Month: November 2023

Comically, I discovered yet another loose end that needed to be wrapped up today. I pushed through it (probably faster than I really ought to have) and the characters ended this writing session on a ship, on their way to the islands that I’ve been talking about for at least a week now. The change of scenery is nice, but I’m wondering if it will feel easier or harder to move to a new setting after spending quite a bit of time getting used to this one.

Once again, I was able to put in a little extra time and boost the word count, trying to get at least a day ahead of par. With any luck, I should be able to get there by tomorrow.

• Writing Time: 02:30
• Session Word Count: 2085
• Total Word Count: 30857 (30000 par)

I’m back in the saddle again, getting in a couple longer writing sessions and boosting my word count.

I’m happy that I was able to bank some extra words before missing a day, and it’s nice to be on vacation and able to immediately work on getting that count back up. I’ve had years where I fell behind early, and it’s demoralizing to know that you need to write even more just to stay on pace.

Today’s story involved some breaking and entering, scaling a wall, and a brief fistfight. And with that, my characters have finally done what needed to be done on shore. Next session, they head out to sea.

• Writing Time: 00:00
• Session Word Count: 0
• Total Word Count: 28772 (28333 par)

Well, it finally happened. The inevitable 0-word day. I was absorbed in chores during the morning and early afternoon, and then went out to a multi-person birthday celebration in the evening. I didn’t write at all. Now I’m out of the running for getting every single one of the badges on the NaNoWriMo website (which admittedly is not that big of a deal).

The good news is that I’ve been slowly getting ahead of par, so I was able to miss a day without actually falling behind. Hopefully I’ll be able to jump ahead again in the next few days.

• Writing Time: 01:05
• Session Word Count: 1,791
• Total Word Count: 28772 (26667 par)

Ah yes, vacation, where I didn’t actually write more, but at least felt nice and relaxed while hitting my normal quota.

I’m so close to wrapping things up in the port city and sending my characters on a very unpleasant journey by boat. However, I’ve managed to write my way into even more things that have to be wrapped up before that happens. So once again, I believe I have one more session before they can get on their way.

My documented writing time for this session is unreasonably fast compared to my average so far, but I suspect that’s just inaccuracy caused by several false starts where I wrote a bit, got distracted by something else, and came back later to start again.

Setting aside today’s accuracy, one interesting side effect of documenting the time I’m spending on writing is that I find the actual time doesn’t match up with how long it feels like it’s taking. Some days the writing feels hard or easy, and some days I get done thirty minutes faster or slower than usual. But often, those two things don’t match. Just because it feels slow and painful doesn’t mean it’s actually taking longer. I’m not sure what to do with that insight, but it’s interesting.

• Writing Time: 01:35
• Session Word Count: 1703
• Total Word Count: 26981 (25000 par)

It’s the official halfway point! I kind of feel like I’ve already been writing for a full month. On the other hand, I haven’t gotten as far into the story as I expected to by this point. I’ve gone on a few tangents.

This is also the evening before my week-long vacation, so I hope to do more writing in the next few days, and be less sleep-deprived.

This session, I finished the conversation that was needed to get the characters some vital information heading into the next part of the story. I’ve still probably got one more session of wrap-up, but it will be fun to get to some new scenery.

I mentioned at the start of the month that this story takes a little inspiration from Sherlock and James Bond. One of the questions I’m starting to run up against is how much the story wants to be about the mystery and detective work, and how much it wants to be about the characters solving problems with violence and blowing things up. So far I’ve chosen to lean a little more toward the Bond side. That’s mostly expediency, because I find it harder to craft a good mystery on the fly. I’ll probably look for more ways to improve the mystery aspects in revision.

• Writing Time: 01:35
• Session Word Count: 1790
• Total Word Count: 23413 (21667 par) 

I managed to set up a few more clues in this session, but there’s still quite a bit of legwork for the characters to get through before the next part of the story. My problem with this section was that the characters needed to get specific information, and I hadn’t planned out exactly how they would do that. They’re going to be in town a while longer than I expected, but now I feel like I understand roughly the sequence of events that needs to happen here.

I also wrote the second conversation between the main characters that reveals some of their backstories. This dialogue will probably feel way too blunt when I go back to reread, but it is fun to write. I’m still enjoying these characters.

I was very tired tonight, but I plowed through. I’m now a full day ahead of par, and I should be halfway done with my total word count by tomorrow.

