Finished "A Sky of Stars" by me. This is the first time I have read this book since I wrote it. The writing is better than in "Following the First Star" but the story isn't quite as complete. As a consequence, starting the third book should be easy, right? RIGHT?
NaNoWriMo 2014 starts in about 2 weeks, and this read-through was part of getting ready for that. Here's to hoping I can pick up where I left off and win once more!
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo 2013. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Monday, June 30, 2014
Ship it!
As of late last night, my 2013 NaNoWriMo story is waiting for approval from the Amazon/CreateSpace review so I can print it and add book #6 to my collection!
After some soul searching (combined with procrastination, laziness, and frustration with the story), I decided enough was enough, and that leaving the story where it is now is just fine. It's something I could probably pick up for the next NaNoWriMo. Or the one in 2016 (since this was the sequel to my 2010 story). At this point, I would like to go back and read through book 1 and 2, and make some notes on what should happen next, combined with what I already know is supposed to happen. I say "supposed to" because you know how characters can change your mind.
Many thanks to my writing buddy for helping shape what's already there. :-)
After some soul searching (combined with procrastination, laziness, and frustration with the story), I decided enough was enough, and that leaving the story where it is now is just fine. It's something I could probably pick up for the next NaNoWriMo. Or the one in 2016 (since this was the sequel to my 2010 story). At this point, I would like to go back and read through book 1 and 2, and make some notes on what should happen next, combined with what I already know is supposed to happen. I say "supposed to" because you know how characters can change your mind.
Many thanks to my writing buddy for helping shape what's already there. :-)
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Extending NaNo 2013: May 28
Writing since the end of November continues to be sporadic, but in today's lunch writing session, I hit another small milestone. Two months after my last "extending NaNo" post (which itself was four months after the end of NaNoWriMo), I've added another 10,000 words to my 2013 draft. I'm at 73,856 words. A lot has happened in the last 10,000 words, and the story is heading for ...
...well...
I'm not sure what.
That's the problem I'm facing right now - I have an idea of how the current scenes are going to resolve, but it leads to a fairly wide open set of possibilities beyond that. At this point, I'd like to finish the writing I'm doing on the scenes going now, and then take some time to figure out an outline of the next part. It might end up being the outline for book three, or it might be a continuation of the story that's going now. I don't know.
...well...
I'm not sure what.
That's the problem I'm facing right now - I have an idea of how the current scenes are going to resolve, but it leads to a fairly wide open set of possibilities beyond that. At this point, I'd like to finish the writing I'm doing on the scenes going now, and then take some time to figure out an outline of the next part. It might end up being the outline for book three, or it might be a continuation of the story that's going now. I don't know.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Extending NaNo 2013: December 17
I admit I've been avoiding writing for a while. I had a couple days of writing a little here and there, but it hasn't amounted to much. I wrote about 1,500 words today, though. The trouble is, the story seems to be getting bogged down trying to get to the climax, which is just around the corner.
Anyway, I'm just shy of 59,000 words today, which if you read the previous post is where I thought I would be at the end of the story. No such luck. Apparently some things needed a little time to develop. One such thing was a pretty big deal when I thought of it. I was walking from Staples back to the office when I realized a little detail that has to come out. The trouble is, getting that detail out is taking a long time.
I'm trying to get one of my characters to find a way to get a certain thing from another character. This would then get handed off and ultimately explained to the reader. She went about it poorly and now has to find a new strategy. She doesn't know it, yet, but the window of opportunity won't be open much longer.
After that's settled, then the rest of the events that are waiting in the wings can play out. Honestly I'm still not sure about the specifics of them, either, but historically I've been better about getting through that kind of block than I have been about getting through what's bogging me down now.
I was really hoping to have been done with the story almost two weeks ago, too.
Anyway, I'm just shy of 59,000 words today, which if you read the previous post is where I thought I would be at the end of the story. No such luck. Apparently some things needed a little time to develop. One such thing was a pretty big deal when I thought of it. I was walking from Staples back to the office when I realized a little detail that has to come out. The trouble is, getting that detail out is taking a long time.
