I Did It

I finished my Nano “novel” today at just over 50,000 words and typed THE END.

50,000 words of science fiction poured from my fingers onto my screen this month.
The quality is... indescribable but don't mind that, just look at the number of words! So many words!

I have a purple bar and access to a lot of “prizes” that are mostly money off writing tools that I don’t want to use. I suppose I also have bragging rights.

I just feel tired.

Other years I’ve been so happy to make it past the finish line. This year, I’m glad I wrote the story and found out what it was about and how it ended but I’m not sure what to do with it now.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so flat at the end of NaNoWriMo.

And now I've got no excuse for avoiding anything I don't want to do. Maybe I need to do another challenge in December.

NaNoWriMo in All Its Glory

I was asked on Quora about previous Nano novels, and looking back I realised I've had a very chequered Nano career. I’ve got a lot of finished (but mostly unedited) stories and a couple of unfinished ones and the quality really varies.

2004 The Coven.

A group of would-be witches get in over their heads and need help to get one of their own back from an alternate reality.

Mostly very bad, but with odd flashes of “where did that come from?”

2006 Another Way

A quantum computer becomes sentient.

Probably one of my favourites of all my books. It has a lesbian couple as the main protagonists, and two bedroom scenes. Mind you, one is a quarrel and one is a pillow fight, but still.

2007 Missing

A young child goes missing and his sister tries to rescue him with the help of her professor.

Very badly written and unresearched on police procedure. A few nice moments with the kid from his point of view.

2008 Magic Time

Three children go back through a portal into an earlier time.

Unfinished and probably just as well. I think I got 24k words before I ran out of steam.

2009 Space Escape

Something about rescuing sentient animals.

Even looking at the draft I can’t make sense of it. Not one of my better efforts.

2010 The Silver Flute

Claire falls through into an alternate universe where science is masquerading as “magic” and she finds a flute that is the key to opening the doors to other worlds. Will she fall in love and stay in the new world or return to her own? And how?

A very messy book but it’s my favourite because I loved the characters of Claire, the journalist with the temperament of a librarian, and Rhea, the innkeeper she falls in love with. Although it’s technically finished, Claire ends up with the wrong person and I want to rewrite it to the ending I really want.

2011 Timeless

A Mary-Sue character gets abducted by time travellers and after adventures in the future sets up her own rival time travel agency. With a cast including a clapped-out AI, blue and grey humans and an annoying cousin.

An OK story. As usual some fun parts and some less so.

2012 Saving Space Through Tessellation

When Sylvie's father is kidnapped from a secure science lab, her life is in danger as much as his. Can she escape from the confines of her school with the help of her two friends and rescue her father, who is being held on another planet in another galaxy?

Includes a man in a crocheted chicken suit and a random penguin. (It was just after Random House and Penguin merged. I really thought they should have chosen the name “Random Penguin”.)

It’s a bit of a schoolgirl romp and I had fun with it. It's also my favourite of all my titles.

2014 Marked

When Amy inherits a country cottage from her Gran she also inherits a mysterious book which turns out to be cursed. In trying to remove the curse, Amy sets free a demon who places his mark on her. Can she get rid of the mark before she succumbs to its power and becomes possessed by the demon?

Unfinished at 28k because I took the book in a direction that didn’t work. Not one I want to go back to.

2015 Twisted

Em's difficult home life makes her an obvious target for anyone looking for disaffected youngsters. A shady group who claim to be exploring a distant planet recognise her potential and enlist her for her science background. But what is really going in with the Asimov Foundation?

I don’t remember much about this one which is a bad sign!

One year I tried editing instead of writing. That didn’t go well. Some years I just didn’t write at all.

This year I won't know how well it's gone until afterwards. At the moment I'm putting off writing my story by blogging instead. At least I've written every day so far, except for a pre-arranged day off. Tomorrow is another day off. I ought to get onto my story now and stop playing online.

The Worst Story

This is how I'm keeping track of my word count. I've got two days when I know I won't be able to write so I'm trying to get ahead as much as I can.

I'm already at the stage of using up a lot of my preplanned plot, and feeling that this has to be the worst story ever.

