October Noveling! - Page 2

[allgirls]

I am at 72, 753 words today! I'm so closing in on this thing..first draft completion I mean!

Aufilia..yeah, it's easier when you are only several chapters from the end to not get caught up.

I wasn't able to move on until I rewrote it with my idea in it and now that it is done I feel free to move on.

I wrote 2500 words today...worked out a character introduction(she's important but not in the book much(I'm thinking of writing her story for my next novel actually)

It was a good day.

One of my blogs is featured at a big health conference today and tomorrow and the graphics disappeared from the page...great timing uh?

[1jooj]

on the progress!

I wrote a first draft of a poem today from a fragment I'd jotted on a slip of paper a few days ago. Needed to work that out before I could move on, as I am moving into a new scene in the novel. Working on that this evening.

I am so pleased to be writing for myself.

[allgirls]

Originally Posted by 1jooj

on the progress!

I wrote a first draft of a poem today from a fragment I'd jotted on a slip of paper a few days ago. Needed to work that out before I could move on, as I am moving into a new scene in the novel. Working on that this evening.

I am so pleased to be writing for myself.

Awesome! I have a poetry book being published in November! I love poetry writing!

[Aufilia]

Awesome on the poems, both of you! I couldn't write a decent poem to save my life.


I sent out e-queries to 3 agents today! And I've another set of query stuff waiting to be printed since the next agent on my list requires a paper mail query. This is not to say I finished chapter 31, but it only needs like 1 more paragraph... and time is running out, here! 13 days left until this kid is due.

I still have all my chapters in separate files, and they aren't even all formatted the same. I need to open them all up one at a time, fix the formatting, and schlep them into a big long novel file...

I should feel more accomplished. It's kind of been a trying week so far as DH had a great interview last week and then 3 days of followup by 2 recruiters, and now... total silence. Last week I was so sure he was going to get a job offer that would've been good enough that I could stay home with the kids and do more writing, too, and now I'm really not certain at all.

[allgirls]

Sending out queries! How exciting! I agree that if you're that close why the heck not. Do you send out the first 5 chapters with that? I've decided to not even bother getting into that until I've finished. My goal is to write a book, not publish a book.

Once the writing is done, I'll get on with the other..that way the old creative energy isn't blocked with the mundane stuff.

Good luck! I'm so excited that you are finished!

[1jooj]

Boom! 1500w. Just going with the flow...

Queries! That IS exciting! I cannot imagine how that must feel...I mean, I think about the gut-wrenching experience of committing to the identity of a writer. I hope I have the guts for that someday. Yay you!

[allgirls]

Originally Posted by 1jooj

Boom! 1500w. Just going with the flow...

Queries! That IS exciting! I cannot imagine how that must feel...I mean, I think about the gut-wrenching experience of committing to the identity of a writer. I hope I have the guts for that someday. Yay you!

yay!

[Aufilia]

1500, woohoo! I'm trying to decide if I should plunge into another novel or what... I have some short stories I could pull out and revise. Maybe.

As for the queries, each agent seems to have different requirements. Two wanted a query letter, synopsis, and 5 pages. One wanted a query letter, synopsis, and the first chapter (and that's the one that only accepts queries by postal mail). Two want JUST a query letter. (I decided 5 was enough to start with.)

ONE of them already rejected me, too. Pooh. Oh, well. It's kinda like selling short stories, I'm starting with the agents who are top names in the field and working my way down. Though I only have 17 agents on my list so it's not like there's a long way down to go.

[allgirls]

1300 words today and a bit of fixing up but I only had a hour and a half to write today so I'm calling it a huge victory. Managed to squeeze some research into it as well.

Pshaw...well the thing with agents is they are not necessarily looking for "good" but rather "marketable" so timing is everything...ten years ago Twilight might not have been published..it hit an agent a the right time.

And it's not great work, but sure is marketable!

[fullofgrace]

Aufilia - Queries!! Very exciting!

1jooj - Grats on 1500 words!

allgirls - Funny you should say that. I am currently stuck on mundane stuff. lol It's my perfectionism getting in the way. I may finally just give in to my planner side and do a more complete outline to get it out of my system once and for all.

[allgirls]

Originally Posted by onetruething

Aufilia - Queries!! Very exciting!

1jooj - Grats on 1500 words!

allgirls - I may finally just give in to my planner side and do a more complete outline to get it out of my system once and for all.

I did a chapter by chapter on a spreadsheet to see where I was, holes I needed to fill etc. and it was very motivating....what I had done was way bigger than what was left. It helped tremendously and I think improved the book considerably, making it more organized. I have to do it again soon, because I've done so much work, and not updated. But it'll be easier this time. And as it stands I think my first 5 chapters are DONE anyway.

Perfectionism can be paralysing if you don't recognise it and realise that something is better than nothing and crap can be shovelled up.

Also, usually, I write a bunch of crap, inspiration kicks in and suddenly something great comes out.

I'm sitting here wondering...should I open the spreadsheet. The house is a mess, I need to go to the store, I'm making a portabello lasagna for dinner and I pick the kids up in an hour...I really shouldn't but I want to!

I love writing!

[Aufilia]

Originally Posted by allgirls

Pshaw...well the thing with agents is they are not necessarily looking for "good" but rather "marketable" so timing is everything...ten years ago Twilight might not have been published..it hit an agent a the right time.

