I have been such a blogging slacker this month. Thank you all for being patient with me while I toil through NaNo. Unlike some people (like ScopeDope), I am NOT done with my story yet. Here's what happened:
Shane went out of town to El Paso on business.
That's it. Nothing more. He went out of town. he was gone for a week. A whole darn week. And I just lost it, as usual.
Oh, I wrote while he was gone. Like the good little writer intent on finishing NaNo that I am, I managed to do my daily word count the whole time he was gone. For the most part. Of course, when I recently read what I'd written, it was one of those huge "WTF???" moments that I sometimes have.
It was bad. No, it was beyond bad. It was utter and total crap. How do I know this? Well, there were people in my story that had no business being there. I have no idea where they came from. I don't know who they are, or how they made their way into my story. It makes no sense. Plus, these people had totally hijacked my plot. I mean, they literally took it away from the location. They were almost in another freakin state! Seriously, they left the cozy little town that I had envisioned and traipsed down the highway to the beach, and stood there on the sand telling me this was where they wanted to be. HAH!
So now I'm stuck with over 20,000 words that I don't even remember writing, a plot that in no way resembles what I originally envisioned, and characters that I don't really know. I have no idea whether I should hit the delete button a few thousand times or keep writing. I'm wondering if I should just finish it up the way it is and do some major editing in December. See, I'm not sure if I have time to do a total re-write. And I'm thinking that kinda goes against the whole point of NaNo. So I'm heavily leaning towards getting my butt back upstairs in front of my laptop and just burying my head until I reach at least 50,000. It's not really that far off, but I'm just not sure where to go with this story.
One thing is for certain... if Penny expects me to pitch this crap in Jersey, she's lost her mind. I can't wait til December is over and I get back to my other story. At least those women don't fight me and take off for the beach when I least expect it. Well, now that's wrong, I guess. Because if I remember correctly, that's exactly what they were doing when I put them to bed on October 31st. Hmmm, maybe my stories are bleeding together. Or maybe the beach will be for me what Chicago was for SEP.
And did I mention that I read some fabulous books this week, in between trying to figure out where my NaNo story was heading? Well, I did. And I reviewed a few of them over on the book blog. And I've got even more to review next week, after NaNo is officially over.
Wish me luck, I'm headed back upstairs now.
And no, Sheryl, the book isn't done.
Yet.
11 comments:
Hey Dee,
I'm pretty sure there's no rule against a total rewrite for Nano-- and here's why.
Nano states that you are supposed to be writing a story that you've *never* written before. Some people pre-plot and some people don't. So, first drafts come at differnt times in the writing process for different people.
Person A) plotted out her whole story, made character charts and a collage in preperation for Nano.
Person B) can't plot or she can't write, so she thought a whole lot about the characters, asked herself "what if?" and started writing.
If person A is really fabulous and experienced she might be doing a bit of a rewrite and polish (and additions--nano's only 50K) to her nano project (and even then, many multi-published authors would be rewriting it to death. Look at Jenny's process) and it's probably much closer to the finished project thatn person B.
Person B has a rough draft that probably is bare-bones at best. Person B has scenes that don't belong, characters that don't belong, maybe a whole plot that isn't working. And that's fine too. Person B didn't do the prep work person A did. Person B's prep work *IS* Nano.
Person B has much rewriting to do. Person B might chuck her nano project all together and completely rewrite it.
There is no right or wtong way to write. God bless person A, but I could never write like that. I wish I could, but I can't. In order to figure out what I'm writing, I must *write*. I can't plot, graph or collage (though I might do those things way later) I must write.
Hope that helps.
And I am so impressed you met your word count goals while Shane was out of town. That's HUGE! I'm sitting at a little over 6,000 words and I'll never meet my goal of 15,000 words and I don't have any kids. You so impress me, girl.
Hugs!
Kim
Kim,
That's the totally weird thing - I can write no problem. I mean, it's really nothing for me to hole up in my room for an hour and walk downstairs later with over 2,000 words. That's what generally happens. I sit there, and get lost, and then stop to take a break, and word count, and I've done about 2,000 words. of course, now I realize that they don't usually make much sense...
Thanks for the encouragement. I had a decent start to a story before I started NaNo. I'd done research, character analysis, plotting, etc. Then, the night before I started, I just knew that I had to write a different story. It was frustrating, but I knew it had to be told. Unfortunatly, the story that popped into my head has been derailed, and I'm just not sure where to go now. I want to finish NaNo, I've put in a lot of time and tears to get this far, but I'm just not sure if this story can be saved.
here's to hoping.