I'm trying to get one of my characters to find a way to get a certain thing from another character. This would then get handed off and ultimately explained to the reader. She went about it poorly and now has to find a new strategy. She doesn't know it, yet, but the window of opportunity won't be open much longer.
After that's settled, then the rest of the events that are waiting in the wings can play out. Honestly I'm still not sure about the specifics of them, either, but historically I've been better about getting through that kind of block than I have been about getting through what's bogging me down now.
I was really hoping to have been done with the story almost two weeks ago, too.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Extending NaNo 2013: December 2
Yes, I know the event ended two days ago, but I'm still going. I got another 1,200 or so words in on A Sky of Stars today adding one scene and tweaking another. Two scenes to go! (And maybe an epilogue.) All told, I probably have another 4,500 words to go, which would put me at 59,000 for this first draft. I'm still trying to finish the story before Friday.
Following the First Star (the book to which A Sky of Stars is the sequel) has about 55,000 words, but it really glosses over the details at the end. There's a lot of room to expand it. I'm not entirely sure where the expansion will happen with the sequel. I'll have to let that digest a while. I may not have the break point between book one and two exactly right, too. It remains to be seen! (No pun intended.)
Following the First Star (the book to which A Sky of Stars is the sequel) has about 55,000 words, but it really glosses over the details at the end. There's a lot of room to expand it. I'm not entirely sure where the expansion will happen with the sequel. I'll have to let that digest a while. I may not have the break point between book one and two exactly right, too. It remains to be seen! (No pun intended.)
NaNoWriMo 2013 - The End?
I won NaNoWriMo again this year. That makes six for six. However, what I did not do was finish the story I was writing. I crossed 50,000 words on November 30th, ending at 53,213 (Scrivener says 53,275), but I still have three scenes to write and one to rewrite from the ground up.
I had a vague outline that got me through several chapters, but it didn't get me through the whole story. A lot of talking with a good friend of mine helped to set what I needed to write for the story to make more sense. This was not just once, but several times throughout the month. It did make for a better story, and when I finish the scenes I mentioned above, it should be nicely set up for another sequel. I have no idea when I'm going to write that one, though. Maybe next NaNo, maybe sooner than that. I suppose it's possible I sit on it for a few years as I did with the 2010 story that led to this one, though I would rather not.
In years past, I kept much of the writing I did even though it didn't fit with the story. The earliest instance of this was in 2008 when I had a scene of the BBG robbing a liquor store, shown on TV. I never did anything with it and should have cut it, but it's still there. This year I would replace and edit as I went along. The most extreme case of this was where I had one character, and then rewrote the chapter to have two characters together. That cost me quite a few words, but it was worth it for the story.
Here's my word graph for the month:
The graph shows I was behind from the start, caught up on day 5 and then didn't write for two days. Believe it or not, day 8 has more words than day 7, though only by 178. I caught up again on day 13 and held it until day 22, though I wrote below the 1,666 words-per-day pace from the 21st until the 27th. During that time there was much discussion and outline revision. In my favor, I wrote on every day of the month except for the two days I took off (the 7th and 8th).
I wrote a strong 3,626 words on the 28th, only 609 on Thanksgiving Day, which was a busy day for me, and then 5,529 and 4,364 on the 29th and 30th respectively, winning on the last day.
The 2010 book suffered from a lack of focus on point of view (POV), and I could tell this one is going to have some of the same issues, though it is better.
I tried not to use adverbs, instead finding another way to say what I was trying to say. I think I failed in this, because I still used 165 different adverbs, and they counted for 514 of my words (almost 1%). I also tried not to use "was" or "is" too much, but it still appeared 768 times for "was" ("it was"+"he was"+"she was" = 259 of them) and 192 for "is."
I also tried not to use "thought" words. This is from writing advice from Chuck Palahniuk. The specific ones mentioned are thinks (30), knows (109), understands (18), realizes (6), believes (19), wants (59), remembers (6), imagines (2), desires (0). This is obviously not an all-inclusive list. The numbers after each are how many times I used that one, for a total of 249 times, though many of those were in dialogue.
My intention now is to write or rewrite the other scenes by December 5th, when the CreateSpace offer is supposed to appear, then to print a draft of the book as I usually do. It still needs a cover. I also want to buy Scrivener, which is half price for NaNo winners, as soon as I can work it into my budget.
