What I learned in NaNoWriMo this year

Last night, I verified my word count on the NaNoWriMo website, meaning that now I have to type and edit this incoherent mess into something more coherent and less messy than before.
That being said, here are the things I learned this month.

First, I learned that spending time in the world before writing the novel is very important, especially when writing fantasy. I spent months planning and plotting and scribbling about the longest novel I've actually finished, and that was before November even started. On the other hand, I only spent a little time outlining a plot, doing one or two character sketches, and outlining a little bit in the magic of the world.
What's the difference between the two?
In the first instance, I spent so much time just thinking about the work - whether there are dragons and faeries, a little bit about what happened before the novel started, what sort of climate the world was in, even something along the lines of "what would this character's favorite pop song be in this world" - that, once November started, I already had a concept of my parameters. If I needed a plot twist, then I knew where to draw the plot twist from. Sure, some things might be inconsistent, but there was something to draw from.
In this instance, with only vague outlines of the existence of some beings, there was not a lot to draw from when I hit writer's block. Sure, shifting perspectives sometimes helped, but I didn't establish the history of the world to spend time building up some events and plot twists. If you make room for historical references, there are more things you can do with it.

Second, I learned that progress is progress, no matter how awful. Even though there are a lot of inconsistencies in this novel, there are a lot of okay elements, too. I had a journalism professor who often said, "write a beast, and then you can groom it." What she meant was what Chris Baty always says: turn off your inner editor and let yourself be awful the first time around. Rough drafts are rough for a reason. Now I have things to work with.

Third, I learned that thinking about writing does not boost your word count. Announcing to your boyfriend, your roommate, and your friend who wants to hang out that you can't spend time with them because you need to write.... does not mean you will actually write. (It makes you a little bit of a terrible person if you don't write, though. You should definitely write.)

Fourth, I learned that word sprints are your friend. Setting a timer for 20-25 minutes absolves you from looking at your phone during the designated time frame, and can help focus on things that involve novels and word counts and NOT looking at your phone and trying to find plot twist generators. If something is truly urgent, someone will call you, and if you don't focus on your novel, then the generators won't help at all.

Fifth, I learned that getting ahead doesn't mean you will stay ahead, and that getting behind doesn't mean you will stay behind. That's pretty self-explanatory.

And, finally, I leave you with a J.K. Rowling quote (found on goodreads) that pretty well sums up the difficulty I had in this NaNoWriMo season, because I did not do what she advised:

"Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e., do not cave in to endless requests to have "essential" and "long overdue" meetings on those days. The funny thing is that, although writing has been my actual job for several years now, I still seem to have to fight for time in which to do it. Some people do not seem to grasp that I still have to sit down in peace and write the books, apparently believing that they pop up like mushrooms without my connivance. I must therefore guard the time allotted to writing as a Hungarian Horntail guards its firstborn egg."

I'm back... with words...

