For Whom The Bell Trolls: Rough draft FINISHED at 55,094 words!!
So many topics to choose for today's blog:
--LOST--loved it! I followed it from the beginning, though I confess that I didn't care for the alternate future year. To me, the ending was wonderful and beautiful. I suspected from the beginning that this was some sort of plain of purgatory and these people were souls with unresolved issues. I love that it started with Jack and ended with Jack. The part that really surprised me was how some writer friends didn't get it. They couldn't get beyond the unrealistic idea of a plane crash and people surviving, but if they had moved beyond the first fifteen minutes to 'believe' that this disaster happened and then they would have realized this wasn't simply a plot story, this was a story about CHARACTERS who grip you by the heart. Yes, I, Margaret, bawled during the finale of LOST, soaking 5, yes, FIVE tissues as I cried my eyes out. I cried as I lived the series all over again in each flashback. *sigh* I will miss it and the actors who made those characters come to life.
--Starting and finishing a middle grade novel by writing 19 non-consecutive days. Only on the first weekend did I write 1500 words, after that I didn't write on the weekends. As I mentioned before, I'm a pantser and this was the epitome of pantsing my writing. All I had when I started this story was a title, a logline (sucky, but it worked to keep me on track), and the momentum from finishing Faerie a few days earlier. If I subtracted those first two days, the one weekend that I wrote, then I wrote 53,500 words for seventeen days, Monday-Friday. My goal was to hit 3000 words every weekday, which would give me 15000 words/week. The lowest count for those days was this last Monday with 808 words (LOST finale on DVR, new puppy to the vet and then to visit my kidlet's class). The highest count was 4304 words on Wednesday 5/21. Most of my days I averaged pretty darn close to my 3000 word average, most days I went over.
--I learned a lot about myself as a writer as this was my mini-NaNo challenge. Speaking of NaNo, I'll never be able to participate as I have too much going on (kidlet's birthday, family coming, and Thanksgiving), but then again, I KNOW that I can do it with a little planning and LOTS of incentive. I know that I can produce a product in a time crunch.
--Which leads me to topic #3. What type of writer are you? Yes, you. Do you edit every word until you get it right? Some best selling authors do that, and they turn in a first draft that is ready to go. Or do you write down crap, because you know you can fix crap. Other best selling authors do that. Or do you write somewhere in between? It's all about discovering what works best for you. My method might not work for you, heck, my method might not work for the next book! But I enjoyed the process, and I haven't enjoyed the process in a very long time. It helped validate me as a serious writer. I gave myself a task and without very much notice, I pulled it off. One writerly friend commented on my FB that she wondered how many words are usable words. Some authors write 25 K only to use 5 K. Actually, I think all my words are usable, but I'll allow myself to change some of them as needed.
Until next time. . .
Write on!
Lost: Here's one of your writer friends who couldn't get into it. I told my son during the first year that they were dead. Not being Catholic, I don't know much about purgatory, but I had a feeling that was where they were going.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed some of the characters but not enough to stick through the explosion-if-you-don't-push-the-button-on-time room (was there a reason for that or just a plot device?) and polar bears in the tropics.
And it went on waaaay too long without answering "the" question for my taste.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, though. I know my one son did. I've bought him every season so far.
As a writer: I polish as I go, but have to go back for a final polish.
I might have to try the seat of the pants thing, though. I just bought the book the NaNoWriMo guy wrote called NO PLOT, NO PROBLEM.
We'll see what happens. ;)
If you do the NO PLOT thing, Suse, I'd highly recommend having a logline to keep you on track and focused. I believe that is what kept me from going off-course this last month.
ReplyDelete--Good luck!
I never got into Lost either. Just wasn't my thing, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI have reservations about doing a nano, because I do go in the wrong direction sometimes, and I'd be afraid I'd plow through, too focused on meeting my goals to pay attention to the suckage alert inside my head. But watching your amazing progress, I've been very jealous. LOL
LOL! Now you know how I felt earlier in the year, Edie! You were cranking out the words and I had . . . nuthin'.
ReplyDeleteI think what helped me with this NaNo aspect of the Tour de Force challenge was having a logline. I knew my end point and I could write toward it.
What was the logline? I glanced back and didn't see it anywhere. but then, I'm in a rush this a.m. Gotta be in Hominy by 9.
ReplyDeleteArgh.
I get up early but get AROUND late.
LOL
I don't think that I ever posted the logline on the blog, Susan.
ReplyDeleteHere it is:
Half-elven tween steals a Celestian book to help the ‘good’ side in the war, but inadvertently helps the Dark Ones gain power . . . oops.
I KNOW it's not very good, BUT it was enough to keep me on track when I powered through the story.
It depends. Sometimes words come at me so quickly I HAVE to power through the story - it's like taking dictation from an unseen source. If I stop to polish, I'll miss a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteOther times I specifically write with the intention of getting it right the first time.
I always go back and polish, though. The narrative has to have a nice flow, the right meter and tempo for the situation. I may use beautiful flowing prose if I wish to lull the reader into serenity, or short, stacatto sentences if I want them to share my character's discomfort or uncertainty. Writing words, for me, is very similar to writing music.
Being a perfectionist, though, I need to recognize that there is a time when I must Step Away From The Page.
Like now :)
Hey, Jody! Troll flowed really, really well. I hope part two flows equally as well. But Faerie was like pulling teeth. :-) Each book is so different.
ReplyDelete