NaNoWriMo 2019 - sickness and success

I decided to have a go at NaNoWriMo this year to work on Tilda 3, and get the first draft up on computer. Previously, I've done NaNoEdMo for myself, which meant that I had a manuscript fairly well developed already, and I worked on editing throughout the month instead of fresh work. This is the first time I've used a NaNo initiative to create relatively new material.

I'm just over half way through, and here's where I'm at:

• written for 15/17 days
• just over 22K words down to meet a target of 50K
• predicted to finish on Dec 8th

It doesn't sound bad, especially when you consider that the two days I've not written were a combination of sickness (lovely little coldy-coughy bug in the run up to Christmas) and family events (had both the Squidgelings at home with a short overlap - first time we've all been together since September, and family's sometimes more important than any goals we might set for ourselves.)

What's a little worrying at this stage is that I'm almost at the end of the story, and there simply aren't the words to make it a decent length. BUT when I looked at what I've written, I realised that I'm not actually 'writing' the scenes. They're more like notes on what's going to be happening, they're not fleshed out in any way, shape, or form. So I'm hopeful that if I hit the end of the story before the end of November, I'll be able to go back and really work on the individual scenes.

I've never been a particularly disciplined writer, but this particular NaNoWriMo has highlighted to me that I don't work well in trying to be creative under pressure. I think I need to take more time at this stage, and use the discipline of NaNoWriMo to focus on the editing. That said, I'll carry on this month, without feeling guilty about having missed the odd few days or ending up with a completely finished script at the end of it. 

Interestingly, when I did CampNaNo in June, we were able to set our own word count target, and as I'd turned mine into a 'words edited' target, perhaps I had unrealistic expectations as to what it meant to write 50K new words...I mean, Kingstone took 74 days to get the story notes down, and another 60+ to get to the point of a 46K first draft!

Do I think I'm being successful so far this NaNo? Well I've written more days than not, and my word count keeps increasing, so yes. It will be interesting to see where I'm at by the end of the month...I'll keep you posted. But right now, I'm off to get the 2,000 words down NaNoWriMo tells me I need to get back on track!

Camp update No 3

Camp update:

7/4/19 - 3256
8/4/19 - 2754
9/4/19 - 1167
10/4/19 - 0 (Zero. Nada. Nowt)
11/4/19 - 6456

Total words edited to date: 29,931

Yesterday was a busy day, church wise. I DID write, but at NIBS, not on the novel. So it wasn't a word-free day, just a non-novel day.

Today was a good writing day, as plans changed and I didn't get to do what I'd intended to this afternoon (the not so good bit) so I edited instead. I was also working on dialogue, and I can whizz through more of that in a session because there's usually less editing required here than on descriptions or action sections. (I think I must have a knack for dialogue - it comes easily in the first instance. It's all the rest of it that slows me down!)

I'm also very aware that I am getting close to the place I got stuck on for so long (until I wrote something really simple and passed over it for more exciting bits!) I'm fully expecting my pace to slow down noticeably then, as I'll be editing much rawer material.

Probably a good job I've already had a good day today, eh?

Camp NaNoEdMo update 2

So the 'update every day on the blog' thing isn't working... it's working out as every few days instead. But I'm still glad to be doing camp NaNoEdMo, because I've discovered that even an hour a day is enough to get anywhere between 1100 and 2500 words edited.

And it's not proving so hard to find an hour. Today I've done the hour early in the day, because we're cooking dinner for friends tonight and I need to get a lot of tidying and cleaning done before I even start going near the kitchen! More usually, I'm editing in the evening, when everyone else at home is doing their own thing.

Maybe being an almost-disciplined writer isn't completely beyond me...

Here's the update so far:
4/4/19 - 2483
5/4/19 - 1157
6/4/19 - 1902
Grand total edited so far: 16296 words.

My aim is for 45K words by the end of the month. I'm on track. Happy Squidge.

Camp update 1

I forgot to update yesterday... I had a cold and was feeling a bit rubbish, then a quarter of one of my teeth broke off. So I was not in a happy, blogging place.

Instead, I'm giving you a double update today:

2/4/19 - 1365
3/4/19 - 1533

which takes me to a grand total of 10,754 words edited.

Mind you, it's taken me this long - and the assistance of my cabin buddies on camp - to work out exactly where to update my stats on Camp NaNoWriMo. At one point I was minus 9K words!!

Onwards and upwards...

Camp NaNoEdMo and Project Black Ruby

I mentioned the other day that I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo as Camp NaNoEdMo this month.

I'd already started working on the edit over the weekend, and I figured that I'd include those figures in the camp totals, as I'm aiming to have completed the edit of Project Black Ruby by the end of April.