I know I haven't posted in approximately forever, but here we go - I'm finally posting something! YAY!
As we go into NaNoWriMo season, I have to think about words a lot. This post is about why I don't like the word "cute" being used super often - in certain contexts, I understand that something definitely is cute. Babies are cute. Kittens and dogs and fluffy animals are cute. But overuse? That's a completely different manner.
There are a few reasons for this. The simplest is that I don't like "cutesy" things (except for kittens and puppies), and using the word too often out of that context is kind of irritating. When I was 17, I got the chance to go to Switzerland with my Girl Scout troop. Nearly everyone there used the word "cute" at least three times a day (or so it seemed). Couldn't they think of another adjective? Is something "adorable," or "picturesque," or "super sweet," or ANYTHING? WHAT KIND OF CUTE DO YOU MEAN? Sometimes they didn't mean "cute" at all, but it was a go-to adjective to describe anything that the individual user liked - my mom was particularly fond of this usage of the word. (I've been guilty of using go-to adjectives as well; mine have often been "awesome" or "cool.") When my mom and I went with my friend and her mom to Italy after the program was over, I made a deal with my mom - every time she would say "cute," she would pay half a euro.
This frustration with the usage goes a little bit farther back than just that trip, though, and a little bit more than just being my mom's go-to adjective. Earlier that same summer, I went to a two-week Shakespeare camp with an abridged performance at the end. There were three groups of kids: the really young kids were maybe 9-11 years old; the middle schoolers were maybe 12-14, and the high school kids (my group) were 15-18. Each group had different "classes" during the day - acting, movement, stage combat, and text analysis, as well as a two-hour rehearsal at the end of the day. The final performance varied depending on the age bracket - the little kids did short scenes and monologues, the middle schoolers did a history play, the high school kids did a tragedy. During our session, the show was Romeo and Juliet.
This being a summer camp, people rarely played the same role for more than a scene or two. Every girl played Juliet, and most played the Nurse and Lady Capulet as well; every guy played Romeo, as well as a few girls. There were sometimes cross-gender castings; I played Tybalt and killed Mercutio (and then died).
That particular scene was my favorite. It's one of the only times I've truly felt "in character," which is difficult psychologically to explain if you've never done it. When Tybalt gets stabbed, Wild Card's brain knows that M is a nice guy. Wild Card knows that this is exactly how the scene is supposed to go. But for a minute, all that was in Wild Card's brain was Tybalt thinking, "YOU ASSHOLE YOU JUST STABBED ME!!!!"
When Tybalt gets stabbed, there's a moment of tense silence; all the cheers die out. That was the moment I thought Romeo was an ass. Then I was ready to smite Romeo - one flesh wound can't kill me! (It did.)
At the end of the performance, one of the directors whispered, "you're such a badass." It was gratifying to think that someone else - especially a director - thought I had actually fought well. When I asked my parents what they thought of the performance, my mom said, "It was cute."
No. The 9-year-olds overacting Shakespeare is cute. Puppies are cute. Kittens are cute.
One of your child's directors thinks she's a badass. The other director thinks your child should apply for Yale's theater department. Your child just got stabbed in one of the best fights they've done to date and you think it's cute?
Again, it was my mom's go-to adjective. She wanted to confer positive sentiment, which I appreciate. It was also a time when I wanted to be anything but cute - I had just gotten a second-degree black belt. I didn't want to be cute.

Writing and Music

I've definitely posted on this before - how writing, especially instrumental playlists, can help write a scene and set a mood. Movie soundtracks are especially good for this kind of thing, because movie soundtracks are scored with the purpose of invoking a certain mood.

In light of that, this post is all about the actual music - what I, personally, listen to when I write for a particular kind of scene. I'm titling each kind of scene by its TV tropes name, with a link to the TV tropes description if you're not familiar with that kind of trope. I'll put the top five songs I like (and maybe a few more if there's a lot of ways to write it).

Keep in mind that I primarily write fantasy adventure with romantic subplots. I listen to music that doubles onto a playlist I listen to when running.

HERE WE GO!

Beginnings:

It Began With A Twist of Fate

1. Concerning Hobbits by Howard Shore, from Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring

2. Toy Soldiers by Carbon Leaf

3. Geronimo by Sheppard

4. The World is Ahead by Howard Shore, from The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey

5. Paloma by Carbon Leaf

Hero's First Rescue

1. Roundtable Rival by Lindsey Stirling

2. Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

3. Ragtime Carnival by Carbon Leaf

4. Bloody Good Bar Fight Song by Carbon Leaf

5. Battlefield by Jordin Sparks

Relationship moments:

Big Damn Kiss/ Dance of Romance

1. I'll Be by Edwin McCain

2. Faithfully by Journey

3. Flying Without Wings by Westlife

4. Story of my Life by One Direction, covered by The Piano Guys

5. River Flows in You by Yiruma

BONUS:

6. Glitter in the Air by P!nk

7. Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley

8. Thunder Road (live version) by Bruce Springsteen

9. I Know the Reason by Carbon Leaf

10. Just A Dream/ Just the Way You Are from Pitch Perfect

Climax:

