This is my first report on my progress toward my goal of completing a 50,000 word novel by November 30 as part of National Novel Writing Month. Read more of my thoughts on NaNoWriMo.
I had a busy writing weekend. My goal for November 5th was 10,000 words, and I reached 10,225 words on Sunday. This puts me comfortably over the 8,335 word minimum I need to have today in order to finish by the end of November. Now that I’ve begun, I can say for sure that the genre I’m writing in is contemporary fantasy. My working title is “Heartwood,” and you can read a very rough excerpt here.
Overall, I’m having a blast, and it seems the storyline is progressing well. I am slightly concerned about running out of story before I hit 50,000 words, but I’ve also noted several places I need to go back and flesh out scenes and descriptions. I’m enjoying the process of discovering who my characters are as I write, and sometimes they develop in ways I hadn’t anticipated earlier in the draft.
For the most part, I’m resisting the premature editing that’s been my downfall with other novel efforts. Now, when I realize my main character’s personality is varying from scene to scene, I remind myself that I can fix it later, when I rewrite. In the past, I would have started revising at the beginning to make sure the character’s voice was consistent throughout. But that always led to me getting bored with the first few chapters and quitting. Now, I’m not even dividing the story into chapters. I mark the ends of scenes with a few asterisks and jump right into the next part. One of my goals for NaNo is to develop a healthier perspective on my own efforts. First drafts are called “rough” for a reason.
Another of my goals is to develop a more consistent writing routine. I’m enjoying spending a block of time writing every day. I’m hoping I can continue this habit through November and beyond, as I learn more about the routine that works best for me. I’ve found I can type for about an hour before I need to get up, stretch my wrists, or use the bathroom. If I write longer than an hour, I notice that my wrists are getting tired. I’m trying to follow most of Dumb Little Man’s tips to avoid RSI.
NaNoWriMo continues to grow in popularity each year. In an email sent to participants by NaNo founder Chris Baty, he reported that 90,000 people have signed up to participate, the largest number ever. One of the aspects of NaNo that I’m really enjoying is reading the forums and witnessing other writers’ struggles and triumphs. Writing a novel is always portrayed as a completely solitary pursuit, and it’s nice to find out that it doesn’t have to be. A friend and I met this weekend to do timed writing sessions, and we found it to be productive enough that we’re planning on doing it again next weekend.
So far, I would recommend NaNoWriMo to anyone who would like to start making their dream of writing a reality. Stay tuned to see if I feel the same way at the end of the month.
