Another good day today. I swear at some point my daily word count will drop off but for now I'm enjoying writing this story and my viva isn't so close I feel I have to give up writing altogether.
Had a 600 word 25 minute session around lunchtime again as a reward for being productive then this evening I did a virtual write in with a bunch of other people in my area. It was interesting but I was more productive when I stepped away from the chat. Writing's a lonely activity at heart, but its' nice to have people to talk to when you take a quick break.
Managed to hit 2k today for the first time since the 2nd. The story's barrelling along nicely in a section I didn't quite anticipate having but fixes some of the contrivance issues I was worried about. Plus I had a character walk unexpectedly into my story tonight and I'm quite fond of them already. It's nice when things like that happen.
Double down day tomorrow. Will see how close to 4k I can get before a fall over. I'll give it a go but I'm out tomorrow evening so I might not hit that target. And I might not get a chance to blog. We'll see.
All I can do is take each day as it comes and keep on writing.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Day 4 1690 : Total 9129
Day 5 1887 : Total 11016
Day 6 2034 : Total 13050
Friday, 6 November 2015
Thursday, 5 November 2015
NaNoWriMo 2015 - Day 5
Remember remember the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Happy flashbang explodey things day to anyone in the UK. Happy Thursday to anyone else.
Pretty good day again today. Had a 600 word session around lunchtime as a reward for getting other stuff done and then a longer session after 10 pm. The story itself feels like it's storming a long and I'm still really enjoying writing it. Can't wait for it to be done so other people can read it.
I was pestering my brother last night about something related to the story because it lies within his field of expertise and I couldn't remember something I wanted. Ended up having a chat with him about the story and he seemed supportive and pretty excited about it, which was nice. He also had lots of ideas about the plot of the story itself. Which... I kind of get the urge to have input into someone else's story but I don't plan on taking any of the suggestions he made on board. At least not for this story.
It might seem a little rude but I really hate the idea of writing by committee. Which is partly the reason I've never done a workshop. If you revise your story and plot to try to please everyone you'll end up pleasing no one and you'll strip your voice out of the story to boot. So much writing advice talks about the importance of finding your voice and letting it shine through in the story, so why would I take it to a committee and let them polish my voice out?
I think the main reason I feel this way is because Dean Wesley Smith hates traditional workshops for stories and writing by committee. A lot of the advice I've really taken on board has come from Dean and it's my long term goal to end up with a career a bit like his. So that might be why I feel so strongly about this.
At the end of the day, it's your story. You write it the way you want to and worry about everything else later. Unless I ever purposely sit down to co-author something with someone I won't let any one else's ideas interfere with character or plot. Other people can help me clean up other things (spelling, typos, tense issues) after I'm done writing. They don't get a say in the story. Especially if they're not a writer themselves.
My story, my rules. I aim to have fun while writing and trying to please anyone but me during the writing process is a sure fire way to spoil my fun. So not gonna happen. But if talking to someone else about a story fires up some ideas for new stories then that's great. Because when I'm done with this one I plan to start straight on with the next story.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Day 4 1690 : Total 9129
Day 5 1887 : Total 11016
Happy flashbang explodey things day to anyone in the UK. Happy Thursday to anyone else.
Pretty good day again today. Had a 600 word session around lunchtime as a reward for getting other stuff done and then a longer session after 10 pm. The story itself feels like it's storming a long and I'm still really enjoying writing it. Can't wait for it to be done so other people can read it.
I was pestering my brother last night about something related to the story because it lies within his field of expertise and I couldn't remember something I wanted. Ended up having a chat with him about the story and he seemed supportive and pretty excited about it, which was nice. He also had lots of ideas about the plot of the story itself. Which... I kind of get the urge to have input into someone else's story but I don't plan on taking any of the suggestions he made on board. At least not for this story.
It might seem a little rude but I really hate the idea of writing by committee. Which is partly the reason I've never done a workshop. If you revise your story and plot to try to please everyone you'll end up pleasing no one and you'll strip your voice out of the story to boot. So much writing advice talks about the importance of finding your voice and letting it shine through in the story, so why would I take it to a committee and let them polish my voice out?