My aliens look like large blobs of jelly, with many eyes on stalks around the top which are in constant movement. They  have complete rotational symmetry so they have no front or back; they have tentacles round their middles and stumpy legs. They can’t hear and they communicate by flashing coloured patterns over their skin.

I also have another set of aliens that look like Wookies, and the ones that look like crickets but are the size of a large poodle. The latter are companion animals to the Wookies, sort of.

It all seemed so logical at the time.

Day three of Nano

I've had three reminders to donate to Nano so far, so that averages one a day.

It was the constant demands for money that made me give up after 2015 and not write at all last year. This year I don't know if I'll donate because my main support is on Quora and Ravelry and not on the Nano forums which are well-nigh unusable.

I love the creativity of Nano but it's a pity that it's being turned into a mostly fund-raising event.

Nevertheless, I now have over 7,000 words written. It's been a tough one today. I wrote before checking any social media using mostly ideas I'd planned out over the last month and some I came up with on my bike ride yesterday.

Then I went out for a cycle ride hoping to come up with some more ideas but today that just didn't happen.

I'm going to be running out of preplanned ideas soon. I wonder what I'll do then.

It's that time again

The clocks went back today and the evenings will be dark now. We're getting into firework season and the cats will have to be kept in early. Xmas approaches and I've already missed overseas posting dates.

Only three days left to NaNoWriMo

Last year I ignored it and the year before I tried editing instead of writing. I didn't feel I gained much by either strategy. So this year I will again attempt to write a 50k word story in a month. Go me!

I have characters, a world, and some sort of shambolic plot. I also have aliens, lots of lovely aliens. I mean what's not to like?

I've looked back over past efforts and I liked bits of what I'd written. I have a particular fondness for the scene with the chicken suit and the random penguin.

I will never be a professional author because I'm not willing to put in the time and discipline needed but writing is my hobby and it's the chance to really get into it once a year.

I haven't made it to 50k every year I've tried so it remains a real challenge, and this month I'm starting a new volunteer job with Beanstalk, as well as having a lot of family commitments.

No one ever said it would be easy. Wish me luck!

So far so good

I'm up to 4000 words on my Nanonovel. It's not great literature. It may not even be readable. But I'm having fun with it!

The door opened and Jenny took in Em's face and gave her a huge hug. Em had the familiar feeling of coming home she always had in Jenny's presence and she felt the tears start at her eyes again.

"Oh look at you," Jenny said. "What have you been up to now?"

"I got myself thrown out over a boy and we didn't even do it," Em said.

Jenny laughed. "Trust you. Come on in. Mum's out but she said you can stay as long as you need to. Alfie won't be using his room till he comes back in the summer, so you can have his bed if we change the sheets."

Em let out a huge breath she hadn't realised she was holding. "So I won't be needing to put on my fishnet tights and hang around outside King's Cross Station," she said.

"What?" Jenny did a double take and then laughed. "You and your old-fashioned ideas. I don't know where they come from."

"They're not old-fashioned. It might be the oldest profession but I'm sure it's still around."

Jenny shook her head but she was smiling. "Let's get this bed made up and you can tell me how you managed to get thrown out of your house for not having sex with a boy."

"I didn't say that. We didn't do IT but.. it's complicated."

"So you can fill me in on all the gory details."

It was a mixed blessing having a friend that you could say anything to except the one thing you really wanted to say.

Caption competition

Halloween came and went then I got a tummy bug, so last week was a write-off. Inspiration has fled; I'm trying to get out invitations to my birthday party, buy Xmas presents, get ready for my winter skiing holiday, get my new glasses sorted so that I can see through them, and edit 50k words for Nanowrimo.

None out of five isn't bad. Is it?

As I'm feeling uninspired, I thought I'd turn to you folks for inspiration. How about a caption for today's photo?

Are you ready?

Nanowrimo starts tomorrow. Are your pencils all sharpened, your notebooks at the ready, your laptop battery charged, your wordcount spreadsheets updated? Do you have snacks and coffee and chocolate to hand? Most importantly of all, do you have an outline?

Actually, skip that last one. You don't need to know where your story is going when you start writing; some of us only find out what the story is by writing it.