Final Battle/ Last Dance

1. Someone Like You (or Rolling in the Deep) by Adele

2. The Steward of Gondor, sung by Billy Boyd, from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

3. It's My Life by Bon Jovi, from This Left Feels Right Album

4. Viva La Vida by Coldplay

5. Fight Song by Rachel Patten

BONUS:

6. Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: the Phantom Menace

7. Anything from the Pirates of the Caribbean series

8. Quite a bit from Lord of the Rings
9. In Remembrance (particularly for Last Dance trope) - link here

Ending:

And The Adventure Continues

1. Out of the Woods by Taylor Swift

2. Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root

3. Dreamer by Elizaveta

4. Here I Go Again by Whitesnake

5. Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

The Fellowship Has Ended (and the Fast Forward to the Reunion)

1. Long Live by Taylor Swift

2. Goodbye Song by Elizaveta

3. One Day by Hans Zimmer, from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

4. The Boys of Summer by The Hooters

5. Sympathy by the Goo Goo Dolls

6. Red by Taylor Swift

Top Ten Favorite Places To Write

So, being a writer, that means I write a lot. Obviously. That also means I've done some writing in some interesting places. (or, rather, not-interesting places. I'm sometimes not an interesting person.)

Here's a foray into the Top Ten Places I Like To Write:

1. At my desk.

because nothing says "productive" like spending an hour trying to clear off a messy space, only to write in it for 30 minutes. Maybe there's a reason my desk is messy. I don't know. But seriously, though, desks are made for productivity, so it's good to use them as such.

2. At A Coffee Shop.

I know this is the Biggest Writer Trope Ever, but that's because, in coffee shops, there's Wi-Fi, caffeine, and plenty of people to make up stories about. Just don't forget your headphones, in case you need/ want to ward off inquisitive souls or provide your own soundtrack. (it can be difficult to write a gruesome death scene to the sounds of coffee shop music.)

3. On A Train.

Given that train rides tend to be an hour or more, it's a good time to do a lot of things - think, write, not talk to the person next to you if it's crowded. If you're on a long ride at a weird time (my preferred train is at around 7:30 AM), that means you can spread out all your notes.

4. On A Plane

I don't do this one often, because I haven't found myself on a plane in over a year, but as long as you have a small notebook or laptop and seat partner that doesn't get easily flustered, this is a good way to while away the time and distract yourself from the cramped seats.

5. Long Car Rides

I don't often get motion sickness, so this is feasible for me. If you DO get motion sickness, then sleep for the duration of the ride and then write about your dreams when you wake up.

6. In The Library

Since I'm in college, the local library on campus is research-oriented. When I'm in the Stacks (aka the quiet floor) and I get a desk by the window, that allows an afternoon of writing AND the chance to do research if I need to.

7. On My Bed.

It's comfortable. That is all.

8. On The Couch.

See #7.

9. While waiting for trains/ planes/ public transportation.

You have time to sit. Just make sure that you have a quick place to stash your writing materials when your mode of transportation arrives.

10. On The Metro/ Subway/ Public Transportation.

This is another time for the Headphone Defense. I usually hand-write my first drafts, so it's easy to do this one, but those who work exclusively on laptops might not be so lucky. All of us are out of luck if traveling during rush hour and can't find a seat. In that case, I'm sorry.

On Myers-Briggs in Writing

So, according to a random online quiz I took in 10 minutes, my Myers-Briggs personality type is INFJ - Introvert, INtuitive, Feeling, Judging. If this random website is to be believed, I like my own circle of friends (fairly true), like big-picture concepts more than hard details (sometimes true), emphasize emotions rather than facts when making decisions (50-50), and I like control by planning everything WEEKS IN ADVANCE (This is obviously inaccurate, because I'm writing on a Myers-Briggs quiz I took 15 minutes ago and NOT the topic I had written in my planner three weeks ago.)

Obviously, not everyone is 100% Myers-Briggs 100% of the time. One time I saw a quiz that showed your type by percentage - 52% introvert, for example, based on your responses. If you just call yourself your Myers-Briggs all the time, it's too easy to call in extremes. I'm not ALL SOCIAL JUSTICE ALL THE TIME. I'm in a service fraternity and sometimes I volunteer over the summer. Is that more than most people? Maybe, but maybe not - I don't know your life. If you do, good for you. If you don't, get on that.

