Gribba
Troubadour
3135 words today... it is going ok... thanks to you guys, I feel motivated to keep going! 
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Nano 2016 Motivation and Confession Thread
- Thread starter Caged Maiden
- Start date
Tom
Istar
Forgot to update my word count yesterday...oops. I was so tired I fell asleep during common hour, and then I had homework in the evening. Maybe today I'll be able to catch up.
Ireth
Myth Weaver
Exactly 1667 words yesterday. And I realized I might have to rework most of them, because my idea of werewolf transformations is raising questions I'm not sure how to answer. Hrm.
Nimue
Auror
Haven't written anything since Tuesday, but I'll try again tonight. Everything seems pointless; the characters and world are made out of wet cardboard. It's impossible to believe that I'll ever recreate the life & polish of the books I love.
Not sure what the problem is...maybe I need to sharpen the scenes in my mind, figure out what the immediate goals are. I keep getting pulled out of the story & I want to be pulled in. Might be wrong about this but it feels like trying to add words & words, go quicker, isn't giving me the time to immerse myself and reflect on the story...much less produce something I'm happy with. These were supposed to be good, compelling scenes, and I'm not feeling it at all.
**** it. Stop whining, Nim. I'll clean house tonight, light some candles, and try again.
Not sure what the problem is...maybe I need to sharpen the scenes in my mind, figure out what the immediate goals are. I keep getting pulled out of the story & I want to be pulled in. Might be wrong about this but it feels like trying to add words & words, go quicker, isn't giving me the time to immerse myself and reflect on the story...much less produce something I'm happy with. These were supposed to be good, compelling scenes, and I'm not feeling it at all.
**** it. Stop whining, Nim. I'll clean house tonight, light some candles, and try again.
C
Chessie
Guest
Recreating the life and polish of the books you love takes years of practice. Keep at it. Go at a pace that's suitable to you. And also, have you considered some plotting/craft books? They might help you identify some of the problems you're sensing are there but not able to see. I think I suck everyday. In fact, I know I suck but the only way to get better is to practice. That's what all of this is.
No new words added to the story.
Friday is RPG night. Me and a few friends play PnP rpg over voicecom. Along with work it doesn't give any time to get into writing. I do keep a record of the events of the play session in a text file, but that's a different story (literally and figuratively).
What little time I had I used to indulge myself and I went back over yesterday's words and did some tweaks and edits. It feels good to polish the text a little bit. Makes me more confident about putting it out for people to read.
Friday is RPG night. Me and a few friends play PnP rpg over voicecom. Along with work it doesn't give any time to get into writing. I do keep a record of the events of the play session in a text file, but that's a different story (literally and figuratively).
What little time I had I used to indulge myself and I went back over yesterday's words and did some tweaks and edits. It feels good to polish the text a little bit. Makes me more confident about putting it out for people to read.
Nim,
I know for a lot of writers the editing and re-drafting phase is not about taking stuff out, it is about clarifying and adding stuff in. One of my critique parterns wrote her novel eight years ago and is the process of rewriting right now. Over the past year she has added four or five entirely new chapters, and just the other day she went back and added almost a thousand words to chapter one.
Drafts are living document. Expecting them to be perfect during the first round is going to drive you crazy. It is impossible to focus on everything all at once. I know for myself my first drafts are basically just getting the people into a setting and moving them around. Characterization, setting description, all that stuff that makes a world alive and vivid doesn't happen until the structure is there. Sometimes a character will suprise me with something wonderful in chapter five and I have to go back to chapter one to add the new personality trait in. Sometimes a new character will pop up in chapter eight and I realize it would have been better to have them there from chapter two.
You can't possibly know all the ins and outs of the story until you finish the story. You know that from writing all the short peices you are so wonderful at!
So please don't get discouraged by a first draft!
I know for a lot of writers the editing and re-drafting phase is not about taking stuff out, it is about clarifying and adding stuff in. One of my critique parterns wrote her novel eight years ago and is the process of rewriting right now. Over the past year she has added four or five entirely new chapters, and just the other day she went back and added almost a thousand words to chapter one.
Drafts are living document. Expecting them to be perfect during the first round is going to drive you crazy. It is impossible to focus on everything all at once. I know for myself my first drafts are basically just getting the people into a setting and moving them around. Characterization, setting description, all that stuff that makes a world alive and vivid doesn't happen until the structure is there. Sometimes a character will suprise me with something wonderful in chapter five and I have to go back to chapter one to add the new personality trait in. Sometimes a new character will pop up in chapter eight and I realize it would have been better to have them there from chapter two.
You can't possibly know all the ins and outs of the story until you finish the story. You know that from writing all the short peices you are so wonderful at!
So please don't get discouraged by a first draft!
