Well, I did it. Brought my total of National Novel Writing Month words up to a little over 15,000. I'm not quite on track to finish on time, but it's possible now. But I'm not having fun.
Last year, it was fun. It was a wild crazy month. The words flowed at times. I talked on the forums. The Story was there for me whenever I needed it.
This year, not so good. The story is refusing to write willingly. I'm having to struggle for every paragraph. Of course, I know I'm pushing myself to get caught up, and the self-applied pressure is immense, but I was pressured last time and still enjoyed the process.
The problem is, I think, that I'm not that excited about Tin Man Dark. Oh, it's got some cool stuff in it, some ideas that I think bear examination, but overall, it's a bit flat.
A lot of people, apparently, write drivel in NaNoWriMo. The point, for them, is to get words on paper, any words, and it doesn't seem to matter to them if they ever do anything with what they wrote or not. And that's fine. Writing is writing, and their skill will grow as they write. As long as they enjoy the process, then it's more than okay. If more people spent their time writing instead of watching TV, the world would be a much better place. NaNoWriMo really isn't about producing a good novel. It's about just producing one.
Perhaps I got spoiled by Darkness, Oklahoma. When I finished it last year, it felt like a novel. Oh, it needed and still needs editing and a lot more words, but the structure of it, the story of it, was good. I finished knowing that I could build on it. I had a Story there.
Tin Man Dark, well, I'm unsure about. It's just scenes. There isn't really a plot that I can see besides a vague Good Guys vs. Bad Guys. I'm not sure that I want to spend a whole month working on it when I have plenty of other projects needed my attention.
Well, that's where I'm at now. I'm considering quiting (oh hated word) NaNoWriMo this year. I'll continue working on TMD until I make up my mind one way or another. And maybe it will come alive. Some stories do that eventually. You work on them doggedly, and one day you start flying.
Time for work. Talk to you later if I can.
14 comments:
Hmmm I think you should keep going with it. This might be "The One". You know..that gets published and you never thought it would make it to the end? That happy surprise that you never saw coming...
I'm always, sometimes quietly, rooting for you. ;)
Maybe, Michelle. I'd like to think it was, but so far, it's a big freaking mess.
Thank you. I haven't really commented on your blog after you posted that your new boyfriend wondered if you had an online boyfriend. I didn't want him to suspect us and our torrid online commenting ... :) But I do read you daily. I mean, I read your blog daily. I couldn't read you unless you had something printed on your body. Which you don't. I don't think you do. Well, do you? What does it say? Come on, you can tell us ...
LOL! Torrid? I wish!
No worries, he knows me better than that. He, just like some, get all worried that the past will makes it's way into the present.
You can comment all you'd like. I wish you would actually...it gets lonely over there.
And, um...nothing printed on my body. Permanently anyway ;)
But it does lead me to wonder what you might have temporarily printed on your body ... the mind just boggles with the possibilities! ;)
I think TMD definitely needs more planning, FF, but I don't have anything closer to being written than it.
Yes, it is distracting to wonder what is written on Michelle's body. I already figured out several phrases that would be ... ah ... interesting.
Keep going TECH, you are my role-model for getting things done and never giving up!
Why can't you put the time and effort into darkness? It does not say it has to be a new book just the number of words! we want darkness!
Roen
Thanks, night-rider, but maybe you should find a better role model! :)
Actually, Roen, the NaNoWriMo rules do say that it has to be a new novel.
Ok well cheat! Or start your own lets finish a book writing month!
Roen
TECH you are only writing for you, but starting something new is a great idea. Just call me a cheater I've had the 'old' novel in my head for so long that I actually could give a damn what rules it breaks as long as I keep on writing towards its completion. But that s just me.
As far as december, and a different organization called NaNoFiMo, not related to the NaNoWriMo team, might be for you. National Novel Finishing Month. 50k words is barely a novella. Need to add twice that much in some genres. Do Darkness then.
Character To Do lists. They really help the word count, let you know where you need to go, and help spawn ideas for where to go or how to get there from here. I swear by them in a pinch. ;) (If you use Word, enter a Comment beside them to attract your attention during editing/revision so you know what to remove -- the comment doesn't count against your word count, and it makes the area easy to find.)
Good idea, G. I hadn't heard of NaNoFiMo. Thanks for mentioning it.
I can't finish Darkness, Oklahoma at the speed NaNoWriMo requires. I have been working on -- before the play and this month -- but I haven't updated the word count for a while. I'll have to do that just to let everyone know that progress is being made.
Jean, what are exactly are Character To Do lists?
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