Writing
NaNo started last Tuesday and I'd issued a 'write-at-least-one-scene-for-NaNo' challenge to those people who felt unable to do the whole 50K. So I felt obliged to have a go.
I wrote another 3 scenes for last year's NaNo novel. Actually it was more a collection of scenes with a plot in mind. While it reached the winning wordage, it wasn't finished by a long way. Another way of saying there were a few good ideas embedded in a whole lot of waffle :D
One day I may have the writing ability to do justice to the plot and characters.
Life
I caught a stomach bug. Amazing how something as miniscule as viruses can bring a body down! Even when symptoms subside, it takes time to fully recover. I notice that I've been very forgetful this week.
Owing to feeling grot, I embarked on some comfort reading of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. She's a fantastic writer, and I especially like her earlier books. One fascinating thing to notice if you read through the whole series - at least, those books she wrote alone - is that her story-telling changes over time.
This week
I've edited and in part rewritten a piece of non-fiction. It is finished. AT LAST! :D
Lesson 18 of HTRYN beckons - it's time to do the next step.
Peter Barry estate agents offer a competition, details of which can be found here. Closing date 12th December.
I've had a few ideas and need to start working on them.
Have a good week. And may you have a bug-free autumn!
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Monday, 7 November 2011
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
HTRYN
Mystery in Morocco
I'm picking up Mystery in Morocco again. I feel good about it and have read through the rewritten scenes (not many). There are a lot of new scenes to add so I'll take it through HTRYN again. Holly's message comes back to comfort me: the first time is the worst.
The Challenge
As seen on Rabia's website: 500 words a day or bust!
So I've agreed to run with her on that one. Not all my words will be new ones because it's Lesson 17 rewrite; there will be a lot of new ones though, so I think it will count :)
Holly's Motivation Mini-Course
It started off easily and has become more and more intensive. Five exercises and I'm on the last one, working out my goals and working out what needs doing for them.
This was something I could do so well at work but transferring those skills to home and to writing has not worked very well.
NaNoWriMo
After doing 50,000 words I did no writing during the first two weeks of December. I have 13 scenes which are well structured and will make up part of a book. "Time to Go" is a fantasy set in the first century AD in Wales, and is about time travel, magic and a tangle of human relationships.
Very different from last year when I sketched out a whole book in 50,000 words and then spent the next 8 months pulling it apart and trying to work out where the scenes were :)
It's December and the year is about to turn. What have you got planned for 2011?
I'm picking up Mystery in Morocco again. I feel good about it and have read through the rewritten scenes (not many). There are a lot of new scenes to add so I'll take it through HTRYN again. Holly's message comes back to comfort me: the first time is the worst.
The Challenge
As seen on Rabia's website: 500 words a day or bust!
So I've agreed to run with her on that one. Not all my words will be new ones because it's Lesson 17 rewrite; there will be a lot of new ones though, so I think it will count :)
Holly's Motivation Mini-Course
It started off easily and has become more and more intensive. Five exercises and I'm on the last one, working out my goals and working out what needs doing for them.
This was something I could do so well at work but transferring those skills to home and to writing has not worked very well.
NaNoWriMo
After doing 50,000 words I did no writing during the first two weeks of December. I have 13 scenes which are well structured and will make up part of a book. "Time to Go" is a fantasy set in the first century AD in Wales, and is about time travel, magic and a tangle of human relationships.
Very different from last year when I sketched out a whole book in 50,000 words and then spent the next 8 months pulling it apart and trying to work out where the scenes were :)
It's December and the year is about to turn. What have you got planned for 2011?
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Crossing the Line
After being unable to write every day for this year's NaNoWriMo, I pulled out all the stops and managed a mammoth 5250 words on Friday! Never have I written anything near this amount in one day.
The secret?
I abandoned what I was writing and focussed on a scene where a main character gets swept out to sea and the tide takes him towards some rocks. There is a rescue attempt from the shore; someone swims out with a rope tied round his waist. It's during the Iron Age in Britain so no high tech methods available.
My fingers couldn't keep up with the pace of my thoughts. It was a blast to write, incredibly exciting and I lost all sense of time and place.
This year's NaNo was very different from last year's.
Since last year I took the NaNoNovel 2009 through Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel course. And then I began her How To Think Sideways course.
I'm not sure I followed my Sentence to the T but I do have a series of scenes which have all the bits a scene should have. I derive a certain degree of satisfaction from that :)
Now that I've finished the 50,000 words there are so many writing options available to me so I don't feel so let down and flat as I did this time last year.
