Nano 2016 Motivation and Confession Thread

[ThinkerX]

Calling it at 1200 words for the night, 4700 total.

Finished Chapter 2 and started on Chapter 3.

Tomorrows goal - a bit of a marathon stretch, but maybe doable since its my day off - finish Chapter 3, which I expect to top 5000 words. (A Rebecca Chapter. First four books her chapters were few and short. Now, they're almost novelettes in their own right.) Had to dig into some of my oldest extant notes for background info for this chapter.

 

[SherwoodViking]

Since the start of NaNoWriMo, I have written a little over 300 and am feeling unmotivated and uninspired. :/
Anybody else feel or have felt this way? If so, any advice?

 

[Caged Maiden]

@ Thinker X I don't take it as an insult. I agree I use a lot of words. My goal in this rewrite is to make each word count. I don't think I can fight the impulse to tangent, but I can at least make those moments mean something, which is what i'm trying to do now. I suppose my ultimate goal is to write books like Scott Lynch, who I only discovered last year. I've been trying to write that style for years, but never pulled it off. It isn't a style everyone will want to read, but every book I've ever loved has fallen more in the "Lies of Locke Lamora" category than the LOTR category, so while I began with epic things, I've scaled that way back to instead focus on characters and their lives and personal struggles. Yeah, not for everyone, but definitely for me! HA!

 

[Heliotrope]

So I haven't done any writing this weekend, as per my promise to my husband who still needs to have his wife around a little bit. But, what I was able to do this weekend was flesh out some character bios. I have introduced three side characters in my manuscript that I think could play very important roles later on and I wanted to explore them a bit more. It was very helpful and I'm so excited to keep moving forward to surprise my reader when's these characters make another entrance in unexpected ways

 

[Svrtnsse]

Today: 670 words
Total: 9,850 words.

The evening's writing session came with some interesting distractions, which is something I'll have to learn to deal with.
The new chapter is still not done, but it's getting there.
I'm probably doing too much mood-building and it will be a bit dull to read (like, seriously turbo-dull), but that's something I can fix in editing.

 

[Fluffypoodel]

Came close to a 3k day. I could have pushed it through but the chapter ended... Probably a good thing cause that gives me time to actually plan out what is going to happen next! 14,372 total!

 

[Tom]

I am staggered. Astounded. Today I managed to write over 5K words. Most of it was notes, but still...that's pretty impressive. I had a notebook page full of short notes for Southerner that needed to be expanded on and worked out, so I decided to count it as part of my NaNo project.

 

[Chessie]

1901 today. I could've kept going but I'm in a place where brainstorming is essential so I don't get stuck. So I'll just work on that tonight so writing will go more smoothly in the morning.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

2149 for today.

 

[ThinkerX]

I might tap away some more later tonight, but for now I'm calling it at 2500 words (a lot for me) and 7200 words total.

Only about halfway through Chapter three, which almost reads like a freaking AD&D dungeon crawl. Oh well, Tolkien, Feist, and Erikson all had somewhat similar episodes in their epics, so I guess its acceptable...

 

[Caged Maiden]

the smilies don't appear to be working. I'm ready for bed. Great job everyone. I almost made my 10k words. Just shy. See you tomorrow!

A deep voice said, “I was wondering if I might ask a favor of you.”

“Yes, my darling,” Raisa purred, spinning in her chair. “What is it?”

One of Lion's hands slid around her waist while he brought his face to almost touching hers. “Just a little thing,” he whispered. “Would you wear this for me tonight?” He held up his other hand in front of her. A sapphire pendant the size of a cherry, set in silver and surrounded by topaz.

“You spoil me, Avery.” She turned around so he could clasp it.

He kissed the back of her neck. The sort of kiss he could get away with only when Raisa’s back was turned. Like the animal whose name he took, Avery never attacked face-on. He waited for perfect opportunities.

His lips pressed, plump and firm. Moist, but not wet. Open just far enough to let his tongue out, but not so far he appeared greedy. And it was a delightful sensation, so warm and exciting.

The gesture was over too soon, leaving Raisa speechless and short of breath. Lion stood back to gaze into the mirror at the jewel on her. “And I love every minute of it,” he said.

She turned to face him. Running her hands up his chest and around his neck, she asked, “Now, there’s nothing I have to do to earn such a lovely gift, is there?”

He smiled, in the cunning way he had. “I would appreciate it if you could do one little thing for me.”

