Bring Out the Champagne!

20,000 words.

She's done it, ladies and gentlemen. 

This means that I'm off for the next three weeks. I may add more words, who knows, but I'm not counting on it. And I'm not really sure I'll come back here and post even if I do. 

So for now it's goodbye, happy holidays, and happy writing. I'll be back first week of January, and we'll reembark on this crazy adventure once again. 

Don't stop writing, people. Butt In Chair. 

See you next year. 

Taking Flight

The story has grown wings. Or maybe arms and legs. Something. It's taken on a bit of a life of its own, and like a toddler who wants to explore everything and poke his head into every corner of every wall of every room, my story's misbehaving and I'm finding myself all over the place trying to find some iota of control. 

There's a good chance that I'm going to have to cut out a huge chunk of what I've written thus far. There's a good chance that a sub-plot might become the main plot. There's a good chance that characters who were secondary may not be secondary at all. 

But true to my initial goal, I'm going to continue writing. I'm not going to try and force the story one way when it may be better going in a different direction. I'm just going to keep going until I hit 80,000, and then I'll sit back and see what's the strongest thread and where I should take it. 

Right now, I have threads. But I don't have the perspective. I don't have the complete whole. 

What I might do, however, is before I get to work on this again after my holiday, is make a flowchart regarding the plot. See the various options available and how things could go. Streamline it a little without completely reigning it in. 

Interesting, interesting. 

What You Can Do in Three Weeks

It's been less than a month since I started writing this novel. About three weeks. Three weeks and I'm almost up to 20,000 words! 

You mean those false starts, those unfinished novels, those plots that went nowhere-- all I needed to do was sit down and write the damn thing?

It's still not written, so let's not get ahead of ourselves here, but I'm farther ahead than I've ever been. It's made a real difference that I've stuck around this one and given it a good shot. 

I'm feeling pretty good about my progress. And yep, seeing as there are three full days before Sunday, I do hope to hit 20,000 words before I go on holiday. Woo! 

When Words Flow

I'm not going to say much, because right now, I'm really saving my words for the novel, but I've written almost 2,800 words today, and I think I still have some more in me. 

So I'm off to write some more. Meanwhile, here's my progress bar. 

Those Darned Middles

The road to publication is strewn with the bones of men who faltered and died during the mid-book.  

- James D. Macdonald, Absolute Write Forums

Can I just say how true this is? 

I've reached the middle. Because I'm skipping scenes and writing without a fixed outline, I have somehow managed to get over the beginning and reach the middle of my book. I'm going to go back and fill those scenes in, the ones that I know I must write but didn't the first time around as I was busy moving the story forward. However, in terms of the story if not the word count, I've reached the middle. 

And like predicted, it's sagging a little. I'm determined not to give up even though it's getting tough. I don't know if this "tough" is going to last a few days or be a pain in the backside for a while, but regardless, I'm motivated enough to move past it. 

This is the real test for me, I think. There's another idea that calls to me, there's other writing to be done, and I've reached the hardest part. 

Will I get through it? I hope so. Watch this space for more. 

 

20 per cent!

There! That's something to be proud of. I'm 1/5th my way into the book. Now non-fiction conditions permitting, I can go off and enjoy my time away from the computer. 

I have a feeling I'll be writing more in the days before Sunday, and if I were able to reach 20,000 words that would be fantastic, but I'm going to take that pressure off, and just get my act together for the big holiday. 

You'll probably still be seeing me around for the next few days before I pull a vanishing act on Sunday. 

Blank Slate

The three days that I've spent away from fiction were spent in writing a non-fiction piece that had a very short deadline and hence, was made my priority. 

But what I find wildly amusing about the whole process was that it took me three days-- three DAYS-- to write and polish 1,500 words. 

The journalism and novel writing processes are so different, as I'm now discovering. I've written more than 2,000 words today, and if I wanted, I'd be able to polish them up in a few hours. None of that fact-checking, research, and thorough analysis that is demanded by non-fiction. Of course, every word needs to shine, and every word needs to move the book forward, and none of it can be disposed off easily. However, I find that you have more freedom in fiction. Maybe that's why I've felt a pull to it. I want to use fiction to voice what I haven't been able to in my non-fiction. 

