Yes, no use throwing in a cliffhanger here: I won! 50,495 official words written! In 28 days! Wooh!
For those watching the stats: I had been racing ahead in the past couple of days, reaching 45k on Saturday, and stopping at 48,786 yesterday afternoon. So with three days still to go, I only had to write about 300 words every day for three days to finish. But why do that, when you can just throw in 1,700 words and finish it off?
The best part about this year (apart from it being over; this was really one of the hardest NaNo years I have ever had...) is that the story is also actually finished. It has reached a point where I could throw in a final punchline, and call it a day. It is still pretty open-ended, but it has come full circle, the story arch has ended in a nice big finale, and everything is resolved. This is actually a first, for me. Usually, there were bits in the middle I jumped over just to get to the end, or I wasn't even halfway through my story when I reached the 50,000 mark. But this year, apparently, I have written a semi-fantasy, not-that-funny, 50,500 word novella. Who would have expected that?
Of course, of course, I now have to say something about wanting to reread it, and edit it, and hone it to perfection, but honestly, I would rather be rid of the thing for the coming week. Or two. It's not all that good, there are parts in the middle where I almost literally had to push myself to get any words out, and the story took a complete detour from what I had originally planned. So no, this is in no way the novel I wanted or expected to write. But hey, that's NaNo for you. And perhaps, come January, I'll take a peek at it again. For now, I am done typing words on a screen, and will just celebrate my newly obtained victory with a good night's sleep!
Monday 28 November 2016
Friday 25 November 2016
NaNo Days 23, 24 & 25: Round numbers
For those of you who like round numbers just as much as I do (and who doesn't); you'll be pleased to know that I am now at 43,750 words (par is 41,666). My average per day is now 1,750, and I've written 2,225 words today (you can't win them all).
We're really in the home stretch now, with just 6,250 words to go. If nothing really unexpected happens (you never know) I should be able to finish in time. The story is moving along nicely, I have no trouble coming up with what to write, it's more finding the time to actually sit down and pound out 2,000 words. But, with the weekend coming up, who knows where I'll be at on Monday?
We're really in the home stretch now, with just 6,250 words to go. If nothing really unexpected happens (you never know) I should be able to finish in time. The story is moving along nicely, I have no trouble coming up with what to write, it's more finding the time to actually sit down and pound out 2,000 words. But, with the weekend coming up, who knows where I'll be at on Monday?
Tuesday 22 November 2016
NaNo Days 18, 19, 20, 21 & 22: On a roll
Somehow I always feel scared about jinxing my progress by putting in a title like that, but it has to be said; the last few days the writing has gone easier than ever. At this moment, I am at 39,810 words, while par for today would have been 36,666. That means that I am 190 words short of being 2 days ahead of schedule. The lovely thing about the NaNo stats page is that it tells you "At This Rate You Will Finish On", and for me today that date is November 28th.
Now before you start planning the celebrations for the 28th, I do have to add that the only reason I've been writing this far ahead is that I won't be able to write that much in the coming days, and I wanted to get a buffer in place for those days. So all may seem well for the moment, but let's wait and see what the future brings.
Storywise, things have taken an unexpected twist, when one of the side characters I made up on a very uninspired day in Belgium has suddenly fought herself to the forefront, and even decided to fall in love with one of the other main characters. Plot twists, you never see them coming. It did make for about 2,000 words of expositional writing today, which is always nice, but it doesn't really help the main story along. I still have 10,000 words to come to some sort of a conclusion, and with all the extra characters jumping on board, I don't think I will. But hey, all of my NaNo's so far have been without an ending, and those that had an ending have been partly without a middle, so who says I actually have to write a fully complete story? It's all about the 50,000 words, right?
Now before you start planning the celebrations for the 28th, I do have to add that the only reason I've been writing this far ahead is that I won't be able to write that much in the coming days, and I wanted to get a buffer in place for those days. So all may seem well for the moment, but let's wait and see what the future brings.
Storywise, things have taken an unexpected twist, when one of the side characters I made up on a very uninspired day in Belgium has suddenly fought herself to the forefront, and even decided to fall in love with one of the other main characters. Plot twists, you never see them coming. It did make for about 2,000 words of expositional writing today, which is always nice, but it doesn't really help the main story along. I still have 10,000 words to come to some sort of a conclusion, and with all the extra characters jumping on board, I don't think I will. But hey, all of my NaNo's so far have been without an ending, and those that had an ending have been partly without a middle, so who says I actually have to write a fully complete story? It's all about the 50,000 words, right?