When writing characters, I think it's important to have a guideline type: a character who tends toward a certain combination, but maybe is only truly an extrovert by 2% response rate. Knowing this could allow you, the writer, to know how the characters could react to things - and where it's easy for them to swing the opposite way. If one character is 88% an introvert, this character is not going to make the first move on someone attractive without a friend there; if they're only 52%, then other factors could play into whether they speak to someone or not.
And where does the plot go from there?

On An Exegesis

I spent two and a half hours in the library today, doing preliminary source-searching and getting a bit of information for a paper/ presentation. I'm doing research for an exegesis - an in-depth analytical study of a certain passage (in this case, the Greek version of the death of Judas from the book of Matthew in the New Testament).

Also, it's not due for three weeks.

Usually I'm not so excited about paper topics. I will freely admit that I have started writing papers within 24 hours of the due date. Not every paper, but... some.

The abnormal thing about this is that I very rarely begin the researching process three weeks before the deadline. 10 days is usual for me, if it's a research-heavy topic. Three weeks is pushing the limit of what I consider a 'normal paper-writing time frame.'

So what's different about this paper?

LET'S MAKE A LIST!

1. Exegesis-writing is not to be messed with. I've never written an exegesis. My professor handed around a "general outline of basic exegesis-writing goals" in class. The outline had four sections, each with a few bullet points of Things You Should Say About This Section. The outline, with bullet points, easily fit on one side of the page. In my notes for the outline, I gave each section a full page in my notebook, for five pages total. I might need more pages for notes from my sources.
2. The page count is nerve-wracking. When the "exegesis-writing outline" was handed out, the professor didn't specify any minimum or maximum page count. He was very vague when other people asked about the page count; eventually, he said that if you write fewer than five pages, you're not giving the topic enough depth. This should not be a problem, especially if I'm doing two weeks of research and one week of writing. Given that I only got three books with a few pages of information among them, hitting the minimum page count may be worrying.
3. I've never written a paper on a language topic before. I'm surprised I made it this far, because many of my peers in modern languages have had to do papers in and on the language. I've done a few essays about Greek works, including how Xenophon's Anabasis fits into the historiographic tradition. I've never done a paper where I've had to take a close look at seven verses and concluded something about them.
4. 5 pages of analysis on 10 lines of prose is intimidating. Usually, I don't have to do a paper on so short a passage. HOWEVER, a good exegesis is comprised of a lot of research into linguistics, history, and culture of the time in which the passage was written. When was Matthew writing? Why did he include Judas's suicide? Why is he the only one who talks about Judas dying, except for Acts, which says he keeled over from internal disease? These are the things that I need to talk about.

On Editing

Editing novels is difficult. It's necessary, but it's difficult. In the last week of working on editing my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel, I have learned that there are a few major ways of self-editing.

PART ONE
The first kind is basic copyediting - did I accidentally put a space between a word and its quote? Did I accidentally write "too" instead of "to"? This happens sometimes in any academic paper; it's just harder to catch when the document is over 200 pages long.
I'm not sure if this counts as copyediting, but I also rejoin contractions in this stage. When I was writing the novel initially, I was thinking more about word count than quality, so I didn't contract words - I said "do not" instead of "don't" and "did not" instead of "didn't," for example. This is no longer necessary and often sounds very forced, so I'm embracing the apostrophe once more.


PART TWO
The next major kind of editing is phrasing. Does this phrase sound awkward? Would this character actually say this thing? Has this person already said this thing on this page? If so, is the repetition necessary, or can I say "I averted my eyes and bit my lip" instead of "I was unsure about this plan?" Would that person do that if they were unsure? It's also a bit concerned with "would this character really say that, or would their scene partner be more likely to say that?"


