NaNoWriMo 2009 Day 22

[ladyseishou]

Day 22 - 8 days remaining

Why write?

The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it's about and why you're doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising ("but of course that's why he was doing that, and that means that...") and it's magic and wonderful and strange.

You don't live there always when you write. Mostly it's a long hard walk. Sometimes it's a trudge through fog and you're scared you've lost your way and can't remember why you set out in the first place.

But sometimes you fly, and that pays for everything.

- Neil Gaiman



Was today a long hard walk, Nano Writer or was it a day for flying?

Today's quotation was submitted by Nano Writer elleth (thanks!)

Today was a little foggy for me, spending some of the day sketching out some ideas for my climatic scene and the death of one of my characters. But tomorrow should be clear skies (I hope).

Today's word count is 36,667. How was today's writing? Excerpts, questions, comments? Remember everything's good! Keep writing!

Comments

[otter_nanowrimo]

Broke 20,000 today! And did it without moving forward in the story at all; I did nothing but add to previous scenes. This is good because it gives me a better foundation to work with later, and because it makes me less likely to run out of plot (again) before I meet the wordcount goal.

I expect to catch up to my "finish, but unofficially" goal for the first time tomorrow. Once I do catch up to that, I think it will be easy to continue with 1667/day until Dec. 9. The real crazy challenge will be writing 30,000 more words in the next nine days--I need to consistently beat 3000/day for that, and I've only done that once so far.

Whatever. You know what? I'm writing. In any one day I crank out more words than I have in the entire previous year. I don't need to beat NaNo, officially or unofficially; I just need to remember to keep writing.

Do you already have a quote for every day? I just remembered something I heard Scott Westerfeld say at a signing/Q&A he did with Sarah Rees Brennan recently. I don't know the exact words but I remember the meaning pretty clear.

"Finish everything you write, even if it's terrible, because then when you get your one really great idea you'll have had lots of practice at beginnings, lots of practice at endings, and lots of practice at middles. On the other hand, if you let yourself trail off when the idea goes stale, once you finally write your one really great idea, you'll be really good at beginnings, kinda okay at middles, and awful at endings."

Yeah, he said it way more eloquently. It sounded like something he's said a lot. Gimme a sec, I'll see if I can Google him to find the exact words.

[ladyseishou]

I do have quotes for the rest of the month but I think that what Scott Westerfeld says about endings is very true so I might bump one to make room if I can find the full quote (and yes - I'll look for it - you keep writing!). I did come across his blog and his Nano Tips which are really great! So thanks very much for the info!

Congrats BTW on crossing 20K!

[otter_nanowrimo]

Googling found me nothing. :(

[ladyseishou]

Think that I found the quote (or a version of it anyway) here:

Yeah, well, the inspiration of a new story is exciting. But if you wind up not finishing ninety percent of what you start, guess what happens. After a few years you'll have written 100 beginnings, 40 middles, and only 10 endings. Which means you'll be great at writing beginnings, only so-so at middles, and you'll suck at endings. Which means you will almost certainly keep faltering between the middle and the end of every story, which means you'll keep giving up and not finishing . . . Rinse, repeat.

And that's a hole you don't want to fall into. So finish, even if you know this story isn't going to win you the Nobel Prize—it's good practice to type THE END.

[st_aurafina]

Oh, that makes so much sense, what Scott Westerfield says. I'm guilty of this, and endings are my bane.

Congrats on hitting 20k!

[geminianeyes]

Thank you so very much for this quote! It's a great ass-kicker, cause I'm always starting stuff but never at finishing them.

Also, WOOHOO! Great to hear that you're writing consistently!

[st_aurafina]

I'm a half a day ahead at 37,523 and things are chugging along. I've dealt with a big reveal, and had to fight back the inner editor at some of the more sci-fi aspects of my story. (I don't think I'm ever going to get used to casually dropping in words like "light speed" or "magnetic boots".

So far, so good.

[ladyseishou]

Great word count! And even better - you fought off the evil inner editor! Go you!

[dragonjournal]

Last night, I stopped at 34k. Even though that was still behind, I figured churning out almost 4k in a day was good enough. Plus, it was a good stopping point.

Then, I rewarded myself. Now, I'm working on getting my brain moving for the day. And since it's late (in the morning, for me. It's 8, normally I'm up at 6) it'll be harder. But, once the kids are settled in with a movie or something, I'm going to put on my headphones and go.

[ladyseishou]

4K is great progress! I hoped that the day went well/is going well for you!

