Thoughts on creative writing – Page 7

NaNoWriMo has finished – what am I doing now?

Now NaNoWriMo has finished, there is work to be done.

finish the story
read the story
either, give up and delete the whole thing, or begin some serious editing

What do I do instead? Make animated cartoons on the internet, of course!

Internal editor interfering again

My internal editor kicked into action today. I rewrote many of the paragraphs on the last two pages, reworked the dialogue, added a few things to previous chapters, did some spelling checks and generally messed about.

Then I remembered. The point of NaNoWriMo is to write, write and write. You can’t get to 50,000 words if you keep criticising your early work and editing. And I am so close.

So, damn you, internal editor. Get thee behind me. (At least for the moment ….)

Exceeding expectations – but far too wordy!

Today I am writing easily and have no problem with the plot. Words are flowing. I have even managed to note down a rough outline of the next section of the novel – although not to the end. That is still, as yet, uncertain and I like it like that. This is the joy of NaNoWriMo writing. It is seat of the pants stuff.

50,000 words is not the problem.

My main concern now is this. There is NO WAY that I will finish this story by the 30th November.

I am currently reading Brian Aldiss, The Dark Light Years, a book of 159 pages. At roughly 1,000 words per 3 pages, I reckon his book is almost exactly 50,000 words long. If he can write about alien civilisations, invent a futuristic world, multiple characters, discuss the nature of intelligence and cover two deep space expeditions, all within 50,000 words, then I should be able to write about a couple of weeks in the life of an obsessional teenager with the same concise brevity.

Now, I have to resist the temptation to start back at the beginning and do some serious editing ….

Resist! I must resist!

Ohhh, we’re half way there. Oh Oh. Living on a prayer.

Yes. 25,000 words have been done. I am singing the Bon Jovi song in my head.

And the plot is progressing. But I am beginning to feel worried, not about the word count, but about getting the story right. There are so many things happening now, I am conscious of trying to keep the plot in order, getting the time lines right, not leaving loose threads, etc.

It would be dangerous now to begin editing, or reworking, earlier parts of the story. I am resisting the temptation as much as I can. But I have gone back and added a few sentences to earlier chapters, in order to assimilate some of the later happenings into the earlier storyline.

Excuse me. Back to work. Only 25,000 words to go …..