PART THREE
The last major editing technique is the most important and the most difficult. This is characterization editing. I haven't gotten here much yet; right now, I'm trying to just get the novel to not sound terrible. Once that happens, I can focus more on the character traits. That's not to say that I HAVEN'T been focusing on the character traits; as I mentioned in the last heading, characterization is always in some part of my mind. Characterization editing is less involved with "would this character say this thing?" It's more involved with "What sort of voice does this character have that would cause them to use this phrase? Would they really be unsure about this action? So-and-so says that this character does thus-and-so a thing; does so-and-so have a cause to say that? Should I make sure they have a cause to say that, or should I cut that line for them?"

NaNoWriMo Day 30: On Winning And Thanks

Current Day: 30
Current Page: 166
Winning Page: 166
Final Line: "Eva and Galen lived reasonably ever after."

I feel like that's a bit of a cliche ending. It could very well be too cliche of an ending. I don't really know. Right now, I'm just happy I won. I've validated, and I've written a story that concluded within a 30-day time frame. (By that, I mean that I finished it in 30 days. The last novel I finished took over a year, and that's partly because half of it was in my friend's trunk for six months). I'm excited, but I'm also terrified.
Why?
Now I have to type the whole thing up.
And then I have to edit.

NaNoWriMo Day 29: Apologies and Nearing The End

Current Day: 29
Current Page: 154
Target Page: 160-1
Pages Until 50,000: 10-13 (Depending on how much I fudge my averages)
Place in Story: Goal has been achieved. After persuading, cajoling, bribing, pleading, stealing, and getting really mad at princesses; after Eva kicking Jasper in the ribs on purpose in an act that may or may not wind up being the real climax of the novel; after three days and three nights of Eva not sleeping and Ekito the Fairy staying up with Eva to make sure she finished the unicursal hexagram, the work is finally done.
My work isn't done, however. I still have around 3,000 words left to write. The trouble is, I don't know if I have 3,000 words left of story. I'll be able to wiggle a little with the word count averages (um... of COURSE I've been writing at an average of 305 words per page, not 300... that was just a miscalculation... obviously...), but that still gets me to the 3,000 remaining words instead of 4,200.
I've achieved several of the goals I set for the month, however (or I will by tomorrow, anyway). Firstly, I will probably write "THE END" before midnight tomorrow. I have surpassed last year's word count, and possibly the year before's as well. I'm pretty sure the story is concise, and it just needs to be edited for themes and consistency. (That's a whole different matter, though.)

I apologize for not posting at all this week - it was partly because I have been busy with school, but I've also been busy writing a lot. I had a twelve-page Tuesday this week (10k is not very achievable when writing by hand), and another 3,000 word day this week as well. My word count, in other words, has been climbing a lot thanks to Thanksgiving break. I'm very thankful I have such a good home to come back to and for the ability to create so much.
I'll post again tomorrow, hopefully, for the FINAL COUNTDOWN.

NaNoWriMo Day 22: Relying A Lot on Thanksgiving Break

Current Day: 21
Current Page: 111
Target Page: 116
Page I Should Be On: 120
Place in Story: Still Looking for gemstones. Nothing new here.


I'm moving way more slowly than I should be, but that's college. I have to wake up early to work on homework tomorrow, which sucks, but I need to do work.
That's all for tonight.

NaNoWriMo Day 21: Winds of the End

Current Day: 21
Current Page: 109
Target Page: 114
Likelihood of Hitting That Page: 1/3
Place in Storyline: Three weeks since Eva entered the palace.  Three weeks until Winter Solstice/ New Year/ That Time When Eva And Jasper Must Be In The Same House And Not Try To Kill Each Other.  Four of the gems have been obtained, out of six that are needed.  I know Jasper's got one of them, and I just need to figure out how to get the other one without underdoing my word count.
HUZZAH!

NaNoWriMo Day 20: Pushing On, Because Why Not?

