NaNoWriMo 2015 - Week 3

Okay, so it feels like that creative river is right now a rivulet with nary a story to tell. You're drained. You're cranky. You're starting to hear those little voices and frankly, the coffee stopped working two days ago. November 15 marks midpoint. Minimum at days end is 25,000 words. And it looks like you aren't close.

I know. I've been there.

This is not the time to give up.

Breathe.
Consider a different stimulant. (NOT Alcohol. That's a celebratory drink, thank you!)

And consider what the story needs. Remember this is a first draft, so throw anything into the mix. It can be cut later.

Here are a few words of wisdom from previous years:
1) When in doubt, kill a character. Write all the reactions and feels and funerals and such.
2) When in doubt, add a character. What does a change in the dynamic do to the story?
3) (For the adult oriented book) When in doubt, add a sex scene. (Again, it can come out later, but it teaches you things about the characters.)

There are others, but they get dirtier from here. ;)

Remember, we're here to bounce plot ideas off. Go Team WriMo!!

REMEMBER TO BACK UP YOUR WORK.

Thanks for the words of wisdom and the pep talk, gilroy!

I HIT 25k TODAY!!!! Woo-hoo! Go me!

Reason I'm so ecstatic, well, two reasons:

1. This has never happened before in any of my prior NaNo attempts/wins. Usually, I'm about 10k behind right around this point in the month, and that's during the winning years. In the years I didn't get to 50k, I was even further behind. I'm happy, but also just a little nervous that something will happen to jinx it.

2. The story just keeps on flowing, getting better and more interesting, and I'm getting more ideas and storylines. Again, this has never happened before during any of my previous NaNos. Usually around this time I have lost the thread of the story, run out of steam, begun to hate the plot and the characters. Also, again, happy but nervous.

After being ahead for each of the first 5 days, I slipped, then fell, now I am 10K behind.

HOWEVER, I only had 1 day where I wrote nothing, and only missed updating, hmmm, 2 or 3 days?

I had a SOLID day of writing yesterday, and when i get off work in about 40 minutes (I work 12:00 midnight-7:30am) I will head to my local Dunkin Donuts and shoot for a minimum of 2,000 words, hopefully 3,000. I find I write better off site, so either DD or the local Library works wonders for me.

I've been having some Fun with Footnotes, in a Monty Python meets Jasper Fforde kind of way. I'm writing a fantasy novel set in my unique D&D world, and decided to just take a handful of the background characters (NPCs) who have populated my world for some time, and tell their stories. The Footnotes foolishness started with Translator Notes, explaining some differences between the Common Tongue of the Story and English. I then have Editor's Notes where basically the Editor is an obnoxious curmudgeon who harasses the Translator.

It sounds awkward, but it works, I'm loving these two characters as much as the ones inhabiting the story!

Back to Nano, I haven't hit a narrative roadblock yet, it's all about finding the time and dealing with the normal exhaustion felt by someone working midnights.

Oh! Sounds like fun! Maybe I can be your beta reader once you get it ready for that step in the process.

Bragging tonight. Am at 29,217 words! Woo-hoo!

YEAH! Let's go. We're on the down hill slope now...

I think I've been on the downhill slope all the way - I'm almost definitely not going to make it at this point (assuming I don't suddenly get loads more time and fingers that can fly over the keyboard along with a bunch of inspiration that has been somewhat lacking of late), but am just trying to fit in some writing each day still (I had to settle for about 75 words one day because it was just getting so late)

That's rough, Peace, but you can do it! I know I have been way way far behind at the halfway point and still managed to make it to 50k by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. And yes, true story, it was that close one year. I was praying nothing went wrong with my laptop or the wifi connection or the NaNo site that would make it impossible to validate my word count. Of course, catching up entailed insanely long writing sessions in the last few days which pretty near killed me. LOL Hope you can do it a little more sanely than that. :)

This is how you win NaNo: STAY FOCUSED. (I just wish I were able to be as focused at this little squirrel, who sat on the deck rail for a good ten minutes, staring intently at the patio door, apparently thinking that, if it stared long enough, the door would open and a treat would magically appear.)

>9 Storeetllr: That's a cracking picture - I love his determination.

>9 Storeetllr: Squirrel thought "It is so fricking cold out here, I'm freezing my nuts."

So, ended Week 3 with a word count of 37,031. Woo-hoo! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Go me!

Could be helping that it's colder than heck outside (I know, poor little squirrely) and there isn't much else to do than write. Well, other than play around on social media, do housework, like that.