NaNo Progress

I got a little chunk of almost 500 words done today, bringing me up to just over 3400. Its going slow but I'm still mostly confident of completing within the month, I have spent more time these last couple of days planning my next few chapters than writing the current ones so things should start to fly soon.

 

Blech- good thing I built a cushion...got sick and lost two days -sigh. Did about 2400 today- total so far since Nov 1- 13,265

Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when nano comes for you, bad words bad words....

 

Forgot to post scores last night (its going for 8.00 am here):

Today's score: 2,046 - total score: 12,233

 

And this is today's meagre score: 959 - total score: 13,192

 

The other half of the brain (people joke that my twin and I share one) can think of nothing but turtles (research project for grad school), and that tends to interfere with creative writing of any kind, so I've not gotten much done. My total for NaNo so far is around 6500.

OTOH, I now have a really good drawing of my main character. Alas, it ceases to be accurate after chapter 2.

 

13,280 for the 8th. Happy birthday indeed.

 

Today it's hardly better: 1,018 - Total score 14,210.

 

14878 for the 9th

 

I did slightly better than the last 2 days, with 1.636 words. Total: 14,210.

A plot buzzer... I had heard of it, but it doesn't help with plot struggles, I'm afraid.

 

How are you gentlemen? (Also, how are you ladies? Zero Wing was totally sexist.)

So, I am currently at 23,452 words, although a few of those are actually just line-breaks... let's say 23,400 actual words. I have somehow managed to write 2,000 or more words per day since Nov 1. Except this one day. I blame God for that one.

I have the following advice for people who are stuck:

Kill someone.

Add a new viewpoint character, even if you are writing in the first person. You can revise it away later, but it might help you as a writer to get a new perspective on your story.

Blow something up!

Add an animal to the story, then later, kill the animal off and deal with the repercussions.

Have your protagonist do something genuinely stupid, then justify it, then fix it.

Start a new story in the middle of your current story and find a way to tie them together.

Disclaimer: I'm mostly drunk and I don't know if any of these techniques actually work. Speaking of which, another "technique": get drunk and then write a fight scene. It's almost as good as getting into a real fight, without the potential jail time!

--Nathan

 

Some good ideas there.

I am going to kill my MC's best friend shortly. I had originally intended for him to live to the end, but not anymore.

 

Great article Phil! I especially like point #4. How About, Like, Make Something Happen.

It's totally key to remember that you are the master of your own story, not vice versa. If you feel like a scene is dragging, or like your protagonist is going nowhere, change it up!

This was happening to me once in a story I was writing. The protagonist had met some people and was eating dinner at their house, this was to be followed by a morning of talk and wandering vaguely over to a group of magicians for introduction and then long pronouncements about tests and political machinations. I was bored out of my mind by the prospect of writing those scenes, so I had the house get attacked by a large force of enemies under the command of the antagonist, and the protagonist and his friends had to flee the city to escape. Much more interesting, and it got the plot moving on its way.

 

Today's score: 1,890 - total score: 17,736.

(And a correction; yesterday's total score should have said: 15,846. Tsk tsk, cutting myself short).

It's not so much the plot itself that's holding me up. It is the research. Druids and holy trees, locations, map distances. I can't just leave everything for later, that would create a terrible chaos.
Happily, I'm still on schedule.

 

I passed the 20k. mark as well. Today's score: 2,386 - Total score: 20,122.

I prefer music to concentrate, though. Something soothing and classical. Händel's Oratoria are perfect for me atm.

 

18324 for the 12th so far.

 

Today's score: 1,340 - Total score: 21,462

Had to retrace some of yesterday's steps, was writing myself ito a corner.
Makes note to self: I must kill more.