The holidays are such a crazy time of year. Not only do they wreak havoc with our schedules, our sleep patterns, and even (I think) our brain cells, but they often leave us with little time to focus on writing. I've scraped out a few words this past week--some of them are even good ones, I think--but my current WIP is still mired in the doldrums that are The Middle Of The Story.
One way to liven things up is to celebrate the holidays with your characters. When I was a kid, I loved reading stories that included Christmas customs. I adored reading about what presents Ma and Pa Ingalls gave Laura and Mary, and how they celebrated the holiday.
Last year at this time, I was chortling happily over the first book in my current series, The Daughters of August Winterbourne, and having my main character, Celia, meeting with her love interest, Nicholas, under the mistletoe for a stolen kiss ... and the consequences thereof turned out to be far greater than planned! I reveled in their shy exchange of gifts, lavished pages of description on the balls they attended, and even chattered happily about their Christmas shopping trips.
I'm editing that section of the story now, and guess what? Some of the detail that I found so fascinating to write...is actually pretty boring to read. It might be important to know that Nicholas gives Celia a locket for Christmas; but we don't need to know what everybody gives everyone. If a gift will become important later in the story, then you certainly need to mention it, but otherwise, merely saying "they exchanged gifts" will probably suffice for most situations.
Likewise, we probably don't need to go on for pages and pages describing all of the house's decorations in loving detail. We don't need to know every carol they sing, every delicacy they eat. If the setting is important to the story, then include a few vivid details and let the reader's mind fill in the rest. Otherwise, that sort of thing is probably best left to Dickens.
The exception to this, of course, would be if you were describing holiday customs that were unfamiliar to the majority of your readers. It's amazing how easily one can evoke a holiday picture using just a few key phrases that are common to many people's experience (mention a kids' table, a silver tinsel Christmas tree, and the fact that the seats on the dining room chairs are all covered in clear plastic, and your readers will have a pretty good picture of a certain type of family and their celebrations). But if you're describing a ritual from a less mainstream culture--or even one you've made up--a little more detail might be necessary.
What sorts of holiday celebrations have you included in stories? How much detail do you, as a reader, want/need?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Genre Game; or, To YA or Not To YA
Last week, one of the members of my Worldcon critique group was trying to decide how to position and market the story he's currently revising. The question he posed to the group was whether or not he should aim the piece at the young adult (YA) market, or whether he should target the piece toward adult genre (in this case, fantasy) readers.
It's an interesting question. Certainly, thanks to the likes of Harry Potter and the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, the lines between what makes good reading for teens/tweens and what will sell to supposedly "grown up" readers is far less clear than it once was. And indeed, even some of the once-clear indicators no longer apply. Subjects that were once taboo for stories targeted to the under-18 crowd (like sex, drugs...okay, maybe not rock 'n' roll) are now commonplace.
Moreover, there seems to be a growing audience of adult readers who are turning more and more to the YA section when they're in the mood for a fun read. I have to admit to occasionally doing that myself -- when the To Be Read pile just looks too dry and intimidating, sometimes I bypass it altogether and reach for, say, the latest Artemis Fowl novel instead. I know I can count on Mr. Colfer for a couple of hours of solid entertainment. It may not rock my world in the way a more literary mainstream work would have, but sometimes it's okay to read for enjoyment rather than enlightenment.
Which is not to say that teens won't or can't look for books outside of the YA section. I certainly did, when I was a teenager. And you can certainly make the argument that a good story is a good story, no matter where you find it. But in the long run, if you have a story that could be enjoyed by both groups, is it better to put it in the YA section and hope that adults find it there, or to put it in the appropriate genre's section, and hope that teens will go there looking for a good read?
It's a question that's near and dear to my heart right now. My current WIP, the Daughters of August Winterbourne trilogy, could be marketed to YA readers. The protagonist is nineteen at the beginning of the story, but that's not outside the range for YA. There is "definitely a coming of age" theme to the stories. And as of yet, there are no steamy sex scenes (nor, frankly, do I have any planned, though there may be some hanky-panky taking place off-screen). But I do have a character who is sexually active and not shy about it (at least in the second book so far), and another character whose past exploits might be considered a bit suggestive. (After all, the MC, Celia, has three half-sisters who are all close to her in age. You do the math.). The first book has torture scenes in it, and both books (so far) have scenes that involve threatened rape. While all of the above are handled (I hope) delicately, and certainly not graphically, would this be enough to make the series a no-go for the YA market?