So on the first day of camp, I have posted 7856 words edited. I was honest - said that that's three days' worth - and I am planning to edit something every day until I'm done, even if that goes beyond the end of the month.

In fact, I think I'll post my stats on here every day too, to prove to anyone outside of my camp cabin that I'm making progress. It's not something I've done before, but it might help to keep me motivated. Especially if you all keep encouraging me!

So, for Project Black Ruby so far:
30/3/19 - 4924
31/3/19 - 1697
1/4/19 - 1253
Total: 7856 words edited.

The End

Well, I hoped to get my first computer draft done, and it is. Still pretty rubbish in places - including where I skipped over a boring part and wrote 'She has to get to the mine again' to give me an excuse to write the more interesting action!

Now it's time to edit.

I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo with some friends over April, but using it as Camp NaNoEdMo, because that worked well for me before.

Apparently, if I'm aiming for 45,000 words of editing, I should be editing 1500 words a day.

I got a head start, and have done around 5,000 today, a day before we're supposed to officially start, but I might not be able to do every day in April. Depends what life throws at me.

But I'm back writing. And it feels great.

St Crispin's

Last Thursday, I spent a brilliantly creative morning with Years 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 at St. Crispin's in Leicester.

Now, I've done author visits and creative writing sessions for younger pupils, (Like when I went to St. Michael's or ran a storytelling day at a local primary school) but this was my first foray into KS3... I was a little apprehensive, more from a point of view of maintaining discipline than anything else, because I know from teacher friends and my own children how hard it can be to keep that age interested and occupied.

Anyway, I arrived, finally found somewhere to park (I had to nip out after an hour to move the car, as I ended up in a limited time parking bay - not good for an all morning session. Thank you Mr L for moving your car so I didn't end up with a parking ticket!), and booked in.

The school is lovely - a small independent school with around 120 pupils between nursery and Y11, so class sizes are small; Y9 had four pupils... It's situated in two enormous Victorian villas, so there are a lot of steps and big high-ceilinged rooms, but I was in the library. (Glad to see an amazing array of books, with some really interesting fiction on offer.)

We started with a Q&A session, which Y5 & 6 gatecrashed. It was great though - some really good, intelligent questions were asked, about whether I wrote about my children (no...well, not that they would notice!), what was my favourite story I'd written (Granny Rainbow and the Black Shadow - responsible for a lot of things, that story), who was my favourite author (Terry Pratchett) and had I ever given up on writing (yes, after I got a really bad report from an editor after she read the first version of StarMark). And many more...

Y5 & 6 would've been happy to ask questions all morning, I think, but the KS3 bods had some work to do. I'd been asked for sessions on character development and creating settings, which I was happy to provide.

The twenty eight pupils were brilliant. They threw themselves into the tasks wholeheartedly, and came up with some really strong ideas. The character who stuck in my head was the assassin who would only ever eat red things because it reminded him of blood... and the setting I couldn't forget was the cottage in the woods, with the eerie strains of 'I'm a Barbie girl' heard coming from the trees...

We didn't have enough time to read out the end results, when the pupils put their characters into their settings, but I hope the children will continue to work on them.

We were all so busy, I didn't take any pictures at all, but Mrs M took a few snaps - here's one of me reading from 'A Seeming Glass', when I was trying to explain how you could dribble the description of a setting into a scene rather than describe everything up front.

One thing that astounded me was that every pupil over Y8 takes part in NaNoWriMo! At which point I applauded them, because I can't stick to the discipline of writing every day. I come close, but it doesn't work for me to be that strict with myself. I look forward to seeing what they produce this November - who knows, perhaps we'll have to get together again, have an editing session?

The morning was over way too soon. Thank you to everyone at St Crispin's who made me feel so welcome and shared my love of writing by creating such brilliant work! 

Challenged by Chuck Wendig

I don't always have time to create new work in line with Chuck's challenges on his terribleminds blog. Fortunately, this week's challenge is to paste 1000 words of your NaNoWriMo WIP (National Novel Writing Month Work in Progress for the non-writer readers of the Scribbles!) in your own blog space and link it to his blog. Chuck extended the challenge to include current WIPs as well, so I thought what the heck. (By the way, welcome any fellow terribleminds fans who drop by - my blog's a bit different to Chuck's, but I hope you still find something to enjoy here.)

As regular readers are probably aware, I'm not writing a new story this month - I'm NaNoEdMo-ing. That is, editing my WIP: Kingstone. It seems to be going well.  

Here, for your amusement, are the first 1000 words of Kingstone, a fantasy adventure novel for 9-12 year olds, third draft. 

King Bertrann’s ship slid past Indigon’s famous purple-grey cliffs, far enough out to avoid the deadly rocks jumbled at their base, yet near enough for those on deck to make out the black holes of the mine entrances pockmarking them.