Tom
Istar
1936 words today. Incidentally, instead of writing more of the main draft I decided to spend some time on the short story from Miekkhal's POV that I've been working on. I have a very deep affection for my bitter, sarcastic, scholarly, former-slave mage/warrior. I also love writing about the height disparity between him and everyone else (it's only made more hilarious when, in Southerner, they reach the Vazkyrohko city and Tomrin realizes that no, Miekkhal was not lying about being short for a Vazkyrohk--the majority of them stand about six-five to seven feet tall).
Did my 1700 words today of mostly dialogue lol. I love when that happens.
C
Chessie
Guest
1,557 for me today. Sigh. It's been hard today. I have some personal shit going on that's affecting my creativity and my husband complained about not being able to spend time with me. It normally wouldn't bother me but he's been home sick from work all week, interrupting me and whining about me writing even though I'm doing it the same way I do when he's at work. I know he tries to understand. I know that he wants to see me succeed at this. But he still doesn't get that every ****ing interruption is death to my already choppy manuscript. "Babe, this" "Babe, that"
****! Let me work! Because this is my work and you know it. Come on, dude. Argh. Nothing but shitty rushed words today.
-end rant
****! Let me work! Because this is my work and you know it. Come on, dude. Argh. Nothing but shitty rushed words today.
-end rant
- Thread starter
- #151
I'm still falling behind. I'm at 15529 words, so about 3k behind.
Government holiday (Veterans Day) which is one of the few non-Sunday's I can sleep in. So I did so. Had a rough time getting motivated this morning, finally sat down, wrote a few hundred words, then took advantage of the relatively warm temps and sunshine to take one of my last bicycle rides of the year. Learned the gearbox for my Jeep isn't fixed yet. Came back, wrote some more words, then cruised the net for a while. Read a bit, wrote some more, ate, wrote, then the daughter came by with my three month old grandson, which ended progress for a while.
well, I'm calling it 2000 words today, 14600 total. Midpoint of Chapter four, right at the very start of a major fight/kidnap scene that will require some careful thought. The annoying thing is despite a long detailed 'stealth approach' scene, I completely forgot to a minor character who was supposed to be with the kidnap team. Maybe I'll write him in (he most likely dies in the battle) or maybe I just delete him from the preceding chapters.
Other thing is, Chapter Four might become Chapter Five. The MC with the kidnap team needs motivation, and there is another nasty scene that needs scribing.
Maybe I can finish this chapter tomorrow (doubtful) and then tackle the 'skipped' chapter Sunday (also doubtful).
But heck, I figure I'm entitled to an occasional delusion.
well, I'm calling it 2000 words today, 14600 total. Midpoint of Chapter four, right at the very start of a major fight/kidnap scene that will require some careful thought. The annoying thing is despite a long detailed 'stealth approach' scene, I completely forgot to a minor character who was supposed to be with the kidnap team. Maybe I'll write him in (he most likely dies in the battle) or maybe I just delete him from the preceding chapters.
Other thing is, Chapter Four might become Chapter Five. The MC with the kidnap team needs motivation, and there is another nasty scene that needs scribing.
Maybe I can finish this chapter tomorrow (doubtful) and then tackle the 'skipped' chapter Sunday (also doubtful).
But heck, I figure I'm entitled to an occasional delusion.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #153
Enjoy that baby, Thinker X, novelling can wait! HA! Today, it's a sunny Saturday, and we're cleaning the garage. Not as much fun as babies. If it's hard motivating oneself to write, it's harder to motivate oneself to clean up a bunch of things kids and hubbies couldn't put away in the garage....
I got into my main character a little bit last night (my previous post), but it has a long way to go before I know him completely. That's always the roughest part for me, where I have to simultaneously get to know a new POV character AND write his scene. I usually put in the bare bones of what's happening and then add in some character voice later, in rewriting. I think that's why my word count is behind, I'm rewriting my rewrite. Everything gets at least two passes of editing, and while I try to give myself credit for the words, if i'm only changing a sentence here or there, I forget to include them in my word count. Ah well, progress is progress, and whether i win nano or not, my novel is growing. And I'm really excited to see it come along.
I recently registered for a writer's conference in the spring, and having just spent $700 to go (not including flight and hotel), I'm pretty committed to getting this thing finished by then. I've spent about 6 months just on the first act, but progress is coming along, and hopefully the rest will move faster, now that I've abandoned some of my most time-consuming habits and at least set the tone I want to carry through with.
Hope everyone else has a productive day, while I clean out my garden and organize a garage (and basement if there's time). Weekdays are my productive time, I guess. Weekends are family time, and since we're planning to take the kids to a waterpark Monday and Tuesday (because we can't go visit family for the holidays due to my husband's work schedule this year), it's a little family getaway next week, and i'm sure my word count will suffer for that, too.