Moreover, is this a series I'd even want to target for YA readers, or would I be better off trying to just sell it as a fantasy novel?
These are all questions I'll be pondering in the next few months as I finish the second book in the series and complete edits to the first volume.
What do you think? Is there some characteristic you look for in a YA novel? When you are looking for a good read, how likely are you to cross over from one section to the other (whether as a teen selecting "grown-up" books or an adult reader browsing the YA section)?
(And last night's lesson learned...if one has a blog posting to write, and one is planning to take some ibuprofen PM, one should write the blog posting first, then take the ibuprofen PM. Definitely not the other way around, which is what I did!)
It's an interesting question. Certainly, thanks to the likes of Harry Potter and the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, the lines between what makes good reading for teens/tweens and what will sell to supposedly "grown up" readers is far less clear than it once was. And indeed, even some of the once-clear indicators no longer apply. Subjects that were once taboo for stories targeted to the under-18 crowd (like sex, drugs...okay, maybe not rock 'n' roll) are now commonplace.
Moreover, there seems to be a growing audience of adult readers who are turning more and more to the YA section when they're in the mood for a fun read. I have to admit to occasionally doing that myself -- when the To Be Read pile just looks too dry and intimidating, sometimes I bypass it altogether and reach for, say, the latest Artemis Fowl novel instead. I know I can count on Mr. Colfer for a couple of hours of solid entertainment. It may not rock my world in the way a more literary mainstream work would have, but sometimes it's okay to read for enjoyment rather than enlightenment.
Which is not to say that teens won't or can't look for books outside of the YA section. I certainly did, when I was a teenager. And you can certainly make the argument that a good story is a good story, no matter where you find it. But in the long run, if you have a story that could be enjoyed by both groups, is it better to put it in the YA section and hope that adults find it there, or to put it in the appropriate genre's section, and hope that teens will go there looking for a good read?
It's a question that's near and dear to my heart right now. My current WIP, the Daughters of August Winterbourne trilogy, could be marketed to YA readers. The protagonist is nineteen at the beginning of the story, but that's not outside the range for YA. There is "definitely a coming of age" theme to the stories. And as of yet, there are no steamy sex scenes (nor, frankly, do I have any planned, though there may be some hanky-panky taking place off-screen). But I do have a character who is sexually active and not shy about it (at least in the second book so far), and another character whose past exploits might be considered a bit suggestive. (After all, the MC, Celia, has three half-sisters who are all close to her in age. You do the math.). The first book has torture scenes in it, and both books (so far) have scenes that involve threatened rape. While all of the above are handled (I hope) delicately, and certainly not graphically, would this be enough to make the series a no-go for the YA market?
Moreover, is this a series I'd even want to target for YA readers, or would I be better off trying to just sell it as a fantasy novel?
These are all questions I'll be pondering in the next few months as I finish the second book in the series and complete edits to the first volume.
What do you think? Is there some characteristic you look for in a YA novel? When you are looking for a good read, how likely are you to cross over from one section to the other (whether as a teen selecting "grown-up" books or an adult reader browsing the YA section)?
(And last night's lesson learned...if one has a blog posting to write, and one is planning to take some ibuprofen PM, one should write the blog posting first, then take the ibuprofen PM. Definitely not the other way around, which is what I did!)
Friday, December 17, 2010
Before and After; or, Editing an Action Sequence
As promised a couple of weeks ago, this week I’d like to present a before-and-after comparison of a first draft vs. a second draft of an action scene from last year’s NaNoWriMo novel, The Daughters of August Winterbourne.
To set the scene, in an alternate Victorian universe, Celia Winterbourne is at the Royal Academy of Science, studying to become an airship designer like her father. One night, she’s working late in the Aeronautics laboratory, accompanied by a chaperone. But when her chaperone steps out of the room for a moment, a pair of black-clad figures enter the lab and try to abduct Celia. One sneaks up behind her and puts a chloroform-soaked cloth over her mouth and nose, while the other stands waiting. Celia, of course, struggles to break free, but to no avail…
First Draft:
Before: The arms around Celia tightened still further. It was already hard for her to breathe, and growing difficult for her to think, but she continued to struggle anyway. Or at least, she did until the figure facing her reached into his coat, drew out a gun, and pointed it at her.
