Tuesday 23 November 2010

A quick look back, then forwards...

More than half way through nanowrimo, and... not quite beyond 25,000 words - to be honest, nowhere near close to beyond - other bits of work have got in the way along with what happens while you're making other plans - life.

But we're not at the end of the month yet, and I'm going to push as hard as I can until the 30th, and then... keep pushing.  The story I'm writing is starting to take shape - a boy's quest to avenge the death of his father in an alternative Victorian world, and I'm looking forward to reaching the end so I can go back and make it even better in the second draft - watch this space.

Monday 8 November 2010

Learning to type forwards again.

After completing the rewrites for 'The Hidden Daughter' last month,  I decided to make life simple and write the next book in thirty days.
Well, write the first draft in thirty days, anyway...
I've joined NaNoWriMo where the objective is 50,000 words of manuscript, written exclusively in November - about 1700 words a day.  It's a tough nut to crack, especially if you have a habit of rewriting as you go along (I've taken three, now four attempts to get to the end of this sentence- and I'm still thinking it could use some work). 
So the purpose of NaNoWriMo for me is to get out of the bad habit of changing work before it has time to settle in place, or settle out of place; with an impending deadline, and a mountain of words to find, NaNoWriMo makes you focus less on presenting a completed story, and more on getting the story down.  All of it - good bits, bad bits, bad bits that will be good when you rewrite, and good bits that have to go.

I've put about 4k words down so far; not bad, but I need to do more, so you'll excuse me while I type forwards, and put the backspace button on a high shelf for a couple of hours...