I downloaded Scrivener for Windows beta so tomorrow I'll load all my scenes into it and have a look at just what there is and what else needs to be added. It is disjointed at present and a few things need ironing out, stiching together and generally prettying up.
And next year...I intend to start planning for NaNoWriMo in July!
If you entered NaNoWriMo this year, how did it go for you?
And if you didn't, you might want to consider joining in the fun next November 1st.
The secret?
I abandoned what I was writing and focussed on a scene where a main character gets swept out to sea and the tide takes him towards some rocks. There is a rescue attempt from the shore; someone swims out with a rope tied round his waist. It's during the Iron Age in Britain so no high tech methods available.
My fingers couldn't keep up with the pace of my thoughts. It was a blast to write, incredibly exciting and I lost all sense of time and place.
This year's NaNo was very different from last year's.
Since last year I took the NaNoNovel 2009 through Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel course. And then I began her How To Think Sideways course.
I'm not sure I followed my Sentence to the T but I do have a series of scenes which have all the bits a scene should have. I derive a certain degree of satisfaction from that :)
Now that I've finished the 50,000 words there are so many writing options available to me so I don't feel so let down and flat as I did this time last year.
I downloaded Scrivener for Windows beta so tomorrow I'll load all my scenes into it and have a look at just what there is and what else needs to be added. It is disjointed at present and a few things need ironing out, stiching together and generally prettying up.
And next year...I intend to start planning for NaNoWriMo in July!
If you entered NaNoWriMo this year, how did it go for you?
And if you didn't, you might want to consider joining in the fun next November 1st.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
The Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness...and NaNoWriMo
My head is so full of ideas and courses and writing exercises, I'm almost brought to a standstill. My blog is way down on the list of priorities; the main one at present being NaNoWriMo.
I'm using one of the 3 ideas produced on the HTTS course.
I managed more planning of the story than for last year's NaNo but not nearly enough - but hey! what is enough? I'm a pantser, preferring to let the ideas unfold as I write. I have my 30 word Sentence standing sentinel on the horizon; working towards it, I keep veering away from the path to explore interesting byways :)
Got off to a slow start and spent 3 days just thinking about the book, surfing for information and I found a lot of Celtic information, much of which is either on my Sweet Spot Map or needs to be (seasons, trees, different types of wood), the four elements. This has kicked my story onto a whole new level and I'm so excited about the concepts that it's difficult to focus on the characters and plot!
I'm catching up. At present I need to write about 1800 words a day to make the 50k by the end of November, so it's becoming much more do-able. I usually sit down around 10:30am for an hour and again at 2:30pm for an hour or so a few days a week. Then whatever I can manage in the evenings on the days I work.
I'm writing a sketch of a book again - skipping over the surface of the story and not worrying too much about depth. That can come later. Last night I left my Protagonist and her partner inside a stone circle on an isolated headland. The mist crept up and encircled the stones then a voice spoke...
Quite what that voice is going to say I'm not sure, although I know what will happen next to the Protagonist and her partner.
For those of you who are doing NaNo, have a productive and entertaining month.
For those of you who've never tried, or who've never heard of it, then go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano
I'm using one of the 3 ideas produced on the HTTS course.
I managed more planning of the story than for last year's NaNo but not nearly enough - but hey! what is enough? I'm a pantser, preferring to let the ideas unfold as I write. I have my 30 word Sentence standing sentinel on the horizon; working towards it, I keep veering away from the path to explore interesting byways :)
Got off to a slow start and spent 3 days just thinking about the book, surfing for information and I found a lot of Celtic information, much of which is either on my Sweet Spot Map or needs to be (seasons, trees, different types of wood), the four elements. This has kicked my story onto a whole new level and I'm so excited about the concepts that it's difficult to focus on the characters and plot!
I'm catching up. At present I need to write about 1800 words a day to make the 50k by the end of November, so it's becoming much more do-able. I usually sit down around 10:30am for an hour and again at 2:30pm for an hour or so a few days a week. Then whatever I can manage in the evenings on the days I work.
I'm writing a sketch of a book again - skipping over the surface of the story and not worrying too much about depth. That can come later. Last night I left my Protagonist and her partner inside a stone circle on an isolated headland. The mist crept up and encircled the stones then a voice spoke...
Quite what that voice is going to say I'm not sure, although I know what will happen next to the Protagonist and her partner.
For those of you who are doing NaNo, have a productive and entertaining month.
For those of you who've never tried, or who've never heard of it, then go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano
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