Hey, just keep writing. Edit later. You have talent! And you never know, once you have it finished and set it aside for a few days, you may re-read it and see what your mind knew was supposed to be there!
I'm so proud of you for writing! You can do it I have no doubt!
Listen to Cherry Tea Dee. She is right. Just keep writing. I bet your mind has decided that this is the place the characters should be. Maybe you are too close to it to see that it is in fact a remarkable piece of writing so just keep on girl. Finish it and then edit, rewrite and rewrite like I will be. We have until Oct. to make it perfect.
Love you Dee.
Keep up the good work. Roll on.
Penny
Dee, Ditto on what everyone else has said. We're not supposed to have a perfect book in our first draft. We're still learning the craft.
If your characters have hijacked the story maybe subconsiously you wanted it to go in a different direction. Play with it. You can always delete and add later.
You can do it Dee. I know you can. Cheering you on here.
it's really nothing for me to hole up in my room for an hour and walk downstairs later with over 2,000 words. That's what generally happens. I sit there, and get lost, and then stop to take a break, and word count, and I've done about 2,000 words. of course, now I realize that they don't usually make much sense...
This is my process all the time. This is me. Sorry to have to tell you this because it sounds like you think like a plotter (where I'm totally organic) but really, at least THIS story is more organic than pre-pplotted. No crime in that.
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Hey, just keep writing. Edit later. You have talent! And you never know, once you have it finished and set it aside for a few days, you may re-read it and see what your mind knew was supposed to be there!
Charity's right. You just have to keep going. Let the girls have the lead and keep pushing forward. Stop going back and reading it. Now is not the time for that. Remember, nothing in writing is ever wasted. Even if you throw away 50,000 words of writing, it's still not wasted. You simply needed to get all that writing out to get where you needed to go. Writing is not fir wimps.
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We're not supposed to have a perfect book in our first draft. We're still learning the craft.
Hey, I've been studying craft for a good 7 years. And I've been studying with Jenny pretty much since JCF started and my first drafts are absolute garbage. Whether you're still learning craft or not, you should never expect anything to be perfect in the first draft. This is not the way writing works.
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Dee darlin', listen to all of us and cut yourself some slack. Seriously. You can do it. We know you can.
Huge hugs,
Kim
Dee
Maybe the hijacked story is the one you need to tell. Maybe the two stories actually mesh in a way that you can't possibly conceive until you're further down the road and can see it all coming together. Maybe there's some interesting stuff happening in your psyche that you should pay close attention to.
Maybe you should just keep writing, and finish the damn book!
Edit later. You'd be amazed at what you can save in editing.
(((Love ya)))
Exactly what everyone else is saying, Dee. I have SO much info dump in my story--it's absolutely embarassing!! But after struggling with that knowledge and the HUGE desire to hit the 'delete' key myself, I realized something. This NaNo thing? It's for ME. No one else. No one else is really going to read this crap that I am spilling out of my gut in the form that it is hitting the page. Like Cherry Red said, this is where I am doing a lot of my plotting and thinking.
I realize that this story in my head has been there forever, but over the years it has picked up a lot of stuff and I am trying to wade through all of it to find the bones of it again. I have another version in which I have 76 typed pages worth of stuff that is REALLY good BUT goes in a completely different direction than the newer version. Kind of like your girls leaving town and heading for the beach.
So I can totally relate. I think you need to do what I am doing. Juet put your head down and write. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to make sense now. Just have faith in the girls and let them tell you where you are going. Maybe the two stories ARE going to mesh. If they do, is that such a bad thing? Maybe what you will end up with is one truly AWESOME story instead of two "meh" stories!
So trust the girls. Road trips can be a lto fo fun--just ask Jenny!! *grin*
Hey Dee"
I think your answer is right here in the margins of your own blog. Look at the saying by Thoreau "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
So 'step to the music' sweetheart.Let your characters step to the music too. It is obviously different than what you hear. Just write it.
Love
Penny
You keep it up and it'll be aweosome. Trust your own writing.
Also, thanks babe for the link o' the month. You're sweet.
Trust yourself and your characters. I've been flying by the seat of my pants this time too. It's pretty scary, but it's also exciting when you finally see where you end up. I hope things are going better by now. :)
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