            A bubble of happiness swelled inside Katia’s chest at the sight. Home at last, after six months that had felt like a lifetime. Thank the gods she hadn’t had to wait the full two years to return, unlike those she’d left behind at the Academy. No wonder they’d made things so uncomfortable for her after the announcement.

            Mind you, no-one had been more surprised than Katia herself, when she was told she’d be part of the king’s entourage for this unexpected and hastily arranged trip; she wasn’t exactly top of any classes and there were plenty of other novices who deserved the honour much more than she did.

            But – and this was the important thing to remember – you didn’t say no to the king’s priest when she picked you for something. Not if you wanted to get on in the temple. And more than anything else, Katia wanted to get on…

            Tiny lights twinkled high up on the cliffs, lighting the wooden walkways which connected the separate indigolite caverns. Somewhere up there, Katia’s Da and brother Ned would be nearing the end of their ten hour shift, having worked hard to earn their money.

            A pang of guilt stabbed at Katia but she squashed it quickly. It wouldn’t be wasted effort on their part, not if she tried really hard–

            “It looks as though the rock is sparkling.”

            “Gods!” Katia yelped, and with more haste than care made the greeting to the woman who’d appeared noiselessly at her side.

            Right hand, circle for the sun. Left, a crescent round the circle for the moon. Now fingertips of both hands together: mountain.

            The woman sighed. “Left for sun, right for moon, Katia. Like the symbol.”

            “Sorry.” Katia dug her nails into her palms and hid the fists deep in the folds of her skirt. She was still getting it wrong, even after six months at the Academy. Her right hand took the lead every time… She sneaked a sideways glance at Elder Sevanya, whose attention was fixed on the lights high above them.

            How did the king’s priest manage to look so perfect, even after days of travelling? Sevanya’s purple dress was uncreased, her grey travelling coat unmarked by salt, and her pale hair was still tightly braided – as expected of Senior and Elder female priests.

            By comparison, Katia’s own cream novice’s robe was watermarked at the hem and stained with gravy because plates refused to stay still on board a ship. There was a button missing from her brown wool coat and her hair was sticking out at all angles despite every attempt she’d made to tame her dark curls. No wonder her fellow novices were always finding fault and telling her she’d never make it to Junior priest…

            The beads woven into the ends of Sevanya’s braids rattled quietly when she turned away from the cliffs. “Tell me, Katia, have you ever been up there, on the walkways?”

            “Yes, Elder. Once, at night.” Katia shivered, remembering the sheer drop to the rocks and sea, hundreds of feet below. “My brothers bet I was too scared, but I went to the first entrance and back. At least the wind wasn’t blowing when I did it. Da says when the wind blows strong, the miners hug the cliff face and make sure their safety straps are clipped to the ropes, otherwise they’d get blown off.”

            “I should think a fair few prayers get said to the mountain god, asking for firm footing up there.”

            “Definitely. I know I said lots.” Katia tried to ignore the fact that Sevanya was watching her closely. She had the feeling that the priest was looking for something, but what?

            Suddenly, Sevanya sighed. “Katia, are you sure that you want to give your life to the temple of the triple gods? You don’t have to be a novice to say prayers, you know.”

            “What?” For a moment, Katia was so startled, she couldn’t say anything else. The bubble of happiness which had filled her chest just moments previously burst, leaving a hollow sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Yes, of course I do,” she managed eventually. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

            “And your family? Is it what they want for you too?”

            She had to think hard before answering that one. “No, not at first.” In fact, they’d positively discouraged her, thinking the training beyond her and far too expensive. “But once they got used to the idea, they supported me completely.”

            By taking on extra jobs and working all hours the gods sent, scrimping to make ends meet, and standing up against those who thought your dream was impossible to achieve… 

             “But things are not going very well for you at the academy, are they?”

            “No, but–” Katia swallowed hard. How did Sevanya know that? Surely keeping track of the novices and their training wasn’t a job for someone in her position?  

            “Your tutors have repeatedly informed me of your poor progress. It is that which made me decide to bring you on this journey.”

            They picked you because you’re so bad?

            Katia tried to concentrate on what Sevanya was saying through the buzzing in her ears.  

         The priest looked serious. “I am sorry to say that, during our time here, if you cannot demonstrate to my satisfaction the duties expected of a novice after your first six months of training, I shall have no option but to leave you behind when we return to Eraton and consider your novitiate at an end.”

November means editing

There are a lot of writer friends doing NaNoWriMo this month - that is, writing something every day during November to hit a 50K word count by the end of it. (Good luck to everyone doing it!)

Now, I've already documented my lack of discipline and my shaded squares method of keeping track of how much/little I'm writing. Recently, I've not been colouring in so many squares - not because I've not been writing, but because I started a new rough notebook and haven't transferred the sheet over. Fortunately, the habit of writing often seems to have stuck and I'm managing more days writing than not, so I'm not too worried about recording it.