Thursday 17 November 2016
NaNo Days 14, 15, 16 & 17: Vive la France
So I am writing this from the little cottage that we rented in France, in Normandy to be precise, in the little village of Bazenville, which consists of about twenty houses and two hundred sheep. At the moment, there is a bit of a storm going on outside, but we're nice and snug inside, warm and cosy, with the wind howling outside. It feels somewhat Christmassy, even though the temperatures here are quite a bit higher than at home, and the trees still have a lot more leaves than what we're used to by now.
In this little cottage, I finally got ahead of par. Or rather: my story finally gripped me. I think the main help in this was actually finding time to read, and the book I'm reading (The Buried Giant by Ishiguru) inspired me to look at my fantasy world in a whole new light, and add some extra characters and plotlines that I never would have thought of on my own. It's not that I'm copying his story, not by a long shot, it's rather that I'm absorbing it's atmosphere, and trying to convey that to my own story.
Which is working pretty well; for the last four days, I've written 2,000 words each day. That means I've been writing about 350 words extra on top of the daily 'required' amount, and I am now almost at the word count I should be at tomorrow (30,000). Which is nice, as tomorrow we will be travelling home, so I don't have that much time to write. And otherwise it is nice too, because it shows that my story is finally picking up speed.
Let's hope I manage to keep on track when I'm back in our own cold, rainy, grey country!
In this little cottage, I finally got ahead of par. Or rather: my story finally gripped me. I think the main help in this was actually finding time to read, and the book I'm reading (The Buried Giant by Ishiguru) inspired me to look at my fantasy world in a whole new light, and add some extra characters and plotlines that I never would have thought of on my own. It's not that I'm copying his story, not by a long shot, it's rather that I'm absorbing it's atmosphere, and trying to convey that to my own story.
Which is working pretty well; for the last four days, I've written 2,000 words each day. That means I've been writing about 350 words extra on top of the daily 'required' amount, and I am now almost at the word count I should be at tomorrow (30,000). Which is nice, as tomorrow we will be travelling home, so I don't have that much time to write. And otherwise it is nice too, because it shows that my story is finally picking up speed.
Let's hope I manage to keep on track when I'm back in our own cold, rainy, grey country!
Sunday 13 November 2016
NaNo Days 11, 12 & 13: Visiting the neighbours
So I'm writing this from a hotel room near Ieper (that Ypres for you English lot), where I have just reached 22,035 words. Par today is 21,667, so I'm still a little bit ahead of schedule.
Which is a miracle, if you knew how stumped for inspiration I am. Seriously, it's been a long time since writing was this difficult. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I have an idea of the sort of story I want to write, but somehow, it isn't happening. Maybe my characters don't quite fit, maybe I just can't find the right tone of voice, I don't really know what the problem is, I just know that there is one.
Now of course I'm still writing, but because it doesn't feel quite right, it's not going as fast as I would have thought. I was hoping to be around the 25,000 words by now, but it's a struggle just to stay on par each day. I could change the genre, but that means that I will have to write against a lot of exposition I did in the earlier parts, which I can remember from earlier years is pretty difficult, and not all that motivational. So I'm hoping for a flash of brilliance on an inspirational plot change, which will get my characters back on course. The good thing is; they are now all doing what they're supposed to be doing. It's just not going the way I was hoping when I started.
Still, I'm on par, and I'm finding time to write every day, so you won't hear me complaining. Just little inspirational grumbles.
Which is a miracle, if you knew how stumped for inspiration I am. Seriously, it's been a long time since writing was this difficult. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I have an idea of the sort of story I want to write, but somehow, it isn't happening. Maybe my characters don't quite fit, maybe I just can't find the right tone of voice, I don't really know what the problem is, I just know that there is one.
Now of course I'm still writing, but because it doesn't feel quite right, it's not going as fast as I would have thought. I was hoping to be around the 25,000 words by now, but it's a struggle just to stay on par each day. I could change the genre, but that means that I will have to write against a lot of exposition I did in the earlier parts, which I can remember from earlier years is pretty difficult, and not all that motivational. So I'm hoping for a flash of brilliance on an inspirational plot change, which will get my characters back on course. The good thing is; they are now all doing what they're supposed to be doing. It's just not going the way I was hoping when I started.
