Word Count: 30027/50000
Day: 21/30
Day: 21/30
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Like many other bloggers, I am participating in this year's National Novel Writing Month for the first time. I thought it would be fun to touch base each week and see how everyone is progressing, as well as cheer each other on!
Woohoo! Congrats on crossing the halfway mark everyone! I never thought that day would come, for sure. Unfortunately, it's been a busy week and I've gotten a bit behind. Part of my problem is that I feel like I've lost my rhythm. I don't know what happened -- maybe it's the part I'm at in the story, or the fact that I'm on break and have tons of distractions, but writing this past week has been a struggle. I forced myself to hit 30K today, and when I stopped for a break I think I was just getting back into the flow of things. Part of it might have been that I was writing a transition scene, and now I'm getting back into the adventure of the story. I hope to get back on track tonight -- 35K -- so maybe this next part will go more smoothly.
Have you been struggling this past week too? Hitting that halfway mark seems like such a huge milestone, and then you think "but I still have this much more to go!" and it's a little alarming. With that in mind, here's some inspiration for the home stretch.
Tips and Tricks:
- Author Kristen Lamb is doing a great series on novel structure that offers some in-depth analysis on the key components of building a novel. I find this particularly helpful, as I feel like my NaNo is rather sprawling right now -- hopefully these tips will help me tighten my writing.
- I also just learned about InkPageant (thanks to Elana Johnson -- a fellow WriMo and awesome author), which is basically a database of great articles on writing and publishing! I encourage you to go over there and browse. There's sure to be something that will catch your eye and inspire you to cross that looming finish line!
Speaking of the finish line -- that's something else I'm worrying about this week. The ending.
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| Credit: http://www.advancedanime.com/displayimage.php?pid=304601 |
She has silver eyes and blond hair, and is fierce with a sword.
None of the names I've narrowed it down to seem quite right. She's fey, so I wanted something a little different: Aurora, Luz, Luce, Regan, Aspen, Bryony, Dahlia, Branwen, Thalli, Wick, Thalia, Aemilia, Lichen, Aurelia, Ella, Nissa.
Decisions, decisions! What do you think? Do any of those names seem like a good fit? Do you have another suggestion? (Thanks to everyone who made suggestions on Twitter!)
I'm also using Evernote to keep track of my notes and ideas, and MS Word for the writing. I tried out Scrivener and yWriter, but I just don't understand them -- where do you do the actual WRITING within those programs? Maybe I'm just missing something.
A lot of authors have great writing advice out there. Each week I'll share some links to tips I found particularly insightful.
- Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) has an entire site devoted to each step of the writing process, and her advice (like her writing) is spectacular. I highly recommend you take a look at this: http://notforrobots.blogspot.com/
- Natalie Whipple (Transparent) provides some great tips on first drafting and silencing your inner editor that is especially apropos for NaNoWriMo: http://betweenfactandfiction.blogspot.com/2009/10/tips-for-first-drafting.html
13 Comments on NaNoWriMonday (1), last added: 11/1/2011
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Thanks for this, some great resources. I'm doing all right on my writing now, but last week was terrible. I was feeling uninspired and my novel felt dull. My only solution was just to keep writing anyway. It helps to know other people are feeling the same thing.
I am so far behind i doubt I'll ever catch up.
Read my post here:
http://beckysbarmybookblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/nanowrimonday-3.html
Thanks for the great post. :D
Hi Casey. You're doing really well and I wouldn't let yourself get too despondent. Print that quote from Maureen Johnson out and stick it near your computer.
I walked in to NaNo this year thoroughly unprepared with not even a character name in my writing kit. The fact that I did the same thing the last two years running and still haven't 'won' NaNo was freaking me out that I was doomed before I started. But I have an idea of where the story is going and the words have been flowing easier. I intend for my book to be a contained story, but I have so many ideas and the world keeps growing that I think it may be part of at least a trilogy by the time I'm done. Maybe book 2 can be next year's NaNo project. :)
We'll get there!!
Shelagh
The Word Fiend