Current Day: 20
Current Page: about to start 104
Target Page: at least 107, but hopefully 108-9
Likelihood of hitting that: 37:82.
Place in Story: 3 gems achieved, 4th in the process, 2 left to go.
This is starting to feel like a higher fantasy novel than I intended, but I like it.
My word count isn't what it needs to be - it's about 2,000 words behind - but I'm going to target 6-10 pages a day. I'm near the end of the Week of Terribleness, and I've got a strategy to work out my last two things. (Today: major things on Bible essay. Tomorrow: major things on Shakespeare proposal. Saturday: edit proposal. Sunday: edit Bible. DONE.)
Next week, I'm going to mostly focus on Really Big Targets. I have an entire list worked out:
Surviving The Weekend Sunday (write at least 1000 words)
More Words than Yesterday Monday (write 2000 words)
10k Tuesday (target 10,000 words or get carpal tunnel in the attempt)
Write A Lot Wednesday (target 2000-3000 words)
3k Thursday (target 3000 words, even though that might not happen)
5k Friday (because this is really the only day I'm going to write over break, so I'd better make it a good one)
6k Saturday (to compensate for the lack of writing over break)
Schooltime Sunday (in which I write a lot and validate)

I HOPE THIS WORKS.

NaNoWriMo Day 19: On Revising Goals

Current Day: 19
Current Page: 100
Target Page: 104
Likelihood of Hitting That Number: 22/85
Place In Story: MORE RETRIEVAL OF GEMSTONES!  Also, fancy-dress shopping.  I'm not quite sure why Eva has consented to buying herself a fancy dress to impress a man.  She stopped growing a few years prior and has barely bought new clothing since then.  She's the sort of person who doesn't see the point in dresses, and walked out of three stores because she doesn't want to pay that much for a dress.

In reality, the situation is mostly that Eva's not really comfortable in dresses. It's not a bodily discomfort problem. Eva doesn't have a problem with discomfort; the only discomfort she feels is when other people are obviously uncomfortable with her body. Eva's main problem is that she doesn't see the point in dresses. As someone who lives in trousers on a daily basis and never goes to fancy parties (and she wears trousers when she does because it's normally cold out), Eva just doesn't need to buy fancy dresses. Also, she travels a lot. Though a fancy dress could come in handy in the off-chance you need to be acceptably dressed in front of a king, a fancy outfit is not necessarily part of the Average Adventurer's Checklist. Since "Make A Good Impression on a King" isn't on Eva's regular to-do list, she doesn't exactly carry around fancy clothing all the time.
This shopping trip should be interesting.

Right now, the title of "REVISING GOALS" comes at the time in the month when I'm getting really discouraged. I've barely written today, and I've got a long way to go if I want to catch up to the word count. I don't know if I'm going to make it to 50,000 words, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. I might revise my standards of success.
I'm currently at 30,000 or so words, and I've decided that if I get past 33,550 words - the word count I stopped at last year - then I will consider this year a Not Failure. (A "Not Failure" can also be "Not Necessarily Success," which it very well might be, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.)
Right now, I could run into the Not Failure becoming the Success.
Before I work myself into a loop, I'm going to go change and write and go to bed.

NaNoWriMo Day 18: Lagging, exhaustion, and discipline

Current Page: end of 95/ top of 96
Target Page: 100-101
Pages left: 4-5
Pages written: 3
Place in Story: retrieved the emerald from a princess who thought she deserved to have it because she spent six weeks NOT LIVING IN ABSOLUTE LUXURY (OMG THE HORROR!).  Now, Galen and Eva have split up (because Galen deserves more words).  I think he's going to another vain princess and she's going to one who died the year prior from venereal disease.

This morning, I woke up early to write.  I didn't write.  I am now very tired, sleep deprived, and running behind on writing and homework, and possibly coming down with something.
I know I need to push myself in order to get everything done on time; it's going to be a long road to Thanksgiving.  I'm looking forward to the break, but I'm also looking forward to the chance to write a lot and not get distracted by silly things like homework.  (That's not true.  Do your homework, kids!).  EVERYONE wants to assign things this week, though - I have a paper proposal due over the weekend, a paper due next Monday, and a test and a presentation in two different classes this past Monday.  Right now, I need sleep.  I can't get it until Friday night, though.  Probably not even then.
I know it's important to eat and sleep and go to the gym, but it's a difficult cycle to break, when you're exhausted and don't want to work, though you HAVE to work late into the night because you took so long to start the work in the first place.  I'm not trying to make excuses for the lousy work I've put forth so far with my writing.
On that note, TO WORK!

