%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
|
This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| NaNoWriMo #23 Day 23 I spent part of this morning doing jobs. Had a phone call this afternoon for an hour or so. Went out for dinner tonight, did some emails, a review on WdC… and spent the rest of the day writing. First, though, 2 hours of this morning were spent with me and my friend doing NaNo doing a write-in together at the library. In that time, she cracked her own 50k words! After all she has been through, I’ve been really happy to be there as a support for her as she crosses this ff her bucket list. The story’s not done, though it’s close, and I know she’ll finish it by the end of the month, maybe 60-odd thousand words for her. I am stoked for her. “Write a novel” can be crossed off that bucket list. She’s in her upper 70s – not that age means much, no really – but this is one more thing off her list. Next, she is going on a cruise with her daughter. She is a wonderful inspiration. Now, it feels almost ridiculous to be talking about me, but here we go: My second 10k day this naNoWriMo! The story just came out. I knew where it was going, though I did push at the end to break 10k words. Probably silly at the ending there, and I’ll rewrite that last bit tomorrow, but here is the story. Joanne meets her mum for the first time in 21 years, an discovers she is dying of lung cancer, plus she has some other issues. She has a few months left of life. Joanne discovers some things about the beliefs of her parents. We then discover some more things about the lives of the girls in the cult Joanne is helping, and it is going to help have the father put in prison for a while. Joanne and Luke finally hook up. Love interest! Characters! Woo-hoo! And I stopped when Joanne goes to visit her mother for a second time. So, I guess this brings up how do I write this? Do I just write a thin outline and go back later once it’s all over and flesh it out? Well, to be honest, no. I write it with way too much detail, adding everything I think I might need. No sketches, but a full-on piece of work. Then at the end of each section (either split by a section break or a sub-chapter numeral), I go back and edit. I check for spelling, for grammar, for punctuation and delete a lot of extraneous stuff. The amount of crap I repeat is insane, but it is me getting every single idea down as I write, then going back while it is still fresh and making the most obvious changes. For this reason, I am constantly stop-starting. Sometimes I really want to just get on with the next section, but the mini-editing I do at the end of the sections means the story sits better in my memory. I’m also not struggling to remember the details because I have done that first mini-edit. Now, I also make a list of the characters and the events as I go along. This does two things – makes sure I keep everything in order and keep everyone in order as well. No repeated names, no name changes mid-story (boy, was I bad for that!), and in this story, I needed everything to take place in a span of only 55 days. What this means is I have a calendar printed off (using MS Publisher!) and I hand write everything in, with the ending date marked already in red. I make notes of what I’ve called things (like the Unit Joanne works for), where things are, all that. Hand-written notes are the best. No scrolling back for them – a calendar with 3 months on one page, and 1 page (so far) of hand-written notes. So much easier to navigate! Computers are not the be-all and end-all, and anyone who tells you they are is plain wrong. That is how this pantser writes his works. Like I said, this story is really writing itself. I am looking at a good 50k words here, so a proper novel after a bunch of other writings this month. Yest again, sorry to those who sponsored me… Words today – 10043 Total words– 127233 |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
We are the ones buying the stuff when you find a publisher for it. See you at NaNo.