NaNoWriMo 2009 - That's a Wrap!
Dec. 1st, 2009 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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- Plautus

So how do you plan to celebrate?
The clock has struck midnight in my part of the world and so NaNoWriMo has come to a close for me this year. All-in-all, it was a pretty fantastic ride and I have 58,000 words to celebrate!
Certainly my novel needs much work before I will be able to say that it is finished but finish I will! For as Scott Westerfeld advises: Finish everything!
There will always be a part of your brain that wants to give up when characters aren't behaving, when you don't know where to go next, when the inspiration has faded.
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 Prizeāit's good practice to type THE END.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 02:29 am (UTC)I've started madly pruning my novel - chucked out 2500 words so far. Deliciously, I'm still above 50K. I like that. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 06:29 am (UTC)Also, getting out of the apartment. I hear that's nice.
Well, and I also bribed myself to finish with the promise of these.
Congratulations to all writers, and again, thank you,
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 06:40 am (UTC)Thank you for this great comm, btw. I wasn't always able to comment, but I found the posts really inspiring. It's so nice to know you're not on your own during this confusin time.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 07:37 am (UTC)That being said, I have a very good foundation for a novel and in the coming weeks/months I'll keep adding to it until the story is fully told. It's far from done, considering that 50k barely touched where I wanted to go with this story.
Needless to say, it was nice to have another nanowrimo win after a few off seasons. Congratulations to everyone who tried as well as those who conquered. We all accomplished something this month, even if we didn't finish.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 08:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 12:02 pm (UTC)Then, it's back home to the writing, and preparing for tomorrow's job interview.
Other than that? Life once again returns to the normal daily grind.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:19 am (UTC)What book do you have? I've been reading through Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore by Elizabeth Lyon which has some interesting ideas...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 05:14 pm (UTC)Perhaps my reward will be decadent chocolate.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-02 12:05 am (UTC)Anyway, you're the one that found the quote, in the end.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:29 am (UTC)And it seems to be a general consensus of opinion among writers that it's a good idea to let your first draft sit a while before editing. So you're in good company!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-03 12:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-03 11:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-04 01:32 am (UTC)