Regardless, it's fascinating to me to see how different the two processes are. And yet the core of it comes down to one simple thing: putting one word after the other on a blank slate. 

Rough Terrain

I've probably mentioned this before, but the more I write, the easier it gets. The first day I started writing-- and I've documented it so you can go back and check-- it took me three sittings to get the 800 words out, even though it was the beginning and I had a lot to say. 

But now, weeks later, even as I continuously run out of twists and turns, and find myself in situations I need to get out of, the words are coming easier. I've written over 1,600 words today, and let me tell you, they were not hard. I'm aiming for another thousand or so today, because I'm a little less stressed out than usual, and I've gotten into the groove, and also because even as I continue to struggle with where my story is going, the words are helping me put those thoughts on to the paper and explore the terrain with my characters. 

I'm fairly certain now that the rewrite is going to be frustrating. It's because of the way I've approached this thing. Right now, I'm trying to figure out the plot, then I'm going to have to go back and start the foreshadowing. And only then will I able to focus on the language and whether or not the language is what I want it to be. Right now, I'm building a world. And once I've built that world, it'll be time to go back and smooth out the rough edges. And then will come the play. 

Who said this was easy? 

And the Plot Goes to Hell

This was not supposed to happen. I was not supposed to write myself into a corner this soon into the story. And my protagonist was not supposed to travel.

No. No, no, no.

*sigh*

Now she's heading to a whole different country, a whole different continent, and unfortunately for me, it seems like the only logical solution to this story. And my protagonist was not supposed to do this, precisely because it's what *I* have done in the past, and my protagonist is not me. In fact, I made sure that she would be absolutely nothing like me. 

And yet, here's this person, a person I created specifically so that she wouldn't take decisions like this, and I've written her into this corner, and to my logical writerly brain, there is only one solution that fits this character: travel. If I were in this position, that would be the totally wrong solution. For her? It's perfect. 

How the hell did this happen? 

I have a feeling this book is going to turn out very differently from how I initially envisioned it.

Hectic, hectic, hectic

It's been a rough week about to get rougher. I go on holiday starting this Sunday, and everyone's suddenly realized that there's work they'd like me to do. 

I like the work. I appreciate the work. Heck, in this economy, I need the work. 

But I've been waiting for this holiday for so long. I've been working 18-hour days, seven days a week, simply so that I could take this holiday. So I'm going to take it. No matter what. 

In the meantime, I realize that my fiction is suffering. I'm going to make some extra effort today. I've decided that all I need to do is touch my 20% by Sunday. Doesn't matter if I do it in a day or in four. But I'm going to finish off those last 3,000 words. Some way, somehow. 

Wish me luck! 

Quote of the Day

"Ever tried.  Ever failed.  No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

- Samuel Beckett

Writing is Writing

Am I kicking ass or what? 

There's a reason for that, I suppose. There's this tough article I'm supposed to write for my day job-- you know, the journalism gig-- and I'm procrastinating on that. 

I guess it's not too bad if I'm still producing output, even if it's in a completely different way. I'm going to get angry e-mails from my editor soon if I don't get back to work. Watching the percentages go up on the tracker is so addictive though. 

I'll be back. 

What I Didn't Know 10K Ago

So let me tell you what I know now that I didn't know 10,000 words and 16 days ago. 

* I know that it's hard not to judge yourself as you go, but if you manage to, you'll have a good chance of getting the dang thing written. 

* I know that every word you write makes you better, even if it doesn't feel like it will in the beginning. 

* I know that it gets easier to write 800 words every day when you eventually start doing it regularly. 

* I know that you don't have to know exactly everything when you write the first sentence, the first paragraph. All you need to know is a rough beginning, a rough ending, and a story that you want to share. The rest of it comes as you play along. 

* I know that when you get down to it, it's not about how good you are, but how committed you are. 

* I know that I'm going to stick with this, and see it through, if for no other reason than I need to see if I'm capable of doing this long-term. 