After: The arms around Celia tightened still further. Her breath came in hard-won gasps. Her thoughts were mired in treacle. Why couldn’t she think what to do? She continued to struggle anyway…until the figure facing her drew a gun and pointed it at her.
The first thing I wanted to do was to break up that long, compound second sentence. She’s in a potentially life-or-death struggle here. Do we, the readers, really want a long, wordy sentence here? Probably not. So I broke it up into bits. Next, the bits were good enough, but not as immediate, as visceral as I wanted them to be. Which gets the point across better: “It was hard for her to breathe”, or “Her breath came in hard-won gasps”? The second one leaves you feeling a bit more of Celia’s breathlessness, doesn’t it? And saying it was difficult for her to think isn’t nearly as good as telling us her thoughts were mired in treacle. And the last sentence—also a bit long and sedate for the struggle at hand, isn’t it? Do we need to know where the gun came from? Isn’t it enough that he has it? Finally, slowing the last sentence down with an ellipsis changes the pacing of it, makes the action seem to pause for an instant – much as Celia would have done on seeing that gun.
Here’s another one:
Before: The gun's report was deafening in the enclosed room. Celia felt something punch her in the upper arm, and she looked to see a hole in the fabric of the sleeve of her shirtwaist … one whose edges were rapidly becoming stained with crimson. Her entire arm throbbed with sudden pain. She drew a breath to cry out, but the cloth was once again over her mouth and nose, and the room was beginning to spin around most alarmingly. She tried to struggle again anyway, but every move sent pain shooting through her arm, and she was suddenly more tired than she could ever remember being in her entire life.
After: The gun's report left Celia’s ears ringing. She felt something punch her in the upper arm. She looked to see a hole in the sleeve of her shirtwaist…and a spreading crimson stain. Her arm throbbed with intense pain. She drew a breath to cry out, but the cloth once again covered her mouth and nose. The room began to spin alarmingly. She tried to struggle, but every move sent pain shooting through her arm. Leaden weight stole into her limbs. She had to fight to keep her eyelids open, her body upright.
“Ringing ears” are definitely more descriptive than “a deafening report”. And again with the long complex sentences. Breaking them up helps. Next, let’s talk about that arm. We don’t need to know that it’s her entire arm; I can just say “arm,” and without further specification you’ll know that it’s the whole thing. And “sudden”? I think the “throb” tells us that it’s sudden, so I chose to say that it was “intense” instead. I may decide to go back later and take that out, though. I’m not convinced that it’s needed. The last sentence again rambles; breaking it up gives it more of a sense of immediacy. And doesn’t telling you that “leaden weight” is stealing into her limbs make you feel her utter weariness more than telling you she’s “more tired than she’s ever felt in her life”?
One more:
B: Celia gulped and complied. It wasn't easy to do, given the way the room was whirling and the fact that her knees suddenly displayed little interest in holding her upright, but she did her best.
A: Celia gulped and complied. It wasn't easy to do. The room was whirling and her knees seemed to have little interest in holding her up.
Again, breaking up the long sentence into smaller pieces brings more immediacy. Also, stripping out excess verbiage (who, me?) makes the beats sharper, more intense.
So here’s the passage after all of my re-writes:
And the best part? The rewrite is 54 words shorter. Every little bit helps!
What are some rewriting challenges other people have faced? How do you approach rewrites?