If you get stuck, Brian Klems has some suggestions for what to write next:

If you find yourself at a loss for what to write next, come up with a way to make things worse, let the characters respond naturally to what’s happening, write a scene that fulfills a promise you made earlier in the book, or work on a scene you know readers will expect based on your genre and the story you’ve told so far. 

 (from 6 Secrets of Writing a Novel Without an Outline)

Brian Klems suggests an organic way of working that I feel comfortable with but the article also gives you a lot of things to think of all at once when trying to write and I'm not sure I can do that. While I'm thinking up stories what seems to work best for me is trying to come up with the story I most want to read. Mind you, sometimes the characters just won't co-operate (I'm going to be editing a novel this month where the main character refused to fall for the attractive woman I'd set up for her and insisted on falling for a character who was supposed to be a minor annoyance).

For anyone doing Nano this year: I'm here to cheer you on. The purple bar is calling your name, just make sure you've got enough chocolate in to fuel your writing. Oh, is it only me that runs on chocolate then?

Nearly November

Just eight days to go till the start of Nanowrimo.

I've written seven 50k stories and one of 24k during previous Nanowrimos and they all languish unedited. I think it's time to change that so this year I'm not going to be nanoing, I'm going to be editing.

It's going to be hard because, hey, 50,000 words! That's a lot of words to edit! And also I love seeing my word count going up during Nano and I won't be doing that this year. I won't get a purple bar either. So maybe I won't stay motivated but I think it's worth a try.

Nano is a huge effort and a huge achievement - well it has been for me, anyway. It feels strange to be not quite part of it this year.

I shall still go to the booze- meet-ups though.

I did it!

I thought I'd given up at one point but somehow I could never bring myself to abandon the challenge completely. I think this might be my worst story yet but I'm sure there will be salvageable ideas in it.

My poor main characters are currently exploring a distant future and I think I ought to bring them back home before I call it quits.

I grew to like some of my main characters, although the Dad (sorry, I mean Papa because he's French) was a bit of a grumpuss and I wish I knew why my very main character was shying away from any sort of relationship.

Anyway, it's done. Now I can do all those things that I've not been getting around to, like Spanish homework and Christmas shopping.

Oh, and if you want a book that is actually a good read, I'm still recommending Ice Diaries by Lexi because that book has stayed in my mind ever since I read it. I know it will be high on my re-read list when I get my Christmas present, which this year is going to be a Kindle. Yay, Kindle!

Random Penguin

Okay, now I've done it. I've included a random penguin and a crocheted chicken suit in my Nanomuddle.

I was doing so well the first eight days then I ran out of plot. It's been an uphill struggle since then and I'm getting desperate.

Oddly enough, I kind of expected this. I know that I always get to a stage where I have nothing left to write and have to pull ideas out of the air. I was hoping that inspiration would hit and that something good would arise out of the randomness, as happened to Erin Morganstern with The Night Circus.

I obviously thought about that too much because I ended up with a travelling circus in my story.

And although I'm not writing fanfiction, I'm sure my debt to Star Trek, Dr Who and Lexi Revellian is showing.

I'm also collecting characters as I go along. At this rate I'll have a cast of thousands which is not easy when you're trying to work out who should be talking in a scene.

Still, it beats worrying about what we're going to do for Christmas.

On the first day of Nano

I've written 2000 words.

It always surprises me how tired I feel afterwards! I need to write 1786 words a day if I want to get to 50k by the end of November, allowing for two days off. Because I do have a life, and I've got a brilliant day of skating and Christmas treats planned thanks to where my Beloved works.

The first day or so is usually the easiest as I use up all the story I've already worked out. I wonder how long it will be till I run out.

Chicken

A lot of Nanowrimoers have friends who don't understand why they would want to do such a strange thing as to try to write a novel in a month unless there's some big prize at the end of it.

For me, it's like running a marathon. You have the professional athletes who aim to do it in less than three hours as part of their training and other people who train for months or years just to be able to say that they've run it at all.

And me? I'm the one in the chicken suit. I don't take it seriously, I'm not aiming at turning professional, so I might as well have fun along the way; but boy what a major achievement if I get 50k words written in a month.

If you're doing Nano this year, what's your reason for doing it?