NaNoWriMo Day 17: On Vain Princesses and Sex

Day: 17
Current Page: 91
Target Page: 95
Place in Story: Eva is going to break into the palace/ mansion/ super nice house of one of the people who stole a gemstone from Galen, with the help of the princess's younger brother.
Favorite Quote from the Last 24 Hours: "She promised Judas a drink and hot sex the night after the break-in, with the intent to leave gold with the bartender for Judas to buy two rounds and hire a high-class hooker for one night."
I NEVER SAID EVA WAS THE ONE WHO WOULD HAVE SEX WITH HIM.  She wouldn't do that sort of thing.  She's not into drunk fifteen-year-olds.  (In other news, Judas probably has a problematic background that we don't now about yet.  I might have to write one up for him once NaNoWriMo is over.  Why else would a fifteen-year-old drink so much?)

NaNoWriMo Day 16: On Apathy, Sleep Deprivation, and too much homework

Current Day: 16
Current Page: 86
Target Page: 92
Pages Written Today: 0
Place in story: getting people drunk to steal things. Yep.

I've finally figured out why my word count has started tanking halfway through NaNoWriMo.  This is a trend that started when I was in college, and it's because every professor wants us to do homework, take tests, turn in papers, write essays, and do projects before Thanksgiving.  (Why not after Thanksgiving?  You want us to take a break and then study a LOT MORE?  What's the point of seeing family if we're panicked about finals?).
Anyway, I know that I'm not getting much writing done today - I have a book report and a test tomorrow, and I procrastinated a lot this morning.  I really need to get my life in order, but this is Hell Week Part One, so it's not going to be easy.  Like, I should have started finishing my book 45 minutes ago, so I'm probably going to get a sandwich and eat in my room as I desperately try and read 100 pages.

NaNoWriMo Day 15: Livin' on a Prayer (cuz we're halfway there and we'll make it I swear)

Current Day: 15
Current Page: 85
Target Page: 85-7
Location in Story: first gem retrieved. Second gem in the works. How? By persuading the drunken younger brother of a super vain princess to steal an emerald from his sister. I'm a little disappointed that Eva's established pickpocketing skills aren't going to come into play here, because Judas is the one who will actually do the stealing (yes, his name is Judas... don't judge me), but I might have her tag along and actually do the stealing. Drunk Judas is talking Judas, and talking Judas might wake sleeping sister who likes beauty sleep.



CAUTION: SLIGHT SWEARING AT THE END OF THIS POST. (I don't know if there are any actual readers who want a caution on that sort of thing, but it's worth it)



Now that we're halfway through November, the end is in sight. There are a finite number of days between now and the end of the month, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because I'm over halfway to making a habit of writing more (what is it, three weeks to create a new habit?), but it's also less of a buffer zone - if my word count suddenly tanks, I have less time to make it up. That being said, I took the opportunity to look back over some of my old stats. Though my word count is nowhere near as good as it could be, and it's nowhere near where it was in 2011, it's definitely better than it was in 2013. Currently, my word count is approximately 25,200 words (or it will be by the end of page 85, since I'm not done with page 85 yet). The Wild Card Overachiever target would be 30k-31.5k words, but the NaNo Official Word Count is 25k; as long as I stay above that number, all will be okay. I hope.
The danger, of course, is that I reach the end but not the word count of 50k. If that happens, I'm going to count that as a win. I don't know if my word count is actually 300 words per page; though many of my pages have over 300 words on them, about 1/4 of them have less than a full page written (my chapters are about 4 pages each). My handwriting has gotten smaller than when I did the test page, but I'm also writing a lot of dialogue that might get edited out later, but there might be more than 300 words per page.

In the end, it's not about how much I write, but whether I write. I think that's true for a lot of people. There are a lot of quotes on Pinterest about WRITE BETTER, NOT MORE, and also DON'T STOP WRITING, but I would like to say to those people: GET IN THE HABIT OF WRITING AND MAKE IT SOUND PRETTY LATER.