Still, I'm on par, and I'm finding time to write every day, so you won't hear me complaining. Just little inspirational grumbles.
Friday 11 November 2016
NaNo Days 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10: Staying on par
Right, I'd forgotten how hard it is to do NaNo and have a proper social life. This week, I managed to do both, but there was one moment when I was sitting at home thinking "Ah, everything is sorted, now I just have half an hour to relax before my friend comes over for dinner... gah! I haven't written a single word today!" which resulted in some frantic exposition writing that any good editor would throw out immediately, but that kept me on par for that day.
For that is where I've been trying to stay: on the recommended word count. So far, I've managed, staying ahead just a couple of hundred words each day (par word count in brackets):
Day 6: 10,640 (10, 000)
Day 7: 12,546 (11,667)
Day 8: 13,503 (13,333)
Day 9: 15,178 (15,000)
Day 10: 16,930 (16,667)
As you can see, the frantic writing described above was Day 8, where I cashed in on the progress I'd made on Day 7. Ah well, I'm still hanging in there.
What about the story? Yes, well, week 2 is generally known as Hell Week, and I've experienced a little of that, although not too much. This is the week in which your story starts to stink, and you can't really see the point of writing it anymore; it's stupid, it's badly written, and why did you pick this awful plot and these unimaginative characters anyway? I had some of that, mostly because I hit the point up until which I'd actually thought out my plot. So I just wrote lots of backstory on my characters, and dialogue which mainly involved them discussing insane subjects (again, stuff any proper editor would remove with the stroke of a pen) until I'd gotten a better idea on what was going to happen. I remembered what it was I'm actually trying to write, and that gave me some pointers, so I think the plot will be moving forward at speed from now on again.
As always, there are characters I like, and some I like less. They have all surprised me, with backstories and motivations and personalities I didn't think up before I started writing. Where does this stuff come from, I wonder? The mousy little girl from the poor village turns out to be the smartest one in the group, whereas the sly, plotting courtier turns out to have a heart after all. Who knew?
So today is my last day before going on holiday (yes, somehow I always end up planning a vacation in November), which will not only involve frantic writing but mostly frantic finishing up of work things and frantic packing. Of course, I'll bring my laptop along for the trip, and I'll plan in an hour of writing time each day. Yesterday, I wrote exactly 1,000 words in less than 30 minutes, so with one hour each day I should be able to (finally!) comfortably pull away from par. If all goes according to plan, that is...
For that is where I've been trying to stay: on the recommended word count. So far, I've managed, staying ahead just a couple of hundred words each day (par word count in brackets):
Day 6: 10,640 (10, 000)
Day 7: 12,546 (11,667)
Day 8: 13,503 (13,333)
Day 9: 15,178 (15,000)
Day 10: 16,930 (16,667)
As you can see, the frantic writing described above was Day 8, where I cashed in on the progress I'd made on Day 7. Ah well, I'm still hanging in there.
What about the story? Yes, well, week 2 is generally known as Hell Week, and I've experienced a little of that, although not too much. This is the week in which your story starts to stink, and you can't really see the point of writing it anymore; it's stupid, it's badly written, and why did you pick this awful plot and these unimaginative characters anyway? I had some of that, mostly because I hit the point up until which I'd actually thought out my plot. So I just wrote lots of backstory on my characters, and dialogue which mainly involved them discussing insane subjects (again, stuff any proper editor would remove with the stroke of a pen) until I'd gotten a better idea on what was going to happen. I remembered what it was I'm actually trying to write, and that gave me some pointers, so I think the plot will be moving forward at speed from now on again.
As always, there are characters I like, and some I like less. They have all surprised me, with backstories and motivations and personalities I didn't think up before I started writing. Where does this stuff come from, I wonder? The mousy little girl from the poor village turns out to be the smartest one in the group, whereas the sly, plotting courtier turns out to have a heart after all. Who knew?
So today is my last day before going on holiday (yes, somehow I always end up planning a vacation in November), which will not only involve frantic writing but mostly frantic finishing up of work things and frantic packing. Of course, I'll bring my laptop along for the trip, and I'll plan in an hour of writing time each day. Yesterday, I wrote exactly 1,000 words in less than 30 minutes, so with one hour each day I should be able to (finally!) comfortably pull away from par. If all goes according to plan, that is...
