Update

Well I've been quiet because I've been working on another project, my web page.  I haven't written either.  So I broke my 30 days of straight writing streak.  Instead, I'm going to work on nano today, and tomorrow, and whatever other days are needed to finish it for that and I'll keep up writing on it afterwards.  But it was nice to have a break.

Day 19: 1,753

Day 19's Word Count: 1,753
Nov's Total:  45,423

Discoveries:

• I discovered that I still have a ways to go yet plot-wise in my novel, but I hit the mid-point plot event.  And it turned out differently than I expected.  I'll let the revision time tell me if it is better or worse than my plans.

Day 18: 2,182

Day 14's Word Count:  2,182
Nov's Total: 43,670

Discoveries:

• I discovered more planned chapters are merging and I'm sorta adding one.  At this rate, I don't foresee this draft being much more than 60,000 words, if that.  Which would be my shortest first draft of a novel, ever.
  

Day 17: 1,911

Day 17's Word Count: 1,911
Nov's Total:  41,488

Discoveries:

• I discovered that I am under the 10k mark!  Only 8,512 words left to go.
• That three of my "chapters" worked better combined, as two scenes.  That's a first this month.
  

Day 16: 1,899

Day 16's Word Count: 1,899
Nov's Total:  39,577

Discoveries:

• I discovered I have about 13 chapters left to write in the novel, and I have 10,423 words left to write.  So, once my 10k words are done, I'd like to try my own marathon in November.  No, not to write all 13 chapters.  Rather to write every day of November, no matter how little it is.  And a secondary goal in December to finish the draft.
• That due to overtime this week at work, for the next couple days, my plans are shot all to hell, both for my word count and my blog.  So I may start updating my nano-count at night instead of in the morning, so I have more time to do things in the morning.
  

Day 15: 4,219

Day 15's Word Count: 4,219
Nov's Total:  37,678

Discoveries:

• I discovered that I have 12,322 words left to write. Yeah!
• That despite my new technique of growing the outline into actual novel content, I still have plenty of room for surprises to occur. Such as when, my character Walker was sure danger was going to happen.  He was supposed to warn the party-goers of an attack "happening right now" and then have it be too late, it was already happening.  Instead, I decided, he warns the party-goers, nothing happens, they toss him out, then just when his confidence is at an all time low, the attack occurs.  It was unexpected, and fun to write.
  

Day 14: 3,451

Day 14's Word Count: 3,451
Nov's Total:  33,459

Discoveries:

• I discovered that if I do 2,400 words a day on average, I can finish this in one week.  That's not so bad, only mildly insane.
• That I finally have my novel outlined and I like what I got.  :-)  :-)
• That Nano is worth it.

Day 13: 2,091

Day 13's Word Count: 2,091
Nov's Total:  30,008

Discoveries:

• I discovered that while the getting the words have been tough, I will have something ok to work from for the next draft.  That surprised me.
  
• That my outline is going better than I thought.  It will need some tweaking, but I am past the first and second high points.  Just need to finish up the third.
  

Day 12: 1,824

Day 12's Word Count: 1,824
Nov's Total:  27,917


Discoveries:

• I discovered . . . er . . . uhm . . . not much?  Maybe next time.
  

Day 11: 1,742

Day 11's Word Count: 1,742
Nov's Total:  26,093

Discoveries:

• I discovered that as I work on my outline, I come across things like, one of my family-business heirs has to be married by a certain date.  It makes me ask why and by gum, I actually have time to figure it out and see how it affects the rest of the world; that works much better for me than plunging on full-speed ahead into uncharted waters.
• That it's really hard to write with company about.  So much for my 3k word goal.

Day 10: 2,293

Day 10's Word Count: 2,293
Nov's Total:  24,349

Discoveries: 

• I discovered my weakest point is still the plotting after the high point number one.
• That this novel is chock-full of revelations.  
• Couriers are going to be outed--well, definitely Walker will be, and the fact that couriers exist will be as well.  
• Someone from Walker's past is part of their own secret organization affecting society.  Well, the revelation is more that they exist and are doing things, not the full extent of their powers and motives.
• Walker is going to discover another person who knew him, briefly, from before his memory was wiped.  Walker is not pleased with this at all :-)
  
• Finally, I plan on Walker revealing why he was visiting in the House of Healing (to the characters in the book) and whom that person is (to the readers).
  