I had a vague outline that got me through several chapters, but it didn't get me through the whole story. A lot of talking with a good friend of mine helped to set what I needed to write for the story to make more sense. This was not just once, but several times throughout the month. It did make for a better story, and when I finish the scenes I mentioned above, it should be nicely set up for another sequel. I have no idea when I'm going to write that one, though. Maybe next NaNo, maybe sooner than that. I suppose it's possible I sit on it for a few years as I did with the 2010 story that led to this one, though I would rather not.
In years past, I kept much of the writing I did even though it didn't fit with the story. The earliest instance of this was in 2008 when I had a scene of the BBG robbing a liquor store, shown on TV. I never did anything with it and should have cut it, but it's still there. This year I would replace and edit as I went along. The most extreme case of this was where I had one character, and then rewrote the chapter to have two characters together. That cost me quite a few words, but it was worth it for the story.
Here's my word graph for the month:
The graph shows I was behind from the start, caught up on day 5 and then didn't write for two days. Believe it or not, day 8 has more words than day 7, though only by 178. I caught up again on day 13 and held it until day 22, though I wrote below the 1,666 words-per-day pace from the 21st until the 27th. During that time there was much discussion and outline revision. In my favor, I wrote on every day of the month except for the two days I took off (the 7th and 8th).
I wrote a strong 3,626 words on the 28th, only 609 on Thanksgiving Day, which was a busy day for me, and then 5,529 and 4,364 on the 29th and 30th respectively, winning on the last day.
The 2010 book suffered from a lack of focus on point of view (POV), and I could tell this one is going to have some of the same issues, though it is better.
I tried not to use adverbs, instead finding another way to say what I was trying to say. I think I failed in this, because I still used 165 different adverbs, and they counted for 514 of my words (almost 1%). I also tried not to use "was" or "is" too much, but it still appeared 768 times for "was" ("it was"+"he was"+"she was" = 259 of them) and 192 for "is."
I also tried not to use "thought" words. This is from writing advice from Chuck Palahniuk. The specific ones mentioned are thinks (30), knows (109), understands (18), realizes (6), believes (19), wants (59), remembers (6), imagines (2), desires (0). This is obviously not an all-inclusive list. The numbers after each are how many times I used that one, for a total of 249 times, though many of those were in dialogue.
My intention now is to write or rewrite the other scenes by December 5th, when the CreateSpace offer is supposed to appear, then to print a draft of the book as I usually do. It still needs a cover. I also want to buy Scrivener, which is half price for NaNo winners, as soon as I can work it into my budget.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013 day 16
I caught up to par on day 12 with a 4,501-word day, and have stayed ahead since then. I ended the day today with 30,037 words, which is just above where I should be on day 18.
I am working on chapter 5 and am well into the second part of the setup. The first part spanned chapters 1-4. I've introduced a fair number of characters, and gotten some feedback on the story so far, which actually led to a complete restructuring of chapter 5. Ultimately, though, it will make for a better story. I just need to finish the restructure, add the new pieces to it, and from there I can move on to the next setup part.
THEN new things can happen!
I am working on chapter 5 and am well into the second part of the setup. The first part spanned chapters 1-4. I've introduced a fair number of characters, and gotten some feedback on the story so far, which actually led to a complete restructuring of chapter 5. Ultimately, though, it will make for a better story. I just need to finish the restructure, add the new pieces to it, and from there I can move on to the next setup part.
THEN new things can happen!
Monday, November 11, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013 - first 10 days
So much for catching up! I'm currently about 6,000 words behind. The good news is that I know I have enough material to pass 50,000 words. It might even be a good story. I just need to make it happen by the end of the month.
In looking at my progress thus far, I looked at how well I had done with keeping on-pace in years past. The result? The first three NaNos I did were pretty well paced. I made steady progress and crossed the 50k mark toward the end of the month. The following two? Fits and spurts. I still made 50k, but each one was a slow start and hard finish. Here are the graphs:
For 2009 and 2010 I also went well past the 50k mark. I'm hoping this year will bring many more words, since it's the sequel to the 2010 book, which topped 60k.