Right, and that "marketable" thing is probably going against me. Right now urban fantasy is the hot SF/F subgenre. Like if you look up SF/F new releases on Amazon, I think about 90% of everything is urban fantasy of some sort. And I just do not write that at all.

Originally Posted by onetruething

allgirls - Funny you should say that. I am currently stuck on mundane stuff. lol It's my perfectionism getting in the way. I may finally just give in to my planner side and do a more complete outline to get it out of my system once and for all.

I did an outline before writing mine, and I felt it really helped me get the story organized in a way that worked for me. I used Excel as well, and summarized each scene, one scene per cell... I probably had around 60 scenes though I haven't counted.

[allgirls]

Last night I sat down and read the entire manuscript...ok...I have around 6 chapters to write or scenes to add to chapters including a major one that will be short and intense(a death) and then the reaction to the death. I'm leaving them until last but they're all thought out in my mind. They're not the end of the story but they're very emotionally charged and have to be perfect. Plus I'm afraid to write the death because there is more the character has to do in the book and I'm afraid I will get hung up on the fact that he's dead..I know, silly but they're real to me.

And I have several more chapters to write that have to show the essence of the relationship between the two lovers. They are fillers really but very important but difficult because they have a secret affair that always takes place at her house so not a lot of scenery so it's all dialogue and description but not a lot of variety. Two chapters will be all lovey dovey and then the rest will have examples of things drifting apart.

But that's it.

And when I read through last night I thought "this is a good first draft" and I'm very happy with my work.

It was a decision making night as well. I cut some stuff, my word count is down but I may cut more.

So now it's back to actual writing because the story needs to be finished.

And that's how the outline works for me...I go back to my spreadsheet now, check of what's done, enter what needs to be done and then move on to the next one...until all blanks are filled.

Next time I think I'm doing an outline first.

[1jooj]

At least you know exactly what you need to do, right?

I hit a speed bump with a couple of days with zero time inside the house to write. I plan to spend about two hours today while kids are at school. I have a party away from home tomorrow and will likely have some time in the evening, and Sunday should give me a couple of hours to work. I'll be back at goal soon. I know where to start as soon as I have a moment.

[JennyClaire]

Originally Posted by allgirls

Last night I sat down and read the entire manuscript

I started reading my 2nd draft 2 weeks ago and I'm only halfway through! Ugh!

Have your readers given feedback yet?

Originally Posted by Aufilia

And do you really want to wait until it's "perfect" in your mind to have someone else tell you all the places where it might NOT be perfect? Depressing!

Hmmmm. Good point! It's funny, I am very open to suggestions in some areas, while you couldn't pay me to change others --- even to sell the novel. I know I've captured these scenes the way I want them, even if I'm the only person in the world to see it that way.

Do any of you have parts of your stories that you wouldn't change for anyone?
I know there is a school of thought that a writer should always be willing to rewrite, but is anything sacred?

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by allgirls

Perfectionism can be paralysing if you don't recognise it and realise that something is better than nothing and crap can be shovelled up.

Also, usually, I write a bunch of crap, inspiration kicks in and suddenly something great comes out.

Originally Posted by Aufilia

I did an outline before writing mine, and I felt it really helped me get the story organized in a way that worked for me. I used Excel as well, and summarized each scene, one scene per cell... I probably had around 60 scenes though I haven't counted.

Originally Posted by allgirls

I cut some stuff, my word count is down but I may cut more.

So now it's back to actual writing because the story needs to be finished.

And that's how the outline works for me...I go back to my spreadsheet now, check of what's done, enter what needs to be done and then move on to the next one...until all blanks are filled.

Next time I think I'm doing an outline first.

Thanks for this!! It was such a beautiful Autumn day yesterday. I grabbed my notebook and a pen, sat outside and gave the Snowflake Method a whirl. It worked! Something about being outside just inspires me. This would be a wonderful revelation if a New England winter weren't on its way next. LOL I only got through step #2, but I feel so good. I'm moving forward versus feeling stuck.

[allgirls]

Yay! Glad it's working for you!

Another tool that I like is the "comments" part of Word.

I set the comment at the word (Chapter) and write in the comment what it's about. If I feel the need to add a chapter...I simply write the word Chapter and some ideas of what the chapter will have/the scene etc. and "to be written"

I'm writing one chapter today and then putting comments on my chapter headings. It really helps find stuff when you are shuffling through as well.

[allgirls]

Wrote two chapters and I'm up to 75, 662. I wrote almost 3000 words today. I have a challenging chapter coming up and I may have to change a chapter to make this work...but progress is progress right?

[fullofgrace]

Grats!!

One of my lightbulb moments today -- I WILL get to satiate my geek side due to the research into Greek Mythology I will need to do. Yay!

[Aufilia]

Sat down last night and wrote down some thoughts I'd had on a book2. I ended up writing synopsis-style in a Word doc instead of my spreadsheet. So I've got a writeup of the first two or three chapters and some notes about related events later in the story. A minor character who appeared in about 5 pages of book 1 turns out to be important in hindsight...

I'm thinking I'd like to sit down and write 2 or 3 chapters now, if I can, even if I'm not sure what all happens after that. I'm pretty sure I won't be writing much after this kid is born for awhile anyhow.