• That my characters need therapy.
  

Day 9: 1,852

Day 9's Word Count: 1,852
Nov's Total: ~22,056

Discoveries: 

• I discovered that this novel is trying to turn partly into a mystery on me.  Not sure I wanna let it.  Mysteries and I don't get along well.
• That I'm going to try a new technique for getting my words.  I said my chapters were resembling outlines more than real chapters or that I'd have to pretend they were, in order to edit?  Well, why not see how hard it is to build a novel up from a literal outline.  Summarize the rest of the novel in 2,000 words today.  Next day, flesh it out with 2,000 more until I get to the point I'm focusing on individual scenes and adding dialogue, scene setting, etc.  Hmm, it's worth a shot anyway.  That's what nano is for:  exploration.
  

Day 7 & 8: 3,992

Day 7's Word Count: 1,786 
Day 8's Word Count: 2,206
Nov's Total: ~20,198

Discoveries: 

•  I discovered that even with a better plan on where I'm heading, I have to go fairly slow to try to write something that makes sense. I'm going to have to find a better technique for getting 1,667 words a day and having those words be of good quality.
  
• That I'm going to have a hell of a time with edits anyway.  They are going to give me a headache unless I treat this as a really long outline.
• That I still didn't get a snippet out, due to time and inability to find anything of readable quality.  At times, my writing is pure dialogue with a few other lines thrown in.  It takes too long to make that ship shape for posting.  Hopefully this week.

Day 6: 1,697

Day 6's Word Count:  1,697
Nov's Total:  ~16,205

Discoveries: 

• I discovered my middle turning point after I did some summary writing last night.  It surprised me.  I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but I never planned on it being in this novel.  I guess I always pictured it more as a thing that happened between novels.
• That when I got to thinking about The Spirit, thanks to the last post, I realized other influences it was having on my work.  I didn't originally plan on Walker having a big affect on women--just this one family.  See, Walker is supposed to gain an useless ability, well, mostly useless one that can get him trouble or help him out of an odd jam in an odd fashion.  Having a Don Juan effect over women around him fits the bill.  Not necessarily a romantic-only effect.  No, just having an unnatural halo effect on women would work.  And it would fit nicely with some other dangling plot thread, too boot.  Now all that is left is to see how hard or easy it is to pull off :-)
  
• That, thanks to some company and a major sinus/allergy headache, I barely got my words and a summary written.  So, oops.  No snippet.  I'll do my best to get it up this weekend.
  

Day 5: 1,860

Day 5's Word Count:  1,860
Nov's Total:  ~14,505

Discoveries:  

• I discovered another neat character, inspired by Plaster of Paris from the movie, The Spirit.  You see, I get characters and things knocking around in my head without a proper home.  It seems like this series is hoovering them up the way my dog hoovers up his food.  So once I really got the connection, I remembered a scene I wanted this homeless character in, and now I have to leave a note to myself to revise something: the first scene where my PoP inspired guy (Grips) meets Walker.
• That the original guy who was going to be the escort (not Grips mentioned above) is now going to have to wait his turn to arrive.  He's related to Walker's forgotten past and is currently MIA.  I'm thinking his movement from MIA to IA may be what prompts memories to come back to Walker, because these two characters are connected like none other.
  
• That sometimes you wish you could don a pseudonym.  What I'm writing in this novel and next is a little embarrassing at some instances and little taboo at others.  I am pushing the envelope on my comfortable levels, and that would be fine if it were just me an anonymous audience looking on my work.  If my family and friends, however, were to read it or another novel of mine . . . . I don't look forward to their reaction, no.
• That once you change something about your characters, previous plotting goes out the window.  Hopefully in a good way.
• That I forgot to prepare for my snippet today.  So it will be belated, I'm afraid, as I try to find something worthy of snipping.  Like I said, my writing is not pleasing my internal editor this month.
  

Day 4: ~1,701

Day 4's Word Count:  ~ 1,701
Nov's Total:  ~10,645

Discoveries:

• I discovered that my original goal of 80k words this month wasn't going to work out.  So I've changed it to 50k.  This way, I have more time to plot and plan everyday too.
  