To set the scene, in an alternate Victorian universe, Celia Winterbourne is at the Royal Academy of Science, studying to become an airship designer like her father. One night, she’s working late in the Aeronautics laboratory, accompanied by a chaperone. But when her chaperone steps out of the room for a moment, a pair of black-clad figures enter the lab and try to abduct Celia. One sneaks up behind her and puts a chloroform-soaked cloth over her mouth and nose, while the other stands waiting. Celia, of course, struggles to break free, but to no avail…
First Draft:
The arms around Celia tightened still further. It was already hard for her to breathe, and growing difficult for her to think, but she continued to struggle anyway. Or at least, she did until the figure facing her reached into his coat, drew out a gun, and pointed it at her.Now, as written, it’s not terrible. The action is clearly described, and we have something of a sense as to how our heroine feels about the situation. But the sentences are long and a bit wordy in places, and I just think it can be better. So let’s take a red pencil to it and see what changes we might like to make:
Defeated, Celia went limp in her captor's arms. The sudden shift caused him to lose his grip on her momentarily, and the cloth slid away from her face for a few precious moments. She gulped a breath of air and screamed, “Help!”
“Shut up!” growled the man with the gun, advancing toward her.
Celia just screamed again.
The gun's report was deafening in the enclosed room. Celia felt something punch her in the upper arm, and she looked to see a hole in the fabric of the sleeve of her shirtwaist … one whose edges were rapidly becoming stained with crimson. Her entire arm throbbed with sudden pain. She drew a breath to cry out, but the cloth was once again over her mouth and nose, and the room was beginning to spin around most alarmingly. She tried to struggle again anyway, but every move sent pain shooting through her arm, and she was suddenly more tired than she could ever remember being in her entire life.
Meanwhile, the man with the gun had continued to advance toward her, and now he was close enough to rest the still-warm barrel of the revolver against her forehead. “Hold still,” he rasped.
Celia gulped and complied. It wasn't easy to do, given the way the room was whirling and the fact that her knees suddenly displayed little interest in holding her upright, but she did her best.
And then nothing mattered anymore, because she was falling into a nameless black void and there was nothing she could do to stop it...
Before: The arms around Celia tightened still further. It was already hard for her to breathe, and growing difficult for her to think, but she continued to struggle anyway. Or at least, she did until the figure facing her reached into his coat, drew out a gun, and pointed it at her.
After: The arms around Celia tightened still further. Her breath came in hard-won gasps. Her thoughts were mired in treacle. Why couldn’t she think what to do? She continued to struggle anyway…until the figure facing her drew a gun and pointed it at her.
The first thing I wanted to do was to break up that long, compound second sentence. She’s in a potentially life-or-death struggle here. Do we, the readers, really want a long, wordy sentence here? Probably not. So I broke it up into bits. Next, the bits were good enough, but not as immediate, as visceral as I wanted them to be. Which gets the point across better: “It was hard for her to breathe”, or “Her breath came in hard-won gasps”? The second one leaves you feeling a bit more of Celia’s breathlessness, doesn’t it? And saying it was difficult for her to think isn’t nearly as good as telling us her thoughts were mired in treacle. And the last sentence—also a bit long and sedate for the struggle at hand, isn’t it? Do we need to know where the gun came from? Isn’t it enough that he has it? Finally, slowing the last sentence down with an ellipsis changes the pacing of it, makes the action seem to pause for an instant – much as Celia would have done on seeing that gun.
Here’s another one:
Before: The gun's report was deafening in the enclosed room. Celia felt something punch her in the upper arm, and she looked to see a hole in the fabric of the sleeve of her shirtwaist … one whose edges were rapidly becoming stained with crimson. Her entire arm throbbed with sudden pain. She drew a breath to cry out, but the cloth was once again over her mouth and nose, and the room was beginning to spin around most alarmingly. She tried to struggle again anyway, but every move sent pain shooting through her arm, and she was suddenly more tired than she could ever remember being in her entire life.
After: The gun's report left Celia’s ears ringing. She felt something punch her in the upper arm. She looked to see a hole in the sleeve of her shirtwaist…and a spreading crimson stain. Her arm throbbed with intense pain. She drew a breath to cry out, but the cloth once again covered her mouth and nose. The room began to spin alarmingly. She tried to struggle, but every move sent pain shooting through her arm. Leaden weight stole into her limbs. She had to fight to keep her eyelids open, her body upright.
“Ringing ears” are definitely more descriptive than “a deafening report”. And again with the long complex sentences. Breaking them up helps. Next, let’s talk about that arm. We don’t need to know that it’s her entire arm; I can just say “arm,” and without further specification you’ll know that it’s the whole thing. And “sudden”? I think the “throb” tells us that it’s sudden, so I chose to say that it was “intense” instead. I may decide to go back later and take that out, though. I’m not convinced that it’s needed. The last sentence again rambles; breaking it up gives it more of a sense of immediacy. And doesn’t telling you that “leaden weight” is stealing into her limbs make you feel her utter weariness more than telling you she’s “more tired than she’s ever felt in her life”?