I got into my main character a little bit last night (my previous post), but it has a long way to go before I know him completely. That's always the roughest part for me, where I have to simultaneously get to know a new POV character AND write his scene. I usually put in the bare bones of what's happening and then add in some character voice later, in rewriting. I think that's why my word count is behind, I'm rewriting my rewrite. Everything gets at least two passes of editing, and while I try to give myself credit for the words, if i'm only changing a sentence here or there, I forget to include them in my word count. Ah well, progress is progress, and whether i win nano or not, my novel is growing. And I'm really excited to see it come along.
I recently registered for a writer's conference in the spring, and having just spent $700 to go (not including flight and hotel), I'm pretty committed to getting this thing finished by then. I've spent about 6 months just on the first act, but progress is coming along, and hopefully the rest will move faster, now that I've abandoned some of my most time-consuming habits and at least set the tone I want to carry through with.
Hope everyone else has a productive day, while I clean out my garden and organize a garage (and basement if there's time). Weekdays are my productive time, I guess. Weekends are family time, and since we're planning to take the kids to a waterpark Monday and Tuesday (because we can't go visit family for the holidays due to my husband's work schedule this year), it's a little family getaway next week, and i'm sure my word count will suffer for that, too.
C
Chessie
Guest
That sounds like fun, Maiden! Our weekends are pretty low key although we're going for a walk in the woods today. It's pretty warm, around 45F although it's still pretty dark. But it's warm enough the cats are outside and the rest of us are foaming at the mouth to get up into the mountains, so that'll be today.
I just want to say that I'm glad to read you also have a problem with getting to know POV character and writing them at the same time. I've always had that difficulty. One of the least helpful pieces of advice I received on my writing was to get it right the first time. Ok...I'm not there yet and don't know if it'll ever happen. Historically my novel drafts are very messy. Shorts are cleaner. But with novels I write them as fast as I can, leaving notes along the way and I also have a master list of things that need changing. With all the changes and clean ups...I do about 4 drafts of a complete manuscript. And let's not even begin to count all the false starts in chapter 1.
Speaking of which, the last 2 books I've written I've basically skipped chapter 1 and started in chapter 2. It worked out very well for the historical romance because I was spending a ton of time trying to get the hero's voice right. Nothing felt right, so I moved on to the heroine's intro chapter, when they met...and then went back to the OP. In doing the same thing for My Ludmila, I'm realizing that I've gotten to a place in my writing life where things have shifted and treading through water doesn't last long. I search for the rightness, the voice, the intuitive thing that feels like I've hooked on to it...then boom...there it is! And the story takes off enough for me to learn and understand the characters. Only after that can I write the intro chapter. It's weird but working good.
I just want to say that I'm glad to read you also have a problem with getting to know POV character and writing them at the same time. I've always had that difficulty. One of the least helpful pieces of advice I received on my writing was to get it right the first time. Ok...I'm not there yet and don't know if it'll ever happen. Historically my novel drafts are very messy. Shorts are cleaner. But with novels I write them as fast as I can, leaving notes along the way and I also have a master list of things that need changing. With all the changes and clean ups...I do about 4 drafts of a complete manuscript. And let's not even begin to count all the false starts in chapter 1.
Speaking of which, the last 2 books I've written I've basically skipped chapter 1 and started in chapter 2. It worked out very well for the historical romance because I was spending a ton of time trying to get the hero's voice right. Nothing felt right, so I moved on to the heroine's intro chapter, when they met...and then went back to the OP. In doing the same thing for My Ludmila, I'm realizing that I've gotten to a place in my writing life where things have shifted and treading through water doesn't last long. I search for the rightness, the voice, the intuitive thing that feels like I've hooked on to it...then boom...there it is! And the story takes off enough for me to learn and understand the characters. Only after that can I write the intro chapter. It's weird but working good.
Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for self loathing.
I'm not sure how that is even possible? Like, how are you supposed to know everything as you go through the first time? What if you get an idea that is better? You aren't allowed to change anything to make the story better?
I don't get that.
C
Chessie
Guest
To be fair, I was given the advice by a writer that has like 25+ years experience on me. :/
Total: 16.2k words. 11 chapters done. I guess they're pretty short-ish. The most recent one is a bit so-so. It starts out well enough and then warms up too much and becomes way too cheerful towards the end. I guess that's what happens when I get tired and start relaxing instead of thinking about what I'm doing in. I'll fix it in editing.
- Thread starter
- #158
hm...dubious advice, regardless of experience level.
C
Chessie
Guest
1,800 today putting me at 21,328. Another hard day but at least I made it.
Long, brutal day at work. Add to that a good book, a nap, and even less motivation than usual...well I suppose 700 words isn't terrible, even if it's only half of what I'd hoped for.
That would help with the rewrites. It took me years before I finally started to grasp the nature of the MC's in this series. The first novella in the series sucked big time because of that lack of understanding (among other things).
That would help with the rewrites. It took me years before I finally started to grasp the nature of the MC's in this series. The first novella in the series sucked big time because of that lack of understanding (among other things).