I think the main reason I feel this way is because Dean Wesley Smith hates traditional workshops for stories and writing by committee. A lot of the advice I've really taken on board has come from Dean and it's my long term goal to end up with a career a bit like his. So that might be why I feel so strongly about this.
At the end of the day, it's your story. You write it the way you want to and worry about everything else later. Unless I ever purposely sit down to co-author something with someone I won't let any one else's ideas interfere with character or plot. Other people can help me clean up other things (spelling, typos, tense issues) after I'm done writing. They don't get a say in the story. Especially if they're not a writer themselves.
My story, my rules. I aim to have fun while writing and trying to please anyone but me during the writing process is a sure fire way to spoil my fun. So not gonna happen. But if talking to someone else about a story fires up some ideas for new stories then that's great. Because when I'm done with this one I plan to start straight on with the next story.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Day 4 1690 : Total 9129
Day 5 1887 : Total 11016
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
NaNoWriMo 2015 - Day 4
You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?
That was me today. Got up slightly later than yesterday because it was the spouse's day off and I didn't want to disturb him. Had a bit of a dud day after that due to a nasty headache that derailed all my plans until about four o'clock. Got some viva prep done and settled in to write just before 9 pm.
Pleased with today's progress despite the fact this is my lowest word count yet. I'm still ahead, I've still got my buffer so I'm happy. My plan has gone right out the window for the moment because I'm writing more than I thought I'd be able to. I'll have to keep an eye out for burnout but so far I'm really enjoying my NaNo experience.
Story wise I'm just starting to get the interesting bits. And my main character is just about to go off in a direction I didn't quite expect her to go in which is nice. Might give me a few problems when it comes to introducing a secondary character later but I'll worry about that when I get to it. If I keep writing they might just stroll up and introduce themselves when the time is right.
Viva is a week tomorrow so I anticipate some word count drop off in the run up to that. It all depends on how well I do with my prep. I'll try again tomorrow to use writing as a reward for prep. Hopefully I'll have better luck than today.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Day 4 1690 : Total 9129
That was me today. Got up slightly later than yesterday because it was the spouse's day off and I didn't want to disturb him. Had a bit of a dud day after that due to a nasty headache that derailed all my plans until about four o'clock. Got some viva prep done and settled in to write just before 9 pm.
Pleased with today's progress despite the fact this is my lowest word count yet. I'm still ahead, I've still got my buffer so I'm happy. My plan has gone right out the window for the moment because I'm writing more than I thought I'd be able to. I'll have to keep an eye out for burnout but so far I'm really enjoying my NaNo experience.
Story wise I'm just starting to get the interesting bits. And my main character is just about to go off in a direction I didn't quite expect her to go in which is nice. Might give me a few problems when it comes to introducing a secondary character later but I'll worry about that when I get to it. If I keep writing they might just stroll up and introduce themselves when the time is right.
Viva is a week tomorrow so I anticipate some word count drop off in the run up to that. It all depends on how well I do with my prep. I'll try again tomorrow to use writing as a reward for prep. Hopefully I'll have better luck than today.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Day 4 1690 : Total 9129
NaNoWriMo 2015 - Day 3
Got a pretty good start today. I was up earlier than I am usually because I had a meeting today, so I got 600 words done before 9 am. Long break from writing after that because I was running around doing stuff and then I had a glorious nap in the afternoon.
Sat down to do some writing after 10 pm then got distracted by a new racing game I downloaded. Managed to get myself back on track and do some writing.
Onto chapter three now, and my protagonist is taking the deep breath before she plunges into the main plot of the novel. Still having great fun writing this. I keep making myself feel emotions and during one particular scene I made myself feel a bit nauseous. Which is all good really.
Hit 1701 words for the day and stopped there because I am a huge Star Trek nerd. Also because I'd hit a paragraph break.
Plan for tomorrow is to reward myself with half an hour of writing for every 45 minutes of viva prep I do. I'm making flashcards! We'll see how that goes.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Sat down to do some writing after 10 pm then got distracted by a new racing game I downloaded. Managed to get myself back on track and do some writing.