[lexicalcrow]

Nyeh. Okay, managed a little over 1500. Would push on to 2k, but it's midnight, I have an exam tomorrow and I'm dead tired. XP

Still, my current word count is 41,919, which I'm very happy with. :D

I'm hoping writing won't be so terrible after tomorrow, since I won't have any more study to do and can write all day, totally guilt-free. :D

Also, one development I'm liking is the independent desire from two separate camps to create 'modern' instruments. One side has information and 'plans' and such, the other are my time travellers. I'm assuming/hoping between the two of them that they can get what they need. (Not that they'll tell me. I always get left out of the secret plans. XD)

[ladyseishou]

You should be happy! That's a great word count! And I bet if you hang around the secret lab/base/headquarters a bit, someone will tell you about the plans ;-)

[lassarina]

37,355 right now. I want to try to wrangle in another 1000 later, because my schedule for the rest of the month has changed and I need to aim to be done by the 28th instead of the 30th (travel on the 29th and new job starting the 30th means I just won't have time the last two days). Turns out, it's pretty rough to try to compress NaNo into 25 days instead of 30! But I will persevere.

[ladyseishou]

You can do it! Congrats on the new job!

[lassarina]

Thank you! It is simultaneously a source of new stress, and a huge weight off my shoulders. XD

Extra 1000 accomplished, so now it's just up to writing about 2500/day for the rest of the month. Eep.

[twistingthetale]

Had a very late start today, but have hit 44873 words in about 4 hours. Alexander's a lovely guy for a vampire, but he was a nasty piece of work after Guy had turned him. He wasn't naturally evil, he just wanted revenge on the people who had arrested and killed his parents, brother and sister in law. 150 years later he was back to his original character, but had to rely on a constant supply of human blood to keep him going. And he's never sparkled :D

[ladyseishou]

Great word count! Alexander sounds like a complicated character but I guess the death of your family can do that (not to mention the vampire thing).

[altopiano]

I'm at 38364. I finished the day by writing the death of one of my MC's. This was the last sentence: There he lay in the afternoon sunshine, as the gulls cried over the cliff tops, and his life's blood spread out around him, staining the boards, seeping down into the cracks, flowing irretrievably away.

I feel quite emotional now. *sniff*

[ladyseishou]

Powerful writing. Good imagery. Great word count!

[geminianeyes]

47,169 words. I reckon that I can finish this by tonight if I don't procrastinate. :P If it looks light work in the office today, I'll probably hit my wordcount too, though I really want to finish this story. :D

[ladyseishou]

So close! Good luck!

[geminianeyes]

Thank you! <3

[xyndarella]

My word count is currently sitting on 43,239 and I am aiming for the 45k mark today. I am finding that it's difficult to write during the day because my house just gets so hot from the humidity. Sitting in the same place for so long, even under a fan, kills me. I've switched to writing at night and managed just over 1,000 words last night before I went to bed.

My story has taken to a new angle, which is both surprising and amusing. I am curious to see where my muse is leading me this time, but as I never had any expectations or a proper plot to follow when I started, I'm fine with another derailing. I'm really just happy to be writing daily and making a lot of progress.

[ladyseishou]

Lovely word count! Good luck hitting your target for the day! I'm very happy to hear that you found a time to write that is cooler! I've found that the muse is more cooperative when I'm physically comfortable.

[insomniac_tales]

I finally caught up to my sister! I'm just a bit above 45k. Which puts me 5,000 words away from nanowrimo gold.

Most romantic line in the story so far:
"No, you stupid girl. You're the one I love."

[ladyseishou]

Very romantic line! Go you! Congrats on hitting 45K!

[withorwithoutyou]

*grin* Today was an awesome day. About a half hour ago, just before midnight, I hit 50,000 words, so right now I'm on a total high, plus I had a 6k weekend, which is always encouraging. There's flailing and a lot of chocolate involved ^.^

The story isn't finished, I've got several more scenes in mind, so I'm just going to keep going.
I don't know if you can get used to NaNo or what, but I feel like things have gone even better this time than they did last year. I'm sure it definitely helps that I have a set end scene in mind this time, where last year I was pretty much just wandering about and seeing where I'd end up, lol. Either way, it's all good. I'm really happy.

Knowing that I'd hit 50k today's had me smiling all day, so I treated myself to a lovely new hardcover notebook, and now my reward is... to open it up and start writing again?
Oh dear. I fear NaNo really is doing things to me. :D

[wyrdkat]

I managed to get the 1000 words I wanted to get yesterday (plus a few extra) putting me at 47,651 at the end of day #22 :)