Graverobber wrote:ALynnPowers wrote:I wanted to bump this topic since I remember mentioning Nanowrimo here, and I was thinking that maybe some people might be getting read for it -- just a month and a half to go!
I will personally increase my writing goals during the month of November, just because I like the challenge to get 50,000 words out of my head and onto paper.
You don't actually write a novel "for" the website. It's not posted anywhere for anyone else to read. It's just about having a lot of people joined virtually joined together for the same purpose and sharing an experience revolving around the love of writing. It's up to each individual to take what he or she has written during the month and transform it into something publishable. Last year, "winners" who completed the challenge actually received a coupon for a couple of free paperback copies of their novels through a partnered printing company.
Alot of the authors I "follow" do nanowrimo so I've known about it for years.
I always thought it was cool.
Er, "a lot" is two words. Your sigline has these HUGE capital letters, which is called "shouting" online and can be somewhat annoying to see. Is that your quote? Do you write SF? Just wondering.
-- 19 Sep 2014, 14:16 --
SCTurner wrote:Every time that I set a goal to do something daily, it always falls apart. For my self-published book, my first, I would set the goal by tasks with no due date. First would be to write a summary of how I want the book to be. Sometimes this would take two to three months as it changed a lot. Then the next goal would be to type it into a word document and expand upon it which can take more months. After this other tasks are taken into consideration to complete the third draft and then so on until I am satisfied.
To create a goal of writing every day is something that I would love to do and perhaps I would keep trying until it kicks in.
SC, you're blocking yourself from writing without even realizing it, just this one person's opinion. How? First, you say "self published" as if your book won't be good enough to be sold to a real publisher who will pay you real money for it. You're in a way boxing your talents in without even starting.
Then you cast everything in future tense -- "how I want the book to be" and "would be to type..." and so on. If you keep couching your writing for something that's going to occur in the future, you'll never do anything productive.
My recommendation is to say: "The novel I'm working on now is just in its formative stages but I've finished a plot outline and rough notes, so I already know the general story. I try to write a chapter a day but that's not always possible. So I don't have fixed daily goals but my purpose is to complete my book by fall, then spend time carefully revising and proofreading it, and then seek an agent or publisher."
And so on.
Believe me, my suggestion is START the new novel. If you're a bit stuck, don't try to write "Chapter 1: I am born." (ha ha) but instead just write "Chapter xx" that contains a certain event or story line that's been bubbling in your head a while. All novels consist of plot arcs. There's an overreaching major arc that covers the entire book, then there are smaller arcs, usually 3, that are (normally) 1- lay out the premise and introduce the major characters, and set the action going, 2- have the major characters or central protagonist encounter some critical change or event that is the core of the book, and 3- deal with the outcome and resolution of that major event.
Within these 3 major arcs (typical for any novel but by no means mandatory 3 in number) are then smaller arcs, usually 2-3 chapters that describe a certain event, such as "ch 12- the heroine is invited to a big party, ch 13- the party, and ch 14- the big letdown afterwards. Something like that.
So let's say that your heroine (just for an example) at the big party is that critical event or happening that's been bubbling in your head. Start your novel by writing that chapter. And maybe another chapter where the vampire is first seen. Or maybe where the hero gets fired from his job. Whatever ideas that you've had in your mind that generally describe things you want the novel to talk about, write those chapters first. That's if you're stuck in starting that Chapter 1. Then, as you flesh out the critical chapters, you'll find it lots easier to write the surrounding and connecting chapters, the setup stuff.
But don't plan and plan and "dream" of self publishing. That's a wash.
Instead, if you must dream, imagine your agent having sold your first novel to Doubleday and the advance is $50,000.
Hey, it happens. But it can only happen if you first write the darn book. Right now you're "planning about planning" which will absolutely, definitely drain your resolve and energy. Honest.
-- 19 Sep 2014, 14:33 --
ALynnPowers wrote:
I will personally increase my writing goals during the month of November, just because I like the challenge to get 50,000 words out of my head and onto paper.
That's where we differ, I guess. If I'm gonna churn out 50k words, it will be for the purpose of selling that book and otherwise getting it published and hopefully on the bookshelves at my local store. And making a few bucks off that, too.
I do some writing for charity of course. I'm working on an article for my local diocesan magazine right now. That's gratis.
And I've just finished a couple of new book reviews. Typical of most book reviewers, we aren't paid but get the new book to keep as a trophy, rememberance, or maybe paperweight, depending on the novel inside, ha ha.
But believe me, I just finished my new novel (64k words) and it wasn't written just for fun. Of course I love writing and feel essentially compelled to write. That's a must, and like you, I've got a zillion words buzzing around in my head all the time that are just demanding to be stuffed into a Word doc.
But me, I bend that impulse toward a productive goal: getting published, getting my stuff sold, getting it out there to the readership and the "fans" (I've got 4 whole fans! Yea!) who will actually spend bucks for something I've written, which is always gratifying and somewhat of a surprise to me, ha ha.
But writing a book just because? Mmmm, as I said, why not just write the thing and convert it to PDF and put it on Facebook for download? That's what self publishing is anyway, for the most.
But I'm a bit cynical about writing and my focus is principally on selling what I write, so that's just me.
Thanks for the added info on Na-- write.