Onto chapter three now, and my protagonist is taking the deep breath before she plunges into the main plot of the novel. Still having great fun writing this. I keep making myself feel emotions and during one particular scene I made myself feel a bit nauseous. Which is all good really.
Hit 1701 words for the day and stopped there because I am a huge Star Trek nerd. Also because I'd hit a paragraph break.
Plan for tomorrow is to reward myself with half an hour of writing for every 45 minutes of viva prep I do. I'm making flashcards! We'll see how that goes.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Day 3 1701 : Total 7439
Monday, 2 November 2015
NaNoWriMo 2015 - Day 2
Got off to a pretty bad start today. Accidentally fell back asleep this morning and lost a few hours, missing an appointment I had in the process. Not the best start to a week or NaNo, but things like this are the reason I like to get as much done early on as possible; having a bit of a buffer to account for life getting in the way makes me feel a whole lot better.
I know I'm going to have some bad days this month, and a few days where I expect to write 0 words on account of the viva, so getting a lot done when I'm able to makes sense.
Despite the bad start I managed to get some writing time in while heading out for my rescheduled appointment. I had maybe an hour on public transport and in waiting rooms so I tapped away on my Kindle. Found myself thinking about a scene much further along in the novel so I wrote it down and got it out of my head. If I hadn't done that I think I'd have struggled to hit my target of 2k words today. And now I have somewhere in the region of 600 words to throw in a future chapter when the time comes.
Had a decent session this even and hit my target though I ran out of energy so couldn't push too hard. That's fine. I'm ahead at the moment. Still having fun writing , though I've just hit the first really difficult scene to get down. Stopping it halfway through tonight which will hopefully get me moving quicker tomorrow.
Onwards and upwards.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
I know I'm going to have some bad days this month, and a few days where I expect to write 0 words on account of the viva, so getting a lot done when I'm able to makes sense.
Despite the bad start I managed to get some writing time in while heading out for my rescheduled appointment. I had maybe an hour on public transport and in waiting rooms so I tapped away on my Kindle. Found myself thinking about a scene much further along in the novel so I wrote it down and got it out of my head. If I hadn't done that I think I'd have struggled to hit my target of 2k words today. And now I have somewhere in the region of 600 words to throw in a future chapter when the time comes.
Had a decent session this even and hit my target though I ran out of energy so couldn't push too hard. That's fine. I'm ahead at the moment. Still having fun writing , though I've just hit the first really difficult scene to get down. Stopping it halfway through tonight which will hopefully get me moving quicker tomorrow.
Onwards and upwards.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Day 2 2044 : Total 5738
Sunday, 1 November 2015
NaNoWriMo 2015 - Day 1
Nice start to the challenge today. It's a Sunday, I've had nothing particularity pressing to do and I spent most of the day at the in-laws. Nothing to do really except write, which is what I've spent the day doing. It's been a lot of fun actually, and so far pretty easy.
I don't know how much it's going to help that I've written this novel before. My novel this month is a complete rewrite of a story I initially wrote between July and December 2007. While I will always be extremely proud of the fact I finished a novel (something, I am told, a lot of budding writers never actually manage) I've never been all that pleased with the result.
And given how much my writing has improved in the last eight years I suspected it would be very obvious which bits I wrote eight years ago and which bits were done now. Add to that the fact both the story and characters have spent the last eight years inside my head, evolving and growing, I decided to completely scrap the previous version and start fresh.
So far it's going great, at least from my perspective. Better than I planned in fact, at least word count wise. I've introduced my main character and a few people close to her and I've started throwing crap at her to deal with already. I'm having an absolute blast and for me that is one of the most important things. That and writing consistently every day.
We'll see how the rest of the month shapes up but right now I'm feeling optimistic.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
I don't know how much it's going to help that I've written this novel before. My novel this month is a complete rewrite of a story I initially wrote between July and December 2007. While I will always be extremely proud of the fact I finished a novel (something, I am told, a lot of budding writers never actually manage) I've never been all that pleased with the result.
And given how much my writing has improved in the last eight years I suspected it would be very obvious which bits I wrote eight years ago and which bits were done now. Add to that the fact both the story and characters have spent the last eight years inside my head, evolving and growing, I decided to completely scrap the previous version and start fresh.
