folks aren't so keen to get together. Last night was the only meeting scheduled actually within the month of November and most of our number did not show up. Some had conflicts, others were perhaps too busy writing. The rest? I don't know. Chalk it up to November in Ontario. It was a cold night. The type of weather that, when we get it in March, everyone runs outside in short-sleeved shirts singing, "Spring is here! Spring is here!" but in November just feels COLD.
On the personal front, everything is going as well as or better than I had expected -- save for the whole sleeping reasonable hours bit. I'm still up till ~ 2AM writing most mornings. I shall make another stab at turning that around in the back end of the month but it's definitely a challenge given my limited access to quiet places to work.
Storywise, I'm at the point now where my plot is really starting to come together -- and I need it to come together now -- which makes the whole reader-polling aspect of the process a challenge, but I'm learning to ask questions which will enable me to get to where I need to be, regardless of which direction I need to take to get there, and which are hopefully still of interest to my readers. I confess that I did consider asking really leading questions in an attempt to convince my readers to vote the way I want them to vote, but I decided that would be cheating (not to mention dangerous if I got troublemakers voting deliberately against the grain!) Back on October 31st, when none of my characters had been created yet, I did not anticipate caring this much about them!
I could write less than 500 words per day for the rest of the month and still complete the NaNo word count. My story is obviously not going to be finished in so few words, however, but if I keep going at a minimum 2000 words per day pace for the remainder of the month, I think I will be able to complete the first draft of the whole story by month end.
That's the goal at this point, at any rate. Finish the story by the end of November. I have the house to myself this weekend so expect to be able to put in some serious time on this thing.
The SL Wrimos are still going strong and in-world write-ins remain a popular method for boosting members' word counts. On my local front, folks aren't so keen to get together. Last night was the only meeting scheduled actually within the month of November and most of our number did not show up. Some had conflicts, others were perhaps too busy writing. The rest? I don't know. Chalk it up to November in Ontario. It was a cold night. The type of weather that, when we get it in March, everyone runs outside in short-sleeved shirts singing, "Spring is here! Spring is here!" but in November just feels COLD.
On the personal front, everything is going as well as or better than I had expected -- save for the whole sleeping reasonable hours bit. I'm still up till ~ 2AM writing most mornings. I shall make another stab at turning that around in the back end of the month but it's definitely a challenge given my limited access to quiet places to work.
Storywise, I'm at the point now where my plot is really starting to come together -- and I need it to come together now -- which makes the whole reader-polling aspect of the process a challenge, but I'm learning to ask questions which will enable me to get to where I need to be, regardless of which direction I need to take to get there, and which are hopefully still of interest to my readers. I confess that I did consider asking really leading questions in an attempt to convince my readers to vote the way I want them to vote, but I decided that would be cheating (not to mention dangerous if I got troublemakers voting deliberately against the grain!) Back on October 31st, when none of my characters had been created yet, I did not anticipate caring this much about them!
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