November is the National Novel Writing Month - a wonderful little challenge where writers from around the globe participate in the hopes of creating something. The goal is to create a 50,000 word manuscript in a single month.
I decided to put my ordinary manuscript(s) aside for the month and take part. Unlike others (who outline before hand, develop their characters, and gather their research, and inspiring images, or perhaps the perfect playlist) I made the decision just two or three days before November the first. I've been writing pretty much everything as I go, "outlining" with only one or two sentences on the next scene (before I quit for the day). My profile can be seen HERE where you can read more about the novel I am working on and even read a sizable excerpt of my first draft.
I'm very far behind and though I doubt that I can "win" this year, I have certainly learned a thing or two about how I work best and how using different methods affect the way I write. I'm usually a nonlinear outliner (what does that mean?) I outline by scenes, not chapters, and skip around from beginning to middle to end. I then have the extra work of stringing everything together and making it have a decent flow. I have found in my (other) writings that it can be difficult to return to some of those necessary scenes and write them in. There is nothing exciting about it since I know everything that will happen in it. On the other hand, if I do not outline at all, I hit days where I must wrack my brain and figure out- what now? I think this works well for the (Neo) Noir piece
I am currently working on. It keeps the suspense moving. I'm finding it unbelievably easier to write from a single POV rather than a multi-POV.
It's Day 24 and I'm supposed to be at 40,000 words ... I'm nearly at 27,000 (which is 113 pages).
I think I'll finish my new project before returning to my trilogy. We'll see.
I decided to put my ordinary manuscript(s) aside for the month and take part. Unlike others (who outline before hand, develop their characters, and gather their research, and inspiring images, or perhaps the perfect playlist) I made the decision just two or three days before November the first. I've been writing pretty much everything as I go, "outlining" with only one or two sentences on the next scene (before I quit for the day). My profile can be seen HERE where you can read more about the novel I am working on and even read a sizable excerpt of my first draft.
I'm very far behind and though I doubt that I can "win" this year, I have certainly learned a thing or two about how I work best and how using different methods affect the way I write. I'm usually a nonlinear outliner (what does that mean?) I outline by scenes, not chapters, and skip around from beginning to middle to end. I then have the extra work of stringing everything together and making it have a decent flow. I have found in my (other) writings that it can be difficult to return to some of those necessary scenes and write them in. There is nothing exciting about it since I know everything that will happen in it. On the other hand, if I do not outline at all, I hit days where I must wrack my brain and figure out- what now? I think this works well for the (Neo) Noir pieceI am currently working on. It keeps the suspense moving. I'm finding it unbelievably easier to write from a single POV rather than a multi-POV.
It's Day 24 and I'm supposed to be at 40,000 words ... I'm nearly at 27,000 (which is 113 pages).
I think I'll finish my new project before returning to my trilogy. We'll see.
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