Anyway, this month, I shall not be doing NaNoWriMo. Instead I'll be editing draft three of Kingstone. So far, it's going OK. I've got a much better feel for Katia's voice and a style that's consistent throughout the novel. I'm incorporating comments that fellow cloudies have made too; I was fortunate that in the main, they identified areas which I also felt were weak (great minds think alike!) and my aim for this third edit is to get it all hanging together and feeling like a real story instead of just well-written, separate chapters.

So there you go - November with its nights drawing in and fireworks and fair (in our town, anyway!) means editing. I'll keep marking off the squares and see what I've got at the end of the month...

The end is in sight...

I've mentioned King Stone a couple of times on the Scribbles so far - it's my current WIP.

It took 74 writing days (as in, I wrote on each of 74 days a varying amount of words, but not necessarily purely on KS) to write a s****y first draft - going from an A4 notebook filled with notes and sketches and questions and ideas to a typed up version on a memory stick.

It's taken me a further 63 writing days so far (again - not all on KS) to have solidified 22 of the 23 (possibly 24, I'm not sure yet) chapters into something that actually reads like a proper, put-together story. I'm hoping that with a push, maybe in another week, I'll have finished and can lay claim to a completed second draft.

Funny thing is, this 'second' draft is actually more like a first. The first type up was simply me, telling myself the story - the second is the 'real' version. I have a theme, I have strong characters, I have conflict...and, I hope, I actually have good writing.

As I've been going along, I've been sharing the chapters with a few folk, testing the story to ensure everything's hanging together well and my characters are coming across as I want them too. The feedback so far is that it does, although of course there's still a good amount of work needed in places to bring King Stone up to scratch.

I am excited by this story. I was excited by StarMark - still am, as it'll be published next year - and I was excited by Rurik when I started to tell his story. But King Stone...there's a whole different level of something here that I can't put my finger on. Something to do with the fact that my confidence has grown, that I have found a distinct voice as an author, that I have told the story that I wanted to - without any of the 'industry' telling me what I should or shouldn't be writing. It's been an amazingly liberating process, and I hope bodes well for stories I might want to tell in the future.

Who knows? If this 'second' draft gets finished and I leave it to rest for a while, I might even be able to plan something new for NaNoWriMo at this rate...

The King Stone...?

NaNoEdMo

November sees a flurry of writing activity as writers the world over sign up for NaNoWriMo - or National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that during November, you knuckle under and write every day - at the end of that time, you'll have at least a 50,000 word novel completed. A lot of my writing friend are taking part and I'm cheering them on from the sidelines as their word counts creep or leap in the right direction - up!

It doesn't suit everyone as a way to work. Chuck Wendig, whilst being adamant that writers need to write to succeed (which is obvious really, but you'd be amazed at how many of us say we're writers but faff about on Facebook or blog or paint bathrooms to avoid getting proper words down sometimes...), admits that such a structured, pressured way of working might not be for everyone. Quite frankly, I wasn't sure I'd have the self-discipline...

Anyway, this year, if you're a regular reader of the scribbles, you'll have seen I've been struggling to know what to do with the two complete novels I've written. Neither of them have that something special to make them stand out. Add to that a major flaw in how I structure my stories, which became apparent after the York Festival of Writing, and I reached a point where I had to decide whether to fix the flaw or start work on something brand-spanking new where the flaw would not appear. 'Cos now I know about it, it'll never appear again, right? Hmm...

NaNoWriMo seemed like a good opportunity to start a different project. I'd had an idea...a shadow of a new novel that I had actually planned out to make sure that flamin' flaw was not going to be there. NaNoWriMo might give me the impetus I needed to get stuck in. Problem was, I still wanted very much to self-pub one of my already completed novels next year - probably just a small print run and a digital version - see how it would be received by readers. I still love the story, you see, can't let it go...

As a compromise, I decided to adopt NaNoEdMo - National Novel Editing Month. I would work every day on that flaw as best I could, so the book would be ready to publish after Granny Rainbow 2.

And I've done it.

I'm now in the processing of listening to Dragon read it all back to me - and there's nothing like an inhuman digital voice putting the wrong emphasis on a sentence, or struggling with words it doesn't recognise because I've written an accent, to focus the mind on what you've written! Hopefully, I'll get the final chapters listened to before the weekend and then...

Then, it's going to a publisher who has seen a sample of the novel and asked to see the full MS. It's only a nibble, and might not come to anything, but there's hope. And even if it goes no further, I will publish it myself next year as planned - so I win either way!

After that, it'll be JaNewNoStar - January New Novel Start! Wish me luck.