• That part of my plotting and forward movement problem is Walker is a pushover in the first 10k.  It's cute in a few scenes, but afterwards, he needs to get some gumption going on.  Once I decided that, I decided that a key event that needed to be at the 25k mark, doesn't have to be.  And out of the blue, a new idea came to me that caused me to lol, which means I am on track again.
• That I want a fourth novel idea that is a marriage of the Walker universe and a completely different novel idea.  You see, Walker gets a certain special horse in novel two.  That horse kept ending up resembling my fae mount in another novel I was working on.  So I quit fighting it, and now, not only is it the same species, it's the same horse--with the same rider/MC.  And surprisingly, it works out better that way, I think.
  

Eh, not many discoveries, but they were good ones.

Day 3: ~2,986

Day 3's Word Count:  ~ 2,986
Nov's Total:  ~10,947

Discoveries:

• I found out that I may have a dreaded trilogy on my hands.  Let's see if I can't make it a quartet instead.  I like my even numbers, yes I do.
• That the plotting is getting harder:
• because turning point number one has to happen at 25k words into the novel to make the novel balanced in length.  The problem?  Since I haven't had time to do an outline, I have to try to fill out the area between only about a day before I write, and I'm not satisfied with what I'm finding coming up with so far.
• because of trying to write fast-paced and unexpected, like my inspiration, the Transformers movies and Harry Dresden books.  But after my first real action scene, I'm not sure if I'm cut out to write action thrillers.  Not sure this novel is cut out to be one either.
• That if I get 50k early, I am going to slow down and instead of focusing on writing 80k rushed words, I am going to have 50k honed words.  That appeases the muse and inner editor.
• Finally, that my "hungry ka" idea-based enemies (instead of zombies) need a make-over.  While the twist that they are devastatingly beautiful is neat, they also need to be devastating.
  

Day 2: 2,838

I don't think my little progress graph is working, at least not on this computer, but here it is from the nano site itself:



Day 2's Word Count:  ~ 2,838
Nov's Total:  ~7,966

Discoveries:

• It's hard to plan just a day ahead.
• That the words are coming harder, a sign that my inner editor is not as satisfied editorially with my work as we were on Saturday.  But I'm going to take Edittorrent's suggestion, and trust myself to fix it later.
• I must be on a self-imposed challenge to see in how many chapters I can get Walker, my MC, nude.  Let's see now:  
• In the first scene, he's just stepping out of the purification pool when his sometimes-wife arrives to abduct him.
• In a later scene, his sometimes-wife has him strip so she can make him courier something.  (See my previous, linked blog post to know what "courier" means exactly.)  He also wakes up naked in bed afterwards, along with her.
  
• Later, he is told to strip and stand for investigation, at the border of his world and another, on the suspicion he's been infected by the plague.

Well, that's it.  Happy writing everyone.  I survived Day 2!  Let's see about Day 3!

Day 1: ~5000 wc

I survived day one, even after doing research for half the morning.  Egyptian research, the inspiration on which I am building my culture.


Wordcount:  ~5,000 words, but that sounds a little high.  But it's all on my laptop, so I can't verify.


Discoveries: 

• That I'm slowly getting a handle on Walker's voice (he has a sense of humor that reminds me of Six in my novel Lab).
• That the research overtime was worth it.  Egyptian culture works really well for this story, what with their religious beliefs on different aspects of the soul. Oh, and also that now that I started writing the novel, I don't seem to have enough reference books?  Never mind I have about six or seven books that cover Egyptians exclusively or at least extensively, and Wikipedia and other sites a click away . . . .
  
• That I can handle writing prominent females so far, as long as they aren't my view point character.  Case in point, the minx that sold her "husband" Walker to a vampire harem (back in the nebulous character history).  And her daughter.  Heck, I better be able to handle it, seeing as how most people in this novel from the thaumaturge to the Walker's supervisor/mentor are of the female persuasion.  The only other principal character that isn't, is an escort, and my intentions are to make that guy make the minx look good.
• That Walker's having fun (well, more people are having fun at his expense); the novel's having fun; I'm having fun :), despite this idea being thrown together and apart, like a tossed salad, at the last moment.

Well, that's it so far.  More when I get home and write.

Upcoming Posts

During Nano, I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep to my previous schedule of links, research, and writing articles.

My hope is instead, to keep up the link posts on Mondays and post snippets on Fridays.  I'll try my best though to add articles and research posts whenever I can this month and do frequent updates on my writing progress.

We'll see.  Oh, and good luck to all doing Nano.  I know for one I'm going to need it.