I'm going to use a makeup metaphor. (I never thought I would say those words, but here we go).
Makeup is an attempt to make people look prettier. Sometimes it enhances a pretty feature. Sometimes it just makes that one zit less prominent. There is one thing that every makeup wearer has in common, though: THEY ALL HAVE A FACE (unless you are a faceless makeup wearer, in which case I apologize). Some have blue eyes and some have brown eyes and some people are Southeast Asian and some people are from Iceland and some people are some interesting mix of their Cherokee mother's cheekbones and their Turkish father's eyes. Not every face is the same, but everyone has a face on which to put makeup (again, my apologies to the faceless makeup gurus).
Similarly, there is one thing that every first draft has in common: words. Like makeup on a face, you can't pretty up the pretty stuff if there's no pretty stuff to begin with; you can't take out the shitty stuff if there's no shit in the first place. Blank pages are the things that go in the back of books whose page numbers aren't in a multiple of 8 or 12. Blank pages only go within the the novel if there is an artistic choice or a printing error.

I don't know where I'm going with this, so I'm just going to write about a drunk prince and then go to bed.

NaNoWriMo Day 14: where writing gets interrupted by boyfriends

Current Day: 14
Current Page: 75
Target Page: 80
Pages Written Today: 1
Pages Left to Go: at least 5
Place in Story: the first gem has been obtained. Now for all the rest.

I haven't had time to write much today because my boyfriend came to visit me and the rest of our friends, so that was... distracting.  Here's to trying to write more on Saturday!

NaNoWriMo Day 13: When Early Mornings Turn Out To Be Beneficial (also, princesses)

Current Day: 13
Current Page: 72
Target Page: 73-5
Place in Story: so there are these gemstones, right?  Ekito the Priestess gave them to Galen when she gave him the materials to built the unicursal hexagram; she was sort of saying, "everything is here, now good luck finding someone to put it all together without magic!"  Galen captured princesses in an attempt to make them build the thing; when they left, they each took one of the gems with them.  Now Eva and Galen are on their way to track down the princesses and persuade/ cajole/ threaten/ steal from the princesses in order to get the gems back.

I was up really early this morning to work at a candlelight vigil for my fraternity; since nobody is doing much at 7:30 AM on a college campus, I was able to get a lot of writing done; aside from getting down a few pages, I was able to name and motivate each of the princesses.  I'm not putting those here, because now isn't the time for that, but I'm glad with the level of diversity there is.  Some are vain, some just did it for shits and giggles.  Anyway, I need to read a book for Greek so I can do a fiction report on Monday.  That's been taking up most of my time today.

NaNoWriMo Day 12: Suddenly, a PLOT DEVIATION OCCURS!

Current Day: 12
Current Page: 64
Target Page: 70
Place in Story: Eva and Galen have gotten the center stone in place.  That's the most important stone to have in place.  The other stones that are supposed to make up the six corners of the icon are missing, probably stolen by Abducted Princesses of Days Gone By.  In the meantime, Eva found a weird box in a scene I might cut later.  (I NEED WORDS, OKAY).
So the plot deviation comes in the fact that the princesses stole the gems: I wasn't planning on that.  I want to keep it, because it gives Eva and Galen something to do that doesn't involve sitting and talking as Eva does some sort of mechanical labor.  I was running out of Character Building Conversations for them to have.  Also, I should have thought this through better when I decided to WRITE AN ENTIRE NOVEL WHERE THE MAIN ACTION WAS JUST TO BUILD A THING.  Seriously, that was kind of dumb.  There are only so many interrupting actions that can happen in the middle of building things, and I went with the one that I would think is most interesting (it's also the most convenient and the one that popped into my head first): that the valuable objects that are essential to the project got stolen by someone who isn't involved in any other way.   Of course, that means I have to figure out what their names are and when they stole the thing and which one they stole and why and how and where they are in the first place and who they ended up marrying.
You know, this might not be the most convenient answer to the NEED MORE WORDS problem.  Well, too late.  This is NaNoWriMo, and that means WORK WITH WHAT YOU WROTE.
Now, TO LAUNDRY AND WRITING!