I was flipping through posts tagged ‘NaNoWriMo’ (as I do at least once a day) yesterday and saw a post where somebody wrote all the things they hated about their novel up to this point. (UPDATE: THIS is the post that I read. Thank you to voeko for reading my version and commenting so I could give credit where it is due!) And considering the wall I’ve appeared to hit as of the last couple of days, I think venting out my writing frustrations will do me well.

So here’s my list of things that I hate about my novel (so far):

1. What the hell do my characters look like? One of my weaknesses in first drafts is my lack of descriptions. Of everything. Characters, setting, EVERYTHING. It’s not so hard to add in in editing, but in the meantime, I feel like I can’t try to put in much of it now either. Because I don’t know what anyone looks like. 
2. I’ve woven this narrative that has taken the turn I didn’t want it to. My MC is going to get caught. And soon, probably before I hit 40k. But I’ll tell ya. I sure don’t want to have to do all this research on criminal trials. Sure I watch a lot of TV where this happens (cough SVU) but that doesn’t mean I can write it correctly! I’m sitting here pondering how I can get around writing anything from the trial without it seeming like a cop out, when I should be writing the scene I have going on right now.
3. There are waaaay too many characters. I did good at keeping a running list when I first started of character’s names. That way I wouldn’t accidentally rename them a thousand words later. But then the list kept growing and growing. There’s MC, her roommate, hallmates, party people, paramedics, and now there’s detectives involved? And let me reiterate that I don’t know what they look like. It’s hard for me to sit and imagine scenes when I can’t picture my characters, let alone remember who all of them are.
4. My MC is pretty snarky and sarcastic, and considering this novel is written in first person POV, that should be pretty evident through the entire thing. But there are so many instances where that isn’t true. Where I’m too focused on dialogue, dialogue, dialogue and not what’s going through her mind (which is just as important). She’s telling us a story from her point of view. She’s bound to have an internal opinion of just about everything. And I realize there are places where that shouldn’t be invoked, and that’s fine! But there are so many places it should be, but isn’t.
5. Last but not least: WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DIALOGUE. Most of my characterization is done through dialogue (obviously because there’s no descriptions otherwise HAHA ). But in my head I start envisioning this conversation, and because my mind runs faster than my fingers, I just have to get the conversation down. But who needs the action going on around it? Who needs scene descriptions, or reactions, or casual hair flipping and head scratching? Obviously no one reading this draft of my novel, that’s for sure. I really need another straight up action scene. But how do I do that without throwing my story off the deep end? Because I mean I’ve written a novel where I needed words so there was an explosion and one character almost died. It was in your face ACTION and it was AWESOME. But I don’t have room in this novel for that. I guess if I get desperate for the word count though…

Okay. I think I have vented enough for the day. Time to get writing so I keep up my everyday streak of not missing the word count.

What’s something you hate about your novel? Share below! And KEEP WRITING.

Today is actually day 6, but I wanted to get a post in early (before I’ve actually sat down to write any more).

Last night I crossed over the 20% mark! I went to bed right around midnight with my word count sitting at 11,150. Here’s my progress bar to prove it:

I’m doing well so far keeping ahead of schedule. Trying to keep that momentum going as long as possible until I hit the inevitable wall. Plus I’ll be travelling/out of town for the last six days of November so it’d be nice to finish early.

I think if I sit down and really think about it, I’m finally at a point that I can write a synopsis for the darn thing! So hopefully I’ll be able to share that in the next couple of days. And then maybe I can finally come up with a darn title!

This has come along pretty well so far. Most of my writing has been done during word wars, not because I have to force myself to write the story itself. Rather I rely so much on them because I have to motivate myself to write period. I’m so out of practice with writing constantly. I think I just go back to college in my head and having to sit and write papers constantly. Ick. Then I remind myself that this is all for fun. But I still need motivation, so we do word wars. It’s working for me so far!

What bothers me most about this draft is how bare bones it is. I’ve never been great at including very much description – of characters, of situations, locations, etc. As it stands, it’s a lot of dialogue. But I think that’s what will make editing fun is going in and adding more! I’m already kind of looking forward to reading this when it’s over – just so I can keep adding to it.

Hopefully I can keep my momentum going. But I’m preparing myself for the wall I just might hit.

How’s your word count doing? It’s still early if you’re behind! Happy writing!

