Yesterday I managed to NOT FAIL ALREADY on my National Novel Writing Month project. But people - I have a huge problem. HUGE.
I have no fucking clue what I my book is about.
I have an excerpt on my Nanowrimo page, and a synopsis, but the five hundred and fifty-five words I wrote yesterday (only off by 1,112 words!) have almost nothing at all to do with the plot line I had planned for. And by plot line, I mean the which story I am going to tell about myself. This should not be so hard.
This might not be the point of National Novel Writing Month. I read the forums and people are all "I wrote just over 2000 words this morning and I'm still not entirely sure what my story is about. That is the most I've written in one sitting in about two years. This month is going to be fun!"
But I sort of feel like - what the hell is the purpose of writing 50,000 words - what equates to approximately 200 pages - if you don't have a plot? This is not beat poetry. Stoned people don't read books anymore. Books need plot lines.
I told Husband my idea of focusing on pulling stories from my blog, cleaning them up and making them cohesive and he pointed out that this sort of escapes the objective. Perhaps it does, but completely rewriting my time in Paris based on what is left of my disintegrating, medicated brain seems like a hopeless task. After all, I wrote it all for just this reason.
That being said, everything I wrote last night was written in what I feel is a totally different style, thus squelching the whole "cohesive" idea.
Oh lord, I am surely thinking about this too damn much. That's the only problem, right?
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Progress Report
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4 comments:
Sometimes you tell the story..sometimes the story tells itself to you. Keep writing.
Absolutely keep writing.
A lot of people use NaNoWriMo as a month to revise or rework their manuscripts. I say, definitely use this month to write all of your stories into something more cohesive, something that works better for you.
And don't stop writing - you can do it! <3
I haven't even started because I can't come up with a good idea. They say "write what you know" but I know pets, hating France (most of the time), and being an English teacher (and hating that all of the time). Doesn't sound like a best seller to me :(
I really want to do it, but I don't just want to write for the sake of completing my daily quota of words. I have to have a direction to make the ideas flow.
Haven't given up, but am definitely in need of a sudden burst of inspiration for a story idea.
Sarah - This is just what I needed to hear. It got me through last night. Thanks.
Shosh - So if I did what I thought was "cheating" it wouldn't really be cheating? I am much happier thinking I have chosen a month to work solidly on my book rather than writing just to write.
Crystal - YES! I know exactly what you mean! It's a whole DIFFERENT exercise to write a quota of words every day than ACTUALLY completing a novel in one month. But for the record? I think a book about hating France would be an instant hit! People want to know the flip side. :) I would read it. (P.S. - I am emailing you back soon.)
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