One more:
B: Celia gulped and complied. It wasn't easy to do, given the way the room was whirling and the fact that her knees suddenly displayed little interest in holding her upright, but she did her best.
A: Celia gulped and complied. It wasn't easy to do. The room was whirling and her knees seemed to have little interest in holding her up.
Again, breaking up the long sentence into smaller pieces brings more immediacy. Also, stripping out excess verbiage (who, me?) makes the beats sharper, more intense.
So here’s the passage after all of my re-writes:
The arms around Celia tightened still further. Her breath came in hard-won gasps. Her thoughts were mired in treacle. Why couldn’t she think what to do? She continued to struggle anyway…until the figure facing her drew a gun and pointed it at her.
Defeated, Celia went limp in her captor's arms. The sudden shift caused him to lose his grip on her. The cloth slid away from her face for a few precious moments. She gulped a breath and screamed, “Help!”
“Shut up!” growled the man with the gun. He advanced toward her.
Celia couldn’t help it. She screamed again.
The gun's report left Celia’s ears ringing. She felt something punch her in the upper arm. She looked to see a hole in the sleeve of her shirtwaist…and a spreading crimson stain. Her arm throbbed with intense pain. She drew a breath to cry out, but the cloth once again covered her mouth and nose.
The room began to spin alarmingly. She tried to struggle, but every move sent pain shooting through her arm. Leaden weight stole into her limbs. She had to fight to keep her eyelids open, her body upright.
The man with the gun continued to advance toward her. He rested the still-warm barrel of the revolver against her forehead. “Hold still,” he rasped.
Celia gulped and complied. It wasn't easy to do. The room was whirling and her knees seemed to have little interest in holding her up.
And then nothing mattered anymore, because she was falling into a nameless black void and there was nothing she could do to stop it….
And the best part? The rewrite is 54 words shorter. Every little bit helps!
What are some rewriting challenges other people have faced? How do you approach rewrites?
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Trust The Process; or, Sneaky Inner Editor Is Sneaky
Writing this week has been a bit of a struggle, and I think I've figured out why.
Now that the pressure of NaNoWriMo is off, I've slowed my pace a little, trying to avoid things like the 5,000 word info-dump airship description. I'm trying to be more analytical up front and figure out which scenes are really needed and which ones are not. I'm trying to be more careful in my word choices, in making sure to show not tell, in writing believable dialogue.
In other words, my Inner Editor has crept out of her box and taken over. And that spells disaster.
Why is this a problem, you ask? After all, if you're writing better stuff up front, that means less editing on the back end, right?
And that would be true...except that, in my case, the presence of Inner Editor during the writing phase usually stifles the story to such an extent that there might not ever be a back end, because I'll never get it finished. So that doesn't really help any, either.
Still, my first instinct is to try not to produce another 275,000 word behemoth. Those are just difficult to deal with. Especially when cutting them into two more reasonably-sized pieces simply doesn't work.
But then, on the same day, I found two articles that made me re-think that decision.
The first was an article in the Irish Times, where the author was privileged to sit in on a writing workshop with author Terry Pratchett. You really should go and read the whole thing, but I'll post the bit that got my attention here.
At the end of the workshop, Mr. Pratchett listed his three secrets of writing the perfect book. The third one was the one that caught my attention:
“First draft: let it run. Turn all the knobs up to 11. Second draft: hell. Cut it down and cut it into shape. Third draft: comb its nose and blow its hair. I usually find that most of the book will have handed itself to me on that first draft. I don’t know how. It has to do with my subconscious – the subconscious of someone who’s been doing it for a long time."
It sounds like good advice. Let it run, and turn all the knobs up to 11. Cutting into shape can happen later.