I’ve made it 3 days into NaNo 2015! Huzzah!

It’s hard to consider that it’s only the third day right now. I feel like I’ve been through most of the month already (although my word count doesn’t quite reflect that, so I’m glad I’m wrong). I guess that’s what happens though when you go from having a semi-plotted novel to becoming a complete pantser.

Changing my novel was the best idea I had. Writing this novel has been fun so far. There’s no stress to make it good. It’s a first draft – and at this moment, probably like 85% dialogue so you can definitely tell it’s a first draft.

I feel like the plot (whatever it may be) is moving along really well. What I do know is that she’s going to kill someone in self-defense. (But if you read my excerpt you already knew that.) 😉 But I don’t know who it is yet. I want it to be a surprise – unexpected. Not someone that’s crossed her during the beginning of the novel. I like surprises. Making people keep turning the page. That’s my style. 🙂 She has to figure out how to cover it up because she convinces herself that they won’t see it as self-defense.

Where I’m at right now, she’s pretty angry. So it might happen soon! Past that major plot point, however, I’m quite unsure of where this is going. I don’t want it to be a traditional “murder”/cover up story. So I’m just going to keep writing and see where this goes.

My tip for anyone this far in that’s getting stuck already?

< —-

Push through the hard parts. Sometimes that’s where those breakthroughs come from.

Word count is 6,942. And I still need to get some words in today.

How’s NaNo going for you so far? Hopefully well!

My total word count for November so far is 4,428. 2,600 of that is my “new” novel. I still can’t believe I just threw the other idea off to the side. I dunno this new one has come pretty easily. 

But I’m still unsure of what exactly is going on in this new novel. I guess that’s what makes this fun. I never imagined myself a pantser but now I wish I had decided to be one from the beginning. It’s thrilling! 

My MC is a female, freshman in college named Skyla (Sky for short). All I know is she gets herself into some trouble (re: LOTS of trouble) and has to figure her way out of it. 

I added a very rough excerpt to my NaNo profile. I’m hoping a title comes to me soon. I’m terrible at titles, but I want to have one!

I hope everyone else had a decent day one! Can’t wait to see where this novel goes tomorrow! 

I stayed up until the time changed last night starting my new novel. Well, restarting. Because it’s a rewrite, remember? I got 1,800 words done before bed.

Well I woke up this morning after having had a Hollywood movie-style dream. I think I’ve reinvigorated the creative part of my brain now that I’m writing again. And damn, the dream I had started swirling in my head. I usually forget my dreams, but not this one.

So when I sat down to keep writing after lunch this afternoon, I had no desire to continue my novel. I was so pumped for this rewrite. It was going to be awesome. I had enough plotted that I felt like I was going to have a semi-decent piece of work at the end of the month.

But I don’t want to write something I’m not feeling. And I am just really not feeling it today. And if I’m being honest with myself, I wasn’t really feeling it last night either. But I pushed through it. Figured it had just been awhile. I just needed to power through and then the excitement of the story would come back. It didn’t.

So. I made the executive decision.

I’m starting over.

I’m still aiming for 50,000 words on this new piece. I mean it’s still Day 1. Worst comes to worst, the 1,800 words still count. I still wrote them in November.

I’m running with a play off the dream I had last night. But I’m writing by the seat of my pants. Once I have a more definitive idea of what the hell I’m doing, I’ll try to share a brief summary or something. But right now, it’s still building itself.

How’s your novel going so far? Hopefully better than mine!

So here I was, thinking “Oh. I outlined this novel a couple years ago. I don’t need to figure anything out before November 1st.”

I was so wrong. And thankfully I’ve discovered this at least a few days in advance.

I realized that where I left off in my last draft of this novel was a point where a whole slew of new characters were about to be introduced. Like literally 5 at one time. Characters that had names, but no personalities established. And they are drastically different people than the other characters that are already alive in the story.

So TODAY is all about developing some characters. And a fun group that I do not particularly think I would be friends with myself. 😉 That’s what makes this fun though, right? RIGHT!?

Here’s a tentative book cover (just for funsies – if I ever publish/self publish this, it will get a waaaay better cover) for my new NaNo novel.

I just wanted something pretty to look at and keep me motivated.

Plus, the NaNoWriMo page says there’s 60% greater chance you’ll win if you create/upload a book cover.

So here it is.

Where I Belong.

9 days til NaNo ’15!