Day 18: NaNoWriMo 2012

Slow and stead as she goes...

The story is now in Act III. The battle has started and one by one my hero is tying the loose ends. The mystery is getting unraveled, but an unplanned event or two are about to kick my hero and team right in the shin.

This is when I get a burst of enthusiasm and try to go nuts on coffee just to reach the end. But this time, I'm going slowly. A satisfying mystery is not about who did it, but why they did it. It needs to resonate at a primal level. Ideally the reader will nearly feel for the antagonist.

Day 18's total: 1,130
Overall: 45,417

Will I wrap it up before I have to carve up the turkey and ham?

Let's see what I can get done tonight.

Fight the good fight!

Day 17: NaNoWriMo 2012

Even on bad days, make sure you write something.

Yesterday was just not meant to be. All plans went out the window right around 6:40 in the morning and then it got worse.

But I was committed to writing something--anything.

So I did.

Day 17's total: 166
Overall: 44,287

I know, I know. Pitiful, right?

But I assure you it was a solid paragraph!

Having said that, this is why it is more powerful to have a weekly goal than a daily word goal. A daily goal not achieved could have a detremental psychological affect. I have plenty of psychologicical issues. I don't need more.

So in the final analysis, a bad writing day, but a solid week.

Fight the good fight!

Ara

Day 16: NaNoWriMo 2012

On the sixteenth day of NaNoWriMo, my manuscript gave to me...

A stinkin' headache!

Yes, my dedicated readers and cheerleaders. A headache. Why? Plot problem. I am about to break into Act III. But the I don't feel that the Fhit has hit the Shan yet. In other words, I don't think the situation is bad enough for my hero.

To break into Act III, the hero must feel that there is no other choice but to enter that final battle. The hero must feel that death (physical or psychological) is imminent and the only choice is to face his fears.

I don't think I have that. What I have is okay... but okay is not good enough. It needs to be awesome. Courageous. Unexpected.

And it's a shame because up to that point I was tearing through the word count.

Day 16's total: 2,416
Overall: 44,121

Now, I have to take a step back and possibly do a bit of clean up work.

Wish me luck. And don't forget...

Fight the good fight!

Day 15: NaNoWriMo 2012

And on the 15th day of writing, I discovered a new twist...

The stinkin' butler did it after all!

Okay, that's a joke. I don't have a butler in my story. I have a man-servant.

As I was writing a scene, I knew that I was getting to an important part in the plot -- the darkest point in the story, where it seems like everything is lost (called the Dark Night of the Soul in the Save the Cat! framework). So as any self-respecting writer would do, I ran away from my desk.

Sometimes, I have to get myself worked up for a scene. I need to bring as much emotional depth as I can muster. So as any self-respecting writer would do, I got a spoon and ate Nutella out of the jar.

Right then, I realized why one of my characters exhibited some physical characteristics. She had done something twice in the body of the story that just came out naturally. I didn't question it, I let it go on. But now, as I allowed the Nutella to coat my soul, it came to me why. What it really implied.

I got the energy boost I needed (not from the Nutella per se) to tie out little details that would lead to a twist in Act III. It's fantastic when the author doesn't even suspect the twist coming.

Not a marathon stretch last night, but a respectable day.

Day 15's total: 1,384
Overall: 41,705

Fight the good fight! (and get some Nutella)

Day 14: NaNoWriMo 2012

And then I got lost...

Here's the thing about mysteries: the connections, the lies, the misinformation, and misdirections can really get confusing.

As you'll recall from Day 1, I didn't really plan this project out. It was a high level plan. But maybe I should have done a bit more work on the puzzles, the mysteries and interrelations between the characters.

So I took a bit of time yesterday and drew a relationship diagram. Basic idea is that you list all the characters as bubbles. Then you connect them (one to many, many to many) and in the connection explain how they are related or what motivates their connection.

What that did for me was clarify why my silly characters were doing weird things. It turns out, my subconscious was onto something with some of the decisions it made. So I cleaned up the relations and suddenly a whole slew of opportunities presented themselves.

I violated my law of "don't revise." I went back to a couple of the chapters that had been off-course and I revised them. And I got to tell you, I love what I'm seeing. I took a step back to help move the flow, and in the process I added more words.

Day 14's total: 1,862
Overall: 40,321

Not too shabby given that this was all revision based. More importantly, I am 14 days into the 30 day event, and I have just passed the 40,000 word mark (where's my chocolate?). I'm starting to feel confident. But I won't count my bacon, until the eggs are scrambled... or something like that.

Fight the good fight!

Day 13: NaNoWriMo 2012

Lucky 13? Maybe...

Yesterday should have been one of those days that if I got in a thousand words, I would have been happy.

My wife was to come home late, so I had to deal with my little monkeys. Homework, get them to bathe, prepare dinner, and assure that they don't dismember each other in the span of the night.

With the potential outcome of the future already pre-determined, I had given up on real productivity. But something happened.

The kids were on the ball with their homework. They bathed and changed at the speed of light. Dinner was a hit. We were done by just past 6 PM. They were fed, clean, and in their PJs.

I popped in a DVD in the home office (Shorts, a Robert Rodriguez movie). So as they watched, I wrote. And wrote. Took a couple of small breaks to make pop corn, but I kept on writing and the words kept rolling out.

 By 11 PM, my head spinning, I posted this on Facebook...

Day 13's total: 7,944
Overall: 38,459

So maybe I was off on my math, but as you can see, not a bad night given that I had assumed the day would be a total loss.

You never know when you'll have these types of days. I could have written it off. But I chose to try. I chose to write.

Fight the good fight!

Day 12: NaNoWriMo 2012

After a day off on Sunday, on Monday, I was back into the manuscript...

A good, solid day of writing. But I'm a bit worried now. As I've mentioned, I'm writing a mystery novel -- my first dive into that genre. I read a lot of mystery novels and know that this genre should be no less than 60,000 words. NaNoWriMo's goal is 50,000 in thirty days.

I'm past the mid-way point in the novel and have realized that I may not have enough meat in my plot to get me past much more than 50,000 -- great for NaNoWriMo, bad for a mystery novel.

I started to panic a little, questioning why I didn't think it out further before I jumped in.

But worrying is a wasted emotion.

I got it out of my system and decided to move forward. If by the time I'm done I have 40,000 words, so be it. That's the story that was produced. However, I have confidence in my characters. I have a feeling that they'll throw a couple of curve balls soon, extending the word count in a natural organic and meaningful way.

But one thing is for sure, I will not add empty scenes, empty words, or empty subplots. A good story with escalating conflicts and deep characters generate words. Words do not create a good story.

Day 12's total: 3,880
Overall: 30,515

Fight the good fight!