There are a millions thoughts spiraling around in my head right
now about this challenge, it was everything that I expected and everything I
wasn’t prepared for if that makes sense.
now about this challenge, it was everything that I expected and everything I
wasn’t prepared for if that makes sense.
The first week of the challenge was easy. I had already mapped out
my story pretty well, and had it sitting in my head for months waiting for the
writing to start so when it did it felt more like relief than anything. After
that I started to realize that I’m not the best writer. I mean I’m not
terrible, but punctuation and proper sentence structure are so not my thing. As
if you needed more examples just look around my blog for a minute. I’m great at
conversational writing, you know the kind of stuff that shirks sentence structure
and has a lot of run on sentences, yeah that is my thing, but you really can’t
do that when you are writing a novel for the masses.
my story pretty well, and had it sitting in my head for months waiting for the
writing to start so when it did it felt more like relief than anything. After
that I started to realize that I’m not the best writer. I mean I’m not
terrible, but punctuation and proper sentence structure are so not my thing. As
if you needed more examples just look around my blog for a minute. I’m great at
conversational writing, you know the kind of stuff that shirks sentence structure
and has a lot of run on sentences, yeah that is my thing, but you really can’t
do that when you are writing a novel for the masses.
I also realized that while I had mapped out the entire novel I hadn’t
thought about getting from point A to B in a seamless manner. I would write a
paragraph or a whole page and then have to stop re-read and re-write the whole
thing because it was out of character for someone, or it was too abrupt a scene
change. Half of the time I simply wrote a sentence similar to; who starts the argument?
Or How do they get on the roof? Yeah there are a lot of roof scenes in this
one, but what do you expect in a city without power, all they have is the moon.
Towards the end of the challenge I found myself wanting to go back to the beginning
and re-write scenes so that it made more sense with the ending. I know I still
need to do that, but that wouldn’t help me get to those 50,000 words so I had
to fight the urge and it was hard.
thought about getting from point A to B in a seamless manner. I would write a
paragraph or a whole page and then have to stop re-read and re-write the whole
thing because it was out of character for someone, or it was too abrupt a scene
change. Half of the time I simply wrote a sentence similar to; who starts the argument?
Or How do they get on the roof? Yeah there are a lot of roof scenes in this
one, but what do you expect in a city without power, all they have is the moon.
Towards the end of the challenge I found myself wanting to go back to the beginning
and re-write scenes so that it made more sense with the ending. I know I still
need to do that, but that wouldn’t help me get to those 50,000 words so I had
to fight the urge and it was hard.
I do feel super accomplished that I was able to complete all
50,000 words. I mean that’s a lot of words, a lot of time, and a lot of
thought. It was hard. Not quite as hard as everyone made it out to be; there
were definitely some hard parts, but there were also some easy parts. I really think
that writing character profiles and mapping out the novel gave me a huge leg
up. I also tried to write more than the 1667 words that were required daily so
that it wasn’t a terrible blow if I needed a night off here and there, and I defiantly
did. There was a time in the midst of week 3 & 4 where I was dangerously
behind, but I was able to catch back up without too much heart ache. The
hardest part was when I finished the story at 38000 words and realized all
those part’s I couldn’t write before were the only way that I was going to get
this thing done. Unfortunately around 43,579 words I decided that forcing more words into this book would only take up space and make it worse of a mess than it already was. I was struggling, and while I know now as I knew then that I could get there to the prized 50,000 it wasn’t going to benefit me or my story. I quit just a few days shy of Nov. 30, with a complete draft of my first novel. It equals roughly 175 pages in typical novel text and size. For someone who has never thought to take on a task such as this and who leans away from right brained activities I think that’s large accomplishment.
50,000 words. I mean that’s a lot of words, a lot of time, and a lot of
thought. It was hard. Not quite as hard as everyone made it out to be; there
were definitely some hard parts, but there were also some easy parts. I really think
that writing character profiles and mapping out the novel gave me a huge leg
up. I also tried to write more than the 1667 words that were required daily so
that it wasn’t a terrible blow if I needed a night off here and there, and I defiantly
did. There was a time in the midst of week 3 & 4 where I was dangerously
behind, but I was able to catch back up without too much heart ache. The
hardest part was when I finished the story at 38000 words and realized all
those part’s I couldn’t write before were the only way that I was going to get
this thing done. Unfortunately around 43,579 words I decided that forcing more words into this book would only take up space and make it worse of a mess than it already was. I was struggling, and while I know now as I knew then that I could get there to the prized 50,000 it wasn’t going to benefit me or my story. I quit just a few days shy of Nov. 30, with a complete draft of my first novel. It equals roughly 175 pages in typical novel text and size. For someone who has never thought to take on a task such as this and who leans away from right brained activities I think that’s large accomplishment.
Something that I was able to gain from this challenge is an
appreciation for how much I need creativity in my life. I’m an engineer, and my
day is typically spent doing paperwork and crunching numbers so forcing
myself to be creative for an hour each day actually caused a huge bloom in the amount of
creativity elsewhere in my life. I found myself aching to paint, and create
other things around the house instead of coming home and vegging out on the
couch. I feel much more light hearted, and happy than I have in a long time and
I think it’s proof that I need to make time
to create a priority in my life again. I may not write every single evening, but I will do something and hopefully these
feelings will only continue to flourish.
appreciation for how much I need creativity in my life. I’m an engineer, and my
day is typically spent doing paperwork and crunching numbers so forcing
myself to be creative for an hour each day actually caused a huge bloom in the amount of
creativity elsewhere in my life. I found myself aching to paint, and create
other things around the house instead of coming home and vegging out on the
couch. I feel much more light hearted, and happy than I have in a long time and
I think it’s proof that I need to make time
to create a priority in my life again. I may not write every single evening, but I will do something and hopefully these
feelings will only continue to flourish.
Overall I am happy with this challenge and I think I gained so
much more than its original intention. It is something that I would definitely do
again. Now to figure out what the next steps are with this novel.
much more than its original intention. It is something that I would definitely do
again. Now to figure out what the next steps are with this novel.
If anyone knows any content editors send them my direction. I will pay them in baked goods!
Now before I go I have to ask, have you been creative lately? Do
you think it’s an important part of living a balanced life?
you think it’s an important part of living a balanced life?
I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check again here frequently. I’m quite certain I will learn lots of new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!|
Wow, that is so inspiring! I’ve always wanted to take part in NaNoWriMo but I have no clue where to start building a story! Hearing your struggles and your success in completing a novel makes me want to try it this year.
Elizabeth
You should! Once you sign up they actually have a whole bunch of prompts and workbooks to help you develop the story. They even have meet ups and online boards so if you get stuck or something you can go and ask for help.