Saturday 5 November 2016
NaNo Days 2, 3, 4 & 5: In sickness and in health
Somehow, every November, somewhere near the beginning of it, I fall ill. It happened last year on days 5 & 6, and this year it came a little bit earlier. Again, it was the flu, but a somewhat heavier variety this year, which actually put me off writing for a whole day. Luckily, by then I was ahead of schedule. Today, the first day I'm actually feeling like sitting upright and thinking about word output again, I just had to write until 8,333 words to be on par again. I am now at 8,360, and the day has just begun. I'm hoping to get to 10,000 today, which gives me another nice buffer for the days to come.
To be honest, I'm not fully recovered yet, and it's taken me over 2 hours to get to the 1,300ish words I've written so far. I've done lots of Sporcle quizzes in between, which takes your mind off the word thing, and somehow recalibrates you for another stretch. Hopefully, by tomorrow I'll be fully up and running again. Despite the difficulty of writing, it is still pretty fun, and my characters are behaving as they should be. They are just rolling from my fingers a bit slower than I would like, but hey, you can't have it all.
Tuesday 1 November 2016
NaNo Day 1: A new genre
NaNoWriMo 2016 has started! Woo!
So last year, November 1st fell on a Sunday, giving me ample time to get a nice head start. Today, it's just a normal Tuesday, and I had to go to work like any other day, planning to start my novel some time around 6 in the afternoon. However, as the novelling gods would have it, there really was very little I could do today, and as I had been working overtime for most of October, I decided to go home early and get a nice start on my novel.
That worked out pretty nicely, with one hour of novel writing done (not counting the time making tea, answering work emails, and the like) I am now 2,327 words down. Yay! That means I've already completed the first day of writing, and am nicely on route with the second. Building up a buffer for the harder days to come has always been one of my favourite tactics.
In the end, I have decided to write in English, as this somehow felt more appropriate for the story. Apparently, it's easier to be funny in English than in Dutch. Not that I'm sure what I'm writing is actually 'funny' per se, I've put it down as fantasy (which it clearly is, even though the story doesn't really know it yet) and not 'humour' (which I'm attempting to put in, but I'm not the kind of person who laughs at her own jokes, so whether that is in any way successful will be for others to decide). In any case, writing in English is harder than I'd thought; I've looked up about a dozen words by now, some of which are so obvious I'd like to remove them from my search history without leaving a trace. But it is good practise, and I can feel myself getting faster and easier with the language as the writing goes on. By the end of November, I'll (hopefully) be a full-blown English novelist again.
Enough meta-writing for now, back to the actual novel!
ETA: I'm now at 4,808 and about finished for the day. Another successful first NaNo day!
So last year, November 1st fell on a Sunday, giving me ample time to get a nice head start. Today, it's just a normal Tuesday, and I had to go to work like any other day, planning to start my novel some time around 6 in the afternoon. However, as the novelling gods would have it, there really was very little I could do today, and as I had been working overtime for most of October, I decided to go home early and get a nice start on my novel.
That worked out pretty nicely, with one hour of novel writing done (not counting the time making tea, answering work emails, and the like) I am now 2,327 words down. Yay! That means I've already completed the first day of writing, and am nicely on route with the second. Building up a buffer for the harder days to come has always been one of my favourite tactics.
In the end, I have decided to write in English, as this somehow felt more appropriate for the story. Apparently, it's easier to be funny in English than in Dutch. Not that I'm sure what I'm writing is actually 'funny' per se, I've put it down as fantasy (which it clearly is, even though the story doesn't really know it yet) and not 'humour' (which I'm attempting to put in, but I'm not the kind of person who laughs at her own jokes, so whether that is in any way successful will be for others to decide). In any case, writing in English is harder than I'd thought; I've looked up about a dozen words by now, some of which are so obvious I'd like to remove them from my search history without leaving a trace. But it is good practise, and I can feel myself getting faster and easier with the language as the writing goes on. By the end of November, I'll (hopefully) be a full-blown English novelist again.
Enough meta-writing for now, back to the actual novel!
ETA: I'm now at 4,808 and about finished for the day. Another successful first NaNo day!
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