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Nov. 30th, 2008 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wildflowersoulSo, NaNoWriMo. I kind of can't believe I did it. 52,555 words, and I have a complete first draft manuscript, beginning to end, with actual plot and characters that are probably too Mary Sue, but they do stuff and say things, and it actually resembles a novel. Luckily for me, average word counts for young adult novels fall into the 40K-60K range. I think I have major problems with my tenses, a bunch of historical inaccuracies that need to be corrected, and some issues with pacing in the middle, but I'm going to let it rest for a few weeks, do some more historical research in the meantime, and then go back to it for a rewrite once I've had a break. After a rewrite I may tap a few people to read it for more editing help.
I grew to really enjoy the structure of writing every day, and I'd like to continue that habit somewhat, though I don't think I can sustain the every day thing without a concrete deadline forcing me to discipline myself. But it's a really nice feeling to know that with some determination, it's possible to pull this crazy thing off. I never got the "my characters talk to me in my head!" thing that real-life authors tend to say happens to them, but I did experience the magic of "just start writing and something will happen" a few times, and I have to say, that was a huge rush. There were also lots of moments of despair and boredom and feeling like I would never slog through to the end.
I grew to really enjoy the structure of writing every day, and I'd like to continue that habit somewhat, though I don't think I can sustain the every day thing without a concrete deadline forcing me to discipline myself. But it's a really nice feeling to know that with some determination, it's possible to pull this crazy thing off. I never got the "my characters talk to me in my head!" thing that real-life authors tend to say happens to them, but I did experience the magic of "just start writing and something will happen" a few times, and I have to say, that was a huge rush. There were also lots of moments of despair and boredom and feeling like I would never slog through to the end.