• Writing Time: 01:35
• Session Word Count: 1790
• Total Word Count: 23413 (21667 par) 

I managed to set up a few more clues in this session, but there’s still quite a bit of legwork for the characters to get through before the next part of the story. My problem with this section was that the characters needed to get specific information, and I hadn’t planned out exactly how they would do that. They’re going to be in town a while longer, but now I feel like I understand roughly the sequence of events that needs to happen here.

I also wrote the second conversation between the main characters that reveals some of their backstories. This dialogue will probably feel way too blunt when I go back to reread, but it is fun to write. I’m still enjoying these characters.

I was very tired tonight, but I plowed through. I’m now a full day ahead of par, and I should be halfway done by tomorrow.

• Writing Time: 02:00
• Session Word Count: 1903
• Total Word Count: 21623 (20000 par)

Today’s session was interrupted by a few small distractions, so I took a little longer than usual. However, I ended with a few hundred extra words. I’m still not quite a full day ahead of par.

I’m starting to feel like the story is stalling in this coastal town, and I think I need to push through the necessary beats for the main characters to finally get to the islands where most of the rest of the story will happen. The pacing has been all wonky for the last couple sessions. I’m letting it happen and following some tangents, just in case I hit upon interesting ideas that are worth keeping. I guess this is what it feels like to be a gardener-style writer.

I’ve also been thinking that I probably am not doing enough to incorporate the magic system into the world and story. It’s come up a few times, but I think it needs to be more present throughout so that the rules are clear to the reader when the plot really hinges on it.

• Writing Time: 01:30
• Session Word Count: 1852
• Total Word Count: 19720 (18333 par)

Ah, a quiet weekend, and the peace of knowing that I can take my time reaching my word count. In this session, my main characters meet a new character who is incredibly straightforward. He has certain beliefs, and he acts on them with conviction. I’m enjoying having him in a story where most of the characters are very cagey about pretty much anything.

Now that I’m 1/3 of the way through NaNoWriMo 2023, I’ve been thinking about what I find valuable about the experience. I once wrote about what I like and dislike about NaNoWriMo, but I have a couple things to add.

First and foremost, I’m enjoying how it offers a clear goal and a deadline. For those of us who procrastinate or experience certain types of executive dysfunction, an externally imposed deadline can be a huge help in actually getting things done (even if there are effectively no external consequences for missing the goal).

Second, it is helping me to identify the questions I need to answer to write the book. Even though the version I’m currently writing may not address those questions, or not address them in great ways, I can identify the questions and decide on better answers in revision. In this sense, writing a book during NaNoWriMo is a bit like treating the whole book as a series of writing spikes.

While I was writing yesterday’s NaNoWriMo post I came up with a solution to the prison island transport dilemma: goods are being smuggled out in secret, but non-illicit stuff and personnel comes and goes on ordinary ferries. So both can serve a purpose in the story.

Blogging has provided me with so much evidence of the usefulness of journaling about my writing. While it sometimes feels like work on top of work, forcing myself to think about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it has done a ton to improve my writing.

• Writing Time: 01:15
• Session Word Count: 1691
• Total Word Count: 17868 (16667 par)

Today my characters were hanging out in the fishing village, talking with a bunch of unnamed characters that won’t come back into the story after this part. I did introduce a couple of minor named characters in the town who might have more to do before the story is over.

The main characters are in this port town to try to figure out what’s happening on some nearby islands, and possibly find a way to sneak onto the islands to investigate the prison there. In the process of working out how they might do that, I wrote some hints that there are goods being shipped out to the islands in the dead of night, but otherwise left the inhabitants of this village clueless about the islands.

At the end of my session, I looked at some of the notes I had about upcoming parts, and I realized I already had notes about this — they mentioned a ferry out to the islands and directly contradicted what I had already written. That simpler option really appeals to me, because I was already thinking about all of the plot hoops I’d have to jump through to get the characters on the islands. The problem wasn’t that it would be hard to write, I just didn’t think it would be very interesting.

If I were just writing at my own pace, I’d probably want to go back and make changes to what I had just written. During NaNoWriMo, I’m more inclined to leave it as-is and just add some notes about what I’d like to change. I can continue with the story as though I had made the change. The downside to that is that I’ve now got a “broken” story. The upside is that it doesn’t slow me down until revisions.