This year I had a real crack at doing NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. The aim of it is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. I fell a bit short, making 42,000 words. Still, not a bad effort given the last couple of weeks were spent on doing the final major project for the course I am doing, so it understandably took priority. The story I am calling Stormraven, and is the introductory story to a fantasy series in the work. It was always meant to be a novella length story rather than a full novel, so it fitted in well with NaNoWriMo. Hopefully it wont take too long to finish off.
Posts Tagged ‘nanowrimo’
NaNoWriMo Aftermath
Posted: December 4, 2012 in writing, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, writing, writing update
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NaNoWriMo: Update
Posted: November 19, 2010 in fantasy, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
As may have been noticed I have updated in a bit. That is because the project has fallen over. I got eleven days in and then it stopped. There are a number of reasons behind this, including coming down sick and working on editing. I’m trying to get Tears of the Mountain sent off to beat the rush of NaNoWriMo novel queries.
NaNoWriMo Day Eleven
Posted: November 12, 2010 in General, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
There was a time there yesterday where I was almost ready to give up on NaNoWriMo – I had done nothing on the story and was wondering if I’d get around to doing any. In the end though I had a late start I wrote almost 2000 words, bringing the total up to 17018 words. I’m still around 1300 words behind where I should be but at least I made up some ground.
I sort of hit a part of the story where my pre-plotting is rather limited which is half the problem. Fleshing out near nothing can be hard – but it did spawn a couple of ideas during the day that I hadn’t thought of before but will work when they are properly rewritten. Sometimes you have scenes and characters that just write themselves, which helps a lot.
NaNoWriMo Day Ten
Posted: November 11, 2010 in General, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
One third of the way through the month and I’m not yet one third of the way through the novel. I’m only sitting at 15,197 words, a full day behind where I should be. To catch up I need to be writing around 3,000 words today. Not an impossibility, but things always seem to come up.
NaNoWriMo Day Nine
Posted: November 10, 2010 in fantasy, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
Yesterday I fell behind for the first time. Total output to date is 14500 when it needed to be 15000. That yesterday was busy didn’t help, nor does the fact that today will be the same. I may end up further behind by the end of today – luckily tomorrow doesn’t look to be busy so hopefully I can make up lost word count then.
NaNoWriMo Day Eight
Posted: November 9, 2010 in fantasy, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
The story is slowly beginning to develop, reaching 13,543 words. Puts me once again just slightly ahead of the progressive word count I need to make it. But not by much.
And the next two days may be rather busy, limiting my chance to make real progress.
The next character we will have a look at is the Lady Eris Selanos, of House Selanos. Of a minor noble family, she is unconcerned by such matters as politics. A magian of middling power, her interests lie in history and the past, and she actively seeks them out, often going places where danger lurks. At times she can be a bit absent and not particularly subtle with her emotions.
NaNoWriMo Day Seven
Posted: November 8, 2010 in General, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
My weekend was a bit busy than I would have liked it to be, severely cutting down on the amount of time I had to write. I did manage to, just, hit the daily quotas, but only by staying up really late. Total so far now stands at 11,753 words.
There are some people who have already finished – I wish I had the time (and commitment) to manage that.
Now for a little about the story itself.
The main characters in it had their origins back in the mid nineties. I’ve been coming up with stories for them, writing about them and thinking about them all that time so I have a very clear picture of them in my head now, their looks and manners and characteristics. The trick is to be able to able to convey all that.
The first of the main characters in a man called Heric Jennet. Born to servants of the Queen of Kiashia, as he grew older he became one of the pre-eminent swordsmen in the land. A quiet, unassuming man, he prefers to fight only when necessary. He is also a man of intelligence, loyalty and a strict sense of honour and duty.
NaNoWriMo Day Six
Posted: November 7, 2010 in fantasy, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
One fifth of the way through the month I have done one fifth of the story – 10,060 words to be exact.
Yesterday was not a day conducive to writing. Between a nephew’s birthday, helping my brother work on building a deck out the back and other matters I didn’t get a chance to start writing until nine at night and could then only manage enough to hit the mark to stay on schedule. Today promises to be equally as busy, which only leaves me to wonder if I’ll make the 1667 words needed for today.
At least the story is making progress, having now reached chapter five.
NaNoWriMo Day Five
Posted: November 6, 2010 in fantasy, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
And so we are done with day five of NaNoWriMo. Total a the moment is 8800 words. The target for the end of day five was 8334 so I’m just managing to keep ahead of the target to reach 50000 words by the end of the month.
So far I haven’t had any major interruptions. Day six looks like it may have some – I’ll be out a lot of the day, limiting just how much time I have to write. I do have that buffer but it is very small, One of these days I’ll have to have a really big day of writing otherwise I’m going to end up falling behind and if that happens I may not catch up again.
NaNoWriMo Day Four
Posted: November 5, 2010 in fantasy, Sharael, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, nanowrimo, novel writing, writing, writing update
Four days down, twenty six to go. So far my total is up to 7642 words. That puts me just ahead of schedule – the goal for the end of day four was 6667 words to reach that magic 50,000.
So far I have done the first three chapters, introducing the main characters. I have also done my first fight scene. It requires a lot of work when it comes time to rewrite and polish. While a fair bit happens in the fight it is fairly minimal in the descriptions, as is much of the rest of the story.
Still, I am making progress and that is the main thing.
Mist and Shadows 