And then I found Delia Sherman's blog entry on "How To Survive A First Draft". It's another good read, and you should go and do just that. But this was the bit that seemed to be calling out to me:
"3) Bull on through regardless, throwing words at the wall in the hope that some will stick. One member of my writing group, when writing her first draft, writes scenes that seem to happen in Real Time, in which the characters sit around cooking dinner or mending harness while talking about the weather or the crops or their love lives for PAGES AND PAGES, which is fun for us to read, but not ultimately useful to the plot or the structure of the novel...She doesn't rewrite them until she's finished the draft, at which point they either disappear or get so completely rewritten that maybe only the setting and one line of dialogue survive from the original. She finds writing them immensely useful, though, however seemingly inefficient, for getting to know characters, for creating an atmosphere or details of her world."
Wow. Yes, that's actually what I seem to do, too. I write about things in nauseating detail, things I know aren't needed for the final draft. But writing scenes and details like these are what helps me to find the heart of the story. And therefore, practical or not, I need to just tell Inner Editor to sit down, shut up, and wait her turn.
(By the way, when you go read that blog entry, don't forget to scroll down and read the comments, because there is wisdom to be found there as well. Like this little gem from Ellen Kushner: "...we sometimes criticize books that are *too* tightly-written as being "only the Good Parts version" . . . . My friends, do not fear Dialogue! and Description! and Mood and Scene-Setting and.....!")
So what it all comes down to is that I need to keep reminding myself to Trust The Process. Write the draft now, edit it later. Give the characters room to breathe, and they will help me find the missing heart to the story. Editing can -- and will -- come later.
Do other people have trouble trusting the process? Is it possible to make changes to the process and still have it work?
Now that the pressure of NaNoWriMo is off, I've slowed my pace a little, trying to avoid things like the 5,000 word info-dump airship description. I'm trying to be more analytical up front and figure out which scenes are really needed and which ones are not. I'm trying to be more careful in my word choices, in making sure to show not tell, in writing believable dialogue.
In other words, my Inner Editor has crept out of her box and taken over. And that spells disaster.
Why is this a problem, you ask? After all, if you're writing better stuff up front, that means less editing on the back end, right?
And that would be true...except that, in my case, the presence of Inner Editor during the writing phase usually stifles the story to such an extent that there might not ever be a back end, because I'll never get it finished. So that doesn't really help any, either.
Still, my first instinct is to try not to produce another 275,000 word behemoth. Those are just difficult to deal with. Especially when cutting them into two more reasonably-sized pieces simply doesn't work.
But then, on the same day, I found two articles that made me re-think that decision.
The first was an article in the Irish Times, where the author was privileged to sit in on a writing workshop with author Terry Pratchett. You really should go and read the whole thing, but I'll post the bit that got my attention here.
At the end of the workshop, Mr. Pratchett listed his three secrets of writing the perfect book. The third one was the one that caught my attention:
“First draft: let it run. Turn all the knobs up to 11. Second draft: hell. Cut it down and cut it into shape. Third draft: comb its nose and blow its hair. I usually find that most of the book will have handed itself to me on that first draft. I don’t know how. It has to do with my subconscious – the subconscious of someone who’s been doing it for a long time."
It sounds like good advice. Let it run, and turn all the knobs up to 11. Cutting into shape can happen later.
And then I found Delia Sherman's blog entry on "How To Survive A First Draft". It's another good read, and you should go and do just that. But this was the bit that seemed to be calling out to me:
"3) Bull on through regardless, throwing words at the wall in the hope that some will stick. One member of my writing group, when writing her first draft, writes scenes that seem to happen in Real Time, in which the characters sit around cooking dinner or mending harness while talking about the weather or the crops or their love lives for PAGES AND PAGES, which is fun for us to read, but not ultimately useful to the plot or the structure of the novel...She doesn't rewrite them until she's finished the draft, at which point they either disappear or get so completely rewritten that maybe only the setting and one line of dialogue survive from the original. She finds writing them immensely useful, though, however seemingly inefficient, for getting to know characters, for creating an atmosphere or details of her world."
Wow. Yes, that's actually what I seem to do, too. I write about things in nauseating detail, things I know aren't needed for the final draft. But writing scenes and details like these are what helps me to find the heart of the story. And therefore, practical or not, I need to just tell Inner Editor to sit down, shut up, and wait her turn.