“Oh, and what” that?”

“Kill Thorne.”

 

[Heliotrope]

Gah! Here's the thing, it's easy to write 1700 words. I can do it in half an hour if I want to. But they are crappy words. The next day I realize why they are crappy and I end up having to go back and rewrite all 1700 words. For me it is a constant struggle of two steps forward one step back. So I'll write my 1700 words, but then the next day I have to rewrite them plus add another 1700 words...

Exhausting.

However, I'm telling myself it's just for four weeks...

It's just for four weeks.

 

[Chessie]

May I suggest something, milady? How about leaving yourself a trail of notes on what to fix later after NaNo ends? Don 't stress yourself out with perfection when getting the words down is the main objective. It's hard not to edit yes, but it shouldn't come at the cost of fun, don't you think?

 

[Gribba]

Yes, totally agree with Chesterama!!!
So no words for me, I am out sick atm...

 

[Heliotrope]

Yeah, it's not so much about editing as much as it is about actual plot ideas which would then lead the story into a much more interesting direction. I hear you on editing stuff, and yes, if it is not going to change the direction of the next scene then I do leave that stuff for later... but when it comes to large ideas when Im trying to do my 1700 words fast I write the first thing I think of, and then a day or two later I'm all "Oh snap... this new idea would have been waaaaaaay better." So then I have to fix it or it is like a domino effect on the rest of the story.

Does that make sense?

 

[Chessie]

Yes! It does! I see the main goal of a first draft as the story's skeleton. I want to get as much right as possible. So what helps me to continue going (and this is not just a NaNoWriMo thing, it's how I work), I just highlight notes on the actual manuscript and have a master list of things to change later.

For example, I decided to simplify a lot of things in Ludmila's story. It's a good thing I'm only in the beginning of chapter 3 because the notes look something like this:

*change Elya and Ludmila's relationship to co-workers, he's interested but they aren't together yet*
*change season from winter to summer*
*magical attack in forest needs a clearer narrator description*

And etc, all highlighted and written in bold to make them easier to see. And then I just keep working with the new information in my head and a starting point of when things change. So at the top of chapter 3 it says: **the season is summer, change all above** and then I write the narrative with summer as the main season, still putting in the basic structure of the story.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Today: 740 words.
Total: 10,500 words

Finished chapter 7, which was a bit of a sleeper. It picked up at the end though and hopefully there will be a bit higher pace in the next one.

 

[Fluffypoodel]

Written everyday for a week! haven't been able to say I've done that in a while. Great Job on the word counts everyone! Keep up the great work!

 

[Chessie]

So far today I'm at 1,227. I don't want to keep going...I really, really need to flesh the next two scenes out because they're pretty important. I know what happens and have the events in my head, but I'd like to get the imagery as close to right as possible. So I'm sitting down to do brainstorm and then will return to writing in the morning. This is where Ludmila meets Baba Yaga for the first time and gets held there for a few days. The love interest is also there because he's one of the witch's horsemen...so this needs to be a well thought out couple of scenes.

EDIT: I just want to share what a blast I'm having writing this story. I'm still following my outline but have had some good ideas come to me while writing. Hopefully I can make this joyride last until 75k. The revision process won't be easy for the first 3 chapters on the minimum, but at least it's not the entire manuscript this time.

This is my first time rewriting a fairytale and I really hope to do it justice (but probably won't ehhh). I took out all of the reincarnation/eternal love bull crap and simplified many things and now I'm obsessed with this story. The possibilities are endless.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I wrote about 1500 again today, so keeping in line with my average. I'm a little below the target mark, but i'm sure I can get things rolling faster as I get back into writing every day. I mean, after three months off, this feels like light speed.

Entering from the alleyway, Raisa was surprised to see Cherie. “What are you doing in the parlor?” she asked.

“Having my breakfast,” Cherie answered, nibbling a muffin.

“Do it elsewhere. You’re liable to give someone the wrong impression.”

“Lion asked me to wait for you. What’s wrong with sitting here? No one solicits a whore at eight in the morning.”

“You’d be surprised,” Raisa grumbled. “What does he want?”

The girl shrugged and turned her attention back to her muffin.

Raisa left her licking crumbs off her fingers, noting she’d have to keep an eye on the girl. All in the last year she’d begun to look more like a woman than a child and short of dressing her in drab rags, Raisa wasn’t sure how to keep leering eyes at bay, especially if Cherie insisted on loitering in the parlor.