Getting ready for Nanowrimo

My word-count spreadsheet is all ready with this year's dates; the widget is up on the blog; and I've set up a folder in my Dropbox account. I've saved my link to Written? Kitten! and I've got plenty of chocolate to reward myself. Is there anything I've forgotten?

Oh yes. Plan my novel.

Well, I've got three whole weeks to do that in.

Eep!

By the way, the wordcount spreadsheet is available by email if anyone wants one. It may be my greatest success of Nano.

Too cute for words!

It's the run-up to Nanowrimo and I've discovered Written? Kitten!

Previously I'd seen Write or Die but Written? Kitten! is a far better incentive. For every 100 words you type you get a new picture of a cute kitten.

I think it could make me positively verbose! Who can resist the lure of a kitten?

That which cannot be named

The Ravellenic Games start on Friday. This knitting and crochet challenge is apparently inspired by some sporting event or other that's also starting then; the said sporting event sent a "cease and desist" order when Ravelry called their games the Ravelympics, so they renamed them. Maybe like Oxford Street Waterstones we should call them "Lord Voldesport - it which cannot be named".

I'm not taking part. I've tried taking part in a crochet challenge before and it took all the fun out of it. I'm taking wool and hooks on holiday with me and I'll probably turn out an object or two over the two weeks away, but I can't work to a schedule.

On the other hand, I have every intention of taking part in the madness that is Nanowrimo this November. Unlike crochet, I don't write much during the year and I always need something to set me off. Maybe it's because crochet is mostly mindless by comparison with writing, or maybe I just like the feel of wool between my fingers. Or perhaps I'm just lazy.

What about you? When you're writing, crafting, taking part in sport or whatever you do for fun, do you like a challenge or do you prefer to go at your own pace?

Better than the Queen

Yesterday, my son and daughter-in-law were driving to the shops when they passed a car coming the other way and saw the Queen inside, doing her Queenly thing. No really. We're in Epsom and she was on her way back from the races. Apparently people had been queueing for hours to see her but my son and his wife were just in the right place at the right time.

But I went one better. I met Chris Baty* and he shook my hand! He's been touring and meeting people from lots of different NaNoWriMo groups and yesterday he was at the London meetup. He came round speaking to all of us so that he could hear from us what Nano means to us. So all of us got the chance to speak to the great man.

He's delightful! He is so unassuming and he still seems amazed at the huge movement he started from such small beginnings. He can talk comfortably to a roomful of people and make each of you feel like you're the one person who matters. I really enjoyed meeting him. Much better than seeing the Queen.

*Founder of NaNoWriMo

I'm done

Rufus helping me finish my writing this morning

I wrote 50,000 words this month. It was drivel but I'm fascinated to see where my story took me and what my preoccupations are and were. This year, I really wrote entirely for myself and some parts were great fun.

I did feel like giving up more than once though, and I owe many, many thanks to everyone on Twitter who encouraged me to keep going! Richard and jj in particular, but there were others and I thank you all!

How many words do you need?

One recent Booker prizewinner's book is only 160 pages long. That's around 40,000 words.

So, a Nanonovel is more than enough at 50,0000 words.

Of course, it does help if they're good words, arranged in a spiffing order. But let's not sweat the small stuff while we're doing Nano or we'll never get there.

Oh, and the book in question is being nominated for the Costa Book Awards. Does the Guardian get an award for the most unreadable headline ever?

How to increase your word count

The point of Nanowrimo is to write a lot, then come back and edit it later. Lots of people have trouble with this because they want to edit now. Editing as you go is fine if it doesn't stop you writing but as soon as I get into editing mode my productivity drops. I need to get the story out there first, then tidy it up later!

The secret is to deal with your inner editor. Some people send him or her on a virtual holiday but I've got a better plan: I pit my inner procrastinator against my inner editor. My inner procrastinator is strong and wins every time!

It looks like this:

Inner Editor (IE): That's terrible grammar.
Inner Procrastinator (IP): I'll deal with it later.
IE: This story isn't making sense.
IP: I'll deal with it later.
IE: Didn't she have green hair in the last section?
IP: I'll deal with it later.

You get the picture. The hardest part for me is going to be shutting up my inner procrastinator when November is over and I need to edit!