(By the way, when you go read that blog entry, don't forget to scroll down and read the comments, because there is wisdom to be found there as well. Like this little gem from Ellen Kushner: "...we sometimes criticize books that are *too* tightly-written as being "only the Good Parts version" . . . . My friends, do not fear Dialogue! and Description! and Mood and Scene-Setting and.....!")
So what it all comes down to is that I need to keep reminding myself to Trust The Process. Write the draft now, edit it later. Give the characters room to breathe, and they will help me find the missing heart to the story. Editing can -- and will -- come later.
Do other people have trouble trusting the process? Is it possible to make changes to the process and still have it work?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up: The Aftermath
So here it is, somehow, December already, and another NaNoWriMo has come and gone. For those of you who are curious, here are the final stats for NaNo2010:
Total words written: 63,107
Average words per day: 2,103.6
Lowest daily word count: 265 (Nov. 10)
Highest daily word count: 4,811 (Nov. 6)
2K words a day is not bad. Last year's NaNo came in at something like 72K by the end of December, but that was mostly due to a 10K + word day that I managed to get in at the end of the month. That didn't happen this year, but I'm okay with that.
Not surprisingly, at 63K words, I feel as though I've mostly just gotten my throat cleared, so to speak, and am ready to really start writing this story. That seems to be my pattern.
There are parts of this story that I really like so far, parts that I know are going to get cut, and parts that I'm just not sure about. One thing that I've decided is that the reason some of the long and rambling passages are happening is because I've yet to uncover the true heart of this story. Last year's story seemed to have a couple of themes going on: betrayal and forgiveness, the end of childhood, using teamwork to overcome obstacles, and the importance of family. So far, this year, I've uncovered one, which has to do with finding your passion and engaging in it. Another that seems to be developing is Doing The Right Thing, even when it hurts. But it still feels like the story is missing something. I just can't quite put my finger on what.
I guess, for the time being, I'll just keep writing. After all, last year, one of the main themes didn't reveal itself until page 465 out of 510. Obviously, it's never too late.
In the meantime, the plan is to just keep writing, a little bit every day (at least; if more than a little bit happens, I certainly won't send it back!) until the story is done. And then I get to gleefully go back and take a machete to that long and flowing description of an airship. (Looking forward to that, actually.)
Along with that, I still have to finish editing Book 1 of this mess, and finish the fairy story I started in August. (I knew I was going to regret not getting that one written before November!) But I guess as long as I'm writing every day, that's what counts. Right?
Off to make my word count for the day now...see y'all next week!
Total words written: 63,107
Average words per day: 2,103.6
Lowest daily word count: 265 (Nov. 10)
Highest daily word count: 4,811 (Nov. 6)
2K words a day is not bad. Last year's NaNo came in at something like 72K by the end of December, but that was mostly due to a 10K + word day that I managed to get in at the end of the month. That didn't happen this year, but I'm okay with that.
Not surprisingly, at 63K words, I feel as though I've mostly just gotten my throat cleared, so to speak, and am ready to really start writing this story. That seems to be my pattern.
There are parts of this story that I really like so far, parts that I know are going to get cut, and parts that I'm just not sure about. One thing that I've decided is that the reason some of the long and rambling passages are happening is because I've yet to uncover the true heart of this story. Last year's story seemed to have a couple of themes going on: betrayal and forgiveness, the end of childhood, using teamwork to overcome obstacles, and the importance of family. So far, this year, I've uncovered one, which has to do with finding your passion and engaging in it. Another that seems to be developing is Doing The Right Thing, even when it hurts. But it still feels like the story is missing something. I just can't quite put my finger on what.
I guess, for the time being, I'll just keep writing. After all, last year, one of the main themes didn't reveal itself until page 465 out of 510. Obviously, it's never too late.
In the meantime, the plan is to just keep writing, a little bit every day (at least; if more than a little bit happens, I certainly won't send it back!) until the story is done. And then I get to gleefully go back and take a machete to that long and flowing description of an airship. (Looking forward to that, actually.)
Along with that, I still have to finish editing Book 1 of this mess, and finish the fairy story I started in August. (I knew I was going to regret not getting that one written before November!) But I guess as long as I'm writing every day, that's what counts. Right?
Off to make my word count for the day now...see y'all next week!
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