In looking at my progress thus far, I looked at how well I had done with keeping on-pace in years past. The result? The first three NaNos I did were pretty well paced. I made steady progress and crossed the 50k mark toward the end of the month. The following two? Fits and spurts. I still made 50k, but each one was a slow start and hard finish. Here are the graphs:
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| 2008 |
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| 2009 |
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| 2010 |
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| 2011 |
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| 2012 |
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013 Day 5
I caught up!
I spent the evening using the word sprints available in the http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#r-nanowrimo chat room. While I didn't exactly compete with the others in the room, it was good to be able to focus on writing for a pretty good stretch of time. My total for the day was 4,096 words (not intentionally a power of 2, but I'll take it) and my total count is 8,840 words now.
In the story, I had two characters that I knew I wanted to get together see each other, but one of them turned and bolted. I wasn't exactly expecting that reaction. Back to the drawing board on getting them in the same place at the same time.
And now to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
I spent the evening using the word sprints available in the http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#r-nanowrimo chat room. While I didn't exactly compete with the others in the room, it was good to be able to focus on writing for a pretty good stretch of time. My total for the day was 4,096 words (not intentionally a power of 2, but I'll take it) and my total count is 8,840 words now.
In the story, I had two characters that I knew I wanted to get together see each other, but one of them turned and bolted. I wasn't exactly expecting that reaction. Back to the drawing board on getting them in the same place at the same time.
And now to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
NaNoWriMo 2013 days 1-4
I got a slow start this year, and it hasn't picked up any. Today is day five and while I haven't started writing for the day yet, I'm sitting at 4,744 words so far when I should be at 6,666 minimum, and 8,333 by the end of the day. I'm still working on chapter one and am feeling uninspired thus far by the writing. I'm not uninspired by the story outline - there's some cool stuff to come, and my sounding board friend has been really helpful.
I'm reintroducing some characters from the first book - characters that didn't end up doing much of anything. For example, the First Commander's daughter who appeared in chapter one of Following the First Star and was then (spoiler alert - ha!) irrelevant is back for chapter one of this book.
I should have plenty of time to write tonight. I'm hoping to get back on track. I know I can do it - I've had plenty of days writing thousands of words, and I only need 3,589 to catch up. But so far I haven't been following the NaNoWriMo mantra of just getting words down. I've been too careful. I've been editing in place. I've been revising bits and pieces here and there. I won't keep the pace if I keep this up.
I'm reintroducing some characters from the first book - characters that didn't end up doing much of anything. For example, the First Commander's daughter who appeared in chapter one of Following the First Star and was then (spoiler alert - ha!) irrelevant is back for chapter one of this book.
I should have plenty of time to write tonight. I'm hoping to get back on track. I know I can do it - I've had plenty of days writing thousands of words, and I only need 3,589 to catch up. But so far I haven't been following the NaNoWriMo mantra of just getting words down. I've been too careful. I've been editing in place. I've been revising bits and pieces here and there. I won't keep the pace if I keep this up.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013 Starting
I'm off to a slow start this year. I'm writing the sequel to Following the First Star, and have quite a few notes on the current state of the world, but I still don't have a clear idea of where I'm going from here. After re-reading it, I skimmed it again up to a scene in the second part of the book, then read more closely after that. It was funny that I had plans for a certain character only to find that character died in the first book! Whoops.
I went to the kickoff on Halloween night, where we got to hang around and mingle, then start writing all at once at midnight. It was pretty cool to transition from a party-like atmosphere to a bunch of people quietly typing away on keyboards, and one jerk listening to music on headphones loud enough that all around could hear it. I only got a few hundred words that first night because I hadn't gotten enough sleep all week due to work. Today is day two, and I am about to start writing for the day now (4 PM).
Here goes!
I went to the kickoff on Halloween night, where we got to hang around and mingle, then start writing all at once at midnight. It was pretty cool to transition from a party-like atmosphere to a bunch of people quietly typing away on keyboards, and one jerk listening to music on headphones loud enough that all around could hear it. I only got a few hundred words that first night because I hadn't gotten enough sleep all week due to work. Today is day two, and I am about to start writing for the day now (4 PM).
Here goes!
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