NaNoBlog 2002
30 days.
50,000 words.
No sweat.
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NaNoBlog 2002 |
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Wednesday, November 20, 2002
No, I haven't fallen off the earth or forgotten all my partners in frantic novel writing, now that I've "completed" my novel (and "completed" is hardly the right word because it needs months worth of revision!). It is rather anti-climactic to be done and not to have a daily word count goal to get me motivated every day! I'm still readjusting to a life in which my fingers aren't getting a constant workout. I did lose a couple of pounds while writing my novel--probably because I wasn't eating well when focused on writing, but maybe it was just in my fingers! ;-)
I think NaNoWriMo is one of the most liberating & empowering things I have done for myself, and am so glad I did it! I was already getting into a habit of regular writing (which helped), but I am sure if I hadn't done NaNo, I still wouldn't be much further along on my other writing projects, and wouldn't have any of this novel, either. Now I'm a whole novel ahead of where I would have been. I have proved to myself I can sit down and make myself write even when I don't feel like writing or don't think I have anything to say, and that I can make myself push forward instead of agonizing about getting it all out perfectly before I move on. I have also proved to myself that I can occasionally finish something I start! My NaNo novel is about the seventh novel I've started in the past 10-12 years, and the first one I've gotten past 7,000 words on. That feels good! But even though I meant to put it out of my head now & let it sit for a while before even reading it again, much less revising it, I can't get it out of my head yet. I still find myself thinking about it and what's wrong with it all the time, and last night I even sat up in bed & turned on the nightlight to jot some notes about things I need to flesh out, & even a snippet of actual text to add. Some of the problems I've noted are: * not enough happens--it's too much dialogue & not enough action * not enough is at stake--the character doesn't like her life as it is, so making it worse isn't a big enough threat to her * the main character isn't likable enough--she has no real interests, & I don't know why the other characters would like her or why the reader would care about her story * I have her trying to meet people from the Internet but never mention security concerns (which I meant to, but then overlooked) * I need to research hair dye & henna tattoos * I need to figure out what size town she lives in & where it is * having a character spout platitudes that help set the main character straight is pathetic * I need to research the musical The Music Man, which she supposedly performed in & I know next to nothing about...or else choose a different show * the character needs more development in terms of what she was like as a child--I want to show that although she had more friends in childhood than she does now, she was always a bit of a loner even before some difficult experiences made her withdraw more from other people Most of those are not easy fixes, so I expect the revision process to be much longer and more painful than the writing process, but I also don't plan to undertake a major revison until at least January, if not later! I have another whole novel I want to write now, and then a short children's chapter book I would like to write. The latter should only be about 20K, and seems like it will be pretty easy and fun, after writing 58K words! posted by Alison | 9:07 AM
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