Exploring Relationships

Slowly, a little too slowly for my taste, I'm making progress on the novel. I've noticed that it helps if I wake up in the morning and know what direction my story's going in. Unless I know what scene I'm going to write for the day, it's a little difficult to get started. 

Thinking of a scene a day is not hard. Sometimes the scene will run on for longer than the day's word count, which is great, but other times, it might end up shorter and I have to find more words to fill it. But having a general direction helps. 

I've also had to start a tiny little list of things I need to write about during the novel. When I was exploring my protagonist's relationship with her mother, for instance, there were so many more things I realized that I needed to discuss. Her childhood, maybe. A little bit about how that relationship came to be what it is, and why it's important to my heroine's journey now. 

All these little relationships that I thought were background information are proving instrumental in what the choices of this character are going to be. 

I'm only 10,000 words and 13% into the story, but it's farther ahead than I've ever gotten with a character and story. I'm pretty thrilled with the progress. 

Don't know if I'll be writing any more today, but I seem to be on-track with my goals. 

Thinking About Gender

My impulse is to write for an audience of women, but I'm trying extremely hard not to make this work exclusively targeted to female readers. For now, I'm really just following the story and not focusing on the voice. Like I said before, I'm just vomiting the words out, and the voice and the flow and pretty much everything else is something I'll have to deal with in the second draft stage. 

However, the more I think about it, the more I'd like to be able to have this book be an intelligent read for all those male friends I admire so much, and who love to read my (non-fiction) work. I'm a very political person, a very socially-conscious person, and while I do tend to write for an audience of women, some of my biggest fans are men. 

I'd like my novel to pertain to those readers too. I think my work of fiction is, while unlikely to be political in nature, very likely to be a social commentary. To be a story that reaches across the gender boundaries. Or at least I'd like it to be. 

Can't fake voice. And maybe, can't even choose your reader. But maybe, just maybe, those male readers will choose me. 

That's the goal. 

Excuses, Excuses

I hate making excuses, and I hate the people making them even more, but it's hard to hate myself that much if I'm supposed to be around me all the time. 

So I'll let myself off the hook for now. But I've told myself to knock off this missing-a-day habit because it's getting fucking annoying. 

That's not to say that I haven't been thinking about my novel, or even reading up about fiction writing techniques, because I have. All the good intentions have been there, and I've been putting in my two hours a day, even if for the last two days those two hours were spent more on reading about fiction than actually writing fiction. 

The truth is that I did kind of hit a wall in my story. I really couldn't think of where to go from the point I had reached. It was important to know where I was going, because I had run out of action scenes. I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to write if I don't know what I'm writing or where the story is going or whatever? 

But today, I sat down and decided to write anyway. I didn't really stop to think what I was going to say or what my characters were going to do, and after about 100 words of complete repetitive crap, the course of action became clear all on its own and the words started to flow freely. 

And now that I know what's going to happen over the next few days of writing, the actual writing should go smoothly. 

I hope I haven't spoken too soon. We know how I have a tendency to do that.  

Learning From the Pros

Phew. My whole day today has pretty much revolved around fiction. I've written double of my target output, but what I've really been doing, is reading. 

I've been making my way through the threads on a message board pertaining to fiction writing, and seeing what works for other writers, and incorporating certain techniques into my own writing. I do certainly know better what works and what doesn't, and how to achieve results that work. 

I still have very little confidence though. I'm not looking forward to the next phase of this journey-- the rewriting and editing-- because that's when the pressure will be on to write glowing prose. But that's a long way away for now. So I'm trying to keep focused on my current goal-- getting 80,000 words out there onto the page. 

So far, so good.

Making Shit Up

Another 565 words today. As much as I don't want to put pressure on myself to make up for lost time and words, I am trying to put in as much as I can. I'm going to be on holiday for most of December and the beginning of January, and I've decided not to touch any kind of work during that period. Which is why I'm trying to put in as much as I can right now. 

Ideally, I'd like to be able to touch the 20% mark before December 10. We'll see. In the meantime, I keep putting words one after the other and know that they're adding up. Hopefully, some of them will be good. 

Some parts of writing a novel are much easier than I thought. But keeping the flow of the book going, keeping the action going, is proving harder than I thought. Time to start making shit up.