So far it's going great, at least from my perspective. Better than I planned in fact, at least word count wise. I've introduced my main character and a few people close to her and I've started throwing crap at her to deal with already. I'm having an absolute blast and for me that is one of the most important things. That and writing consistently every day.
We'll see how the rest of the month shapes up but right now I'm feeling optimistic.
November Word Count
Day 1 3734 : Total 3734
Friday, 30 October 2015
State of the Tonks Address
I was musing earlier about how much I'd written this month. I had a vague inkling that it was one of my more prolific months writing wise (now that the dreaded thesis is out of the way—hurrah! Just the dreaded viva left) but I didn't really understand how prolific until I looked at the numbers.
With a day and a bit left to go I'm on track to have written 15,000 words during October, making it a pretty good month overall. Not my best this year, but pretty good.
Except, for possibly the first time in my life, the vast majority of those words have been for original fiction, quite a lot of which has been inflicted on an unsuspecting public. I'm quite proud of my output for this month wanted to take a moment to brag a little and point you in the direction of any stories that might have slipped under your radar.
October started off slow on the writing front. Mostly due to the fact I was on a cruise for the first nine days of it, but also partly because I was basking in the glory of having (finally!) submitted my thesis. When you've been working on a document for over a year it feels good when it's finally done. A little weird, but good. Nevertheless I managed to write a few words while ostensibly on holiday, but the real work started when I got back.
Since October 10th I have written three stories for the weekly whimword flash fiction competition. The prompts were Glow, Featureless and Hallow. I'm proud of all three pieces, but especially Glow, which was declared the winner that week!
In addition to this I cooked up 750 words of horror for a competition; results still pending on that one. When the results are announced I'll decide what I'm going to do with both the pieces I entered (one was written months ago) that is assuming I don't win, in which case they’ll be published elsewhere. Exciting.
Over on twitter the inestimable @FrogCroakley set up a SF story swap which has had a great response. Somewhere in the region of 60 of us threw prompts into the pot and the majority of us completed the task, resulting in something of a headache for Mr Frog. My piece is a slightly whimsical ode to some of my favourite childhood films and can be found over here.
I also sent in a bizarre spoken word piece (yes, spoken word; I know, with this voice) to the inaugural Lies Dreaming podcast. It's an eldritch tale involving Tim Henman and I'll no doubt post here when it's release to the world. Assuming they don't decide either the content or my voice are unsuitable for the general public.
I also wrote a triptych of flash pieces that I’m quite proud of, though I've yet to work out quite what I'm doing with them. They're a little to close to real life to be sci fi I'm not sure what else to call it. My big achievement though was the 4k words I wrote on a story I started way back in June or something like that, finally getting that done. That too was supposed to be a flash piece and is now sat at 6.5k words. Oh well, never mind; sometimes things get away from you. I'll be looking for a home for that in the near future too.
I went into this month wanting to be relatively prolific as a bit of a warm up for next month in which I will be attempting NaNoWriMo. This will be my first year but after two successful Camp NaNos under my belt I decided it was time. Next month I will be attempting a complete redraft of a novel I first wrote about 8 years ago. The original was a hell of an achievement at the time but I've improved a lot in the intervening years and it isn't really salvageable in its current state. So I will be starting again from scratch and looking to hit 50,000 words by the end of November.
With a bit of luck (and a lot of discipline) I'll be blogging here every day, recording my experience of NaNoWriMo. Possibly so that when I'm considering doing it again next year I have evidence of it being a terrible idea. Almost everything else is being put on hold for NaNo. I might do a whimword or two, but there are no guarantees.
And I still have a viva to sit next month too.
I keep pointing out that I'm not a sensible person.
After November? Well I'm crossing my fingers that my viva goes well and I'll be doing thesis corrections to submit before Christmas. Then it'll be time to look for a proper grown up job.
Writing wise my post November plans are to start sending stories out for publication, and finish my current works in progress. I have some exciting (and no doubt foolish) plans for next year and I want to draw a line under this year's efforts.
Keep your eyes peeled for more from me. My PhD is almost over but my writing career is just beginning. Just wait and see.
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