#CampNaNoWriMo Week 4 (& A Bit!)

Final April Word Count: 5,759 words.

Nearly doubled my word count since the last update. Not bad considering everything that has been going on personally in the background. To quote Homer Simpson, DAMN YOU REALITY!

The scenes that followed on from where I had left off from last time did indeed write themselves with ease. Before I started writing again, I have had to be looking stuff up about UK courts, youth justice, murder sentencing, 5* hotels and high end fashion. I guess it is true what they say about a writer’s Google search history. I promise, it isn’t as random as it appears!

When I did get writing, I had a couple of short scenes, a glossed over travel scene before going into a new bunch of unexpected descriptive and expositional material. This helped my word count along nicely and introduced Hallie into a new world of luxury that she is going to be living in, as well as a few new characters that even I didn’t know about. It has been fun discovering the new characters, including one that I can feel myself getting attached to already.

It has been fun to write this contrast and it feels right as the character’s background is so different to what she has and is about to experience. I guess it is an unintentional theme throughout this particular WIP: the differing living experiences of the poorest people in society versus that of the richest people. (I am sure someone can explain it much more succinctly than I have). Hallie has experienced being dirt poor, then a middle class life with her foster family and is now living life (somewhat) of the very rich. It will be a nice bump as well for the character for when she begins school. It will give her a differing view of things when she interacts with her future classmates.

Now that April has ended up, I will still be working on this WIP obviously. I know where I am going and what I am doing with this one so I may as well keep going and put Steampunk Dragon Rider (SDR for short) on the back burner to jump into when I hit a wall on the Hallie WIP. I did get a Steampunk Comic as part of Free Comic Book Day yesterday so that could get the cogs whirring on that WIP when I need it. Life yet could get very unpredictable so going with the WIP that is easiest for me to work on right now seems to be the right thing to do. Something to escape into when I need it.

How did your Camp NaNoWriMo go? Did you win? Did you have fun? Whatever happened, you are amazing for going for it and I hope you are going to continue on this crazy writing journey we are on together.

Monthly #Writing Update and #Pumpkins

Word Count: 4,085 words

Happy Halloween! I love this time Very much doubt I will be writing anything before midnight now so thought I would do my update. Going to be quick as I think I have covered everything in the rest of my updates through the month, sporadic as they have been.

Again, been writing on and off all month and never exceeding a 1,000 words on any given day. I think an element of being overwhelmed at the amount of description and introduction needed for different aspects of the story threw me off at the start of the month then general apathy for the rest of it. I am really enjoying this story but maybe the fact that there’s been more planning and thinking done than writing says something. It has helped shape the story, the characters and the world that the story takes place in though and made me think about questions I hadn’t considered before.

I am becoming very grateful to myself for allowing me to experiment with jumping around the story if I feel I am able to write a later scene now. It has helped so much with getting stuff written and done that it makes writing that much easier. As for linking up those scenes, that could be another issue all together.

I am really looking forward to doing this story in NaNoWriMo. With the energy, community and challenge of it, I think it could be really beneficial with getting more of this draft written. It’s a chance just to write without really thinking too hard and getting some feedback at least from other writers involved in the challenge.

Getting into Destiny has both hindered and helped this month. I’ve ended up writing a few words of Destiny fan fiction which I will be going back to and think I am going to use the 100 themes challenge to help. That move is inspired by one of my best friends who is doing something similar with a project they are working on. I think I will keep going with this, maybe. Destiny just lends itself to some fan fiction being written.

Plan for next month is obvious really: write! Write as much as I can, don’t go crazy with NaNoWriMo and life and have fun! Anyone NaNo-ing? New story or rebelling like me? Leave your comment below, happy Halloween again and watch these brilliant videos from The Royal Institution:

Monthly #Writing Update

Final Word Count: 6,465 words

I am quite proud of that total despite not writing for 9 days and it cut some of my deficit.

Most of what I wrote was exposition stuff, description and explaining how the school works. It’s not exactly the most interesting but necessary. I also went off track too by writing a scene from later in the story and a scene that really belongs in a possible sequel. They explore a possible story line that I am still figuring out and don’t want to discuss at the moment as discussed in my last update. I have also been reconsidering certain characters and their portrayal and who they are really. That could be an interesting experience as the changes are things I have never attempted writing before.

This is only an early draft so what’s written now will get rewritten hopefully and some story lines, characters and ideas may get stripped out.

I have also spent the end of last month working on a suggestion from Draebox of having a second project to work on when I hit a block on the first. Currently, that project is looking like it could be my NaNoWriMo/November 2014 and very little progress has happened however I have had a breakthrough on it. The second project may change yet but we will see.

Overall, last month was quite successful and the exposition will help me later. Having a second project could help so what I discuss in these updates could vary. I will try not to make it confusing. Aims for this month? Get as much written as possible to delay any issues that will present themselves over the next two months due to life stuff. I will be incredibly busy so writing will fall to the wayside. It is inevitable but if I can get ahead now, that will help a lot. No plans to take part in NaNoWriMo fully but I will try to enter some words some days.

How was last month for you? Plans for this month? Entering NaNoWriMo in November. Don’t be afraid to comment below.

Camp #NaNoWriMo 2016: Days 5-8

Current Word Count: 8,232 words

Things are progressing slowly so this will only be a quick update really.

I was expecting my FMC to know by now which school she was attending and getting her supplies. Instead, she is spending time with her grandparents, trying to unlearn years of alertness and stress and is at her grandfather’s work office. Still, it’s giving me a chance to do some world building and providing a little background on her father’s family. It does mean, now entering week two, that it will make things a little easier.

Week 2 is traditionally the week that things become hard and participants question their sanity at taking on such a challenge. I’m still introducing things. Not good, I know but it makes life a little easier.

Are you having better luck? Looking forward to week 2 or dreading it? Have fun and remember Neil Gaiman’s advice, Make Good Art:

#Writing Update

Word Count: 5,622  words

Yes, that is correct. Over 4,000 words this past week, admittedly including about 800 words of planning for Camp next month. I just won’t have the time to do any later this month so I am taking advantage of the time now to do it, along with the fact that Tetra Ninja is posting his Tom Clancy’s The Division walk-through on YouTube. That game is proving to be a big influence on the story. It also lets me tweak things as I realise that I have gone a bit off track.

In terms of actual writing, I wrote myself into more story than anticipated. I was just planning on doing the ending and the explanation to help me write the rogue part I was talking about last time. Instead, I wrote the characters arguing, a fight between the FMC and the big bad initially before evolving into a fight between her and a rabid MMC. That ended up taking a few days to do as I was struggling to block out the fight and work out how to injure her badly enough for the next bit of story. The Hulk movie from 2003 ended up helping as it made me realise that I needed to change her motivation somewhat in the battle. She was unwilling to fight him except to stop someone else getting hurt but I realised she had to be willing to do so and to hurt him badly too. Otherwise, the story would end on a downer with both characters dying.

Now the focus is on rebuilding the characters, their relationship and deciding whether to have him face criminal proceedings. My instinct says yes, everything else, no. We’ll see but I suspect that and some more Camp planning will be what I am doing for the rest of the week.

How did your week go? Close to target or struggling to get off the ground? Please do comment below.

#Writing Update

Word Count: 1,137 words

Nothing much to tell. Most of what I have written is redrafting of some writing I did last Sunday on the WAY On The Go app which failed to send to my e-mail address once more. I am starting to wonder if it just does not work on Kindle. So it’s only been my characters finally becoming a couple that has happened.

On the other hand, I have done some thinking and it is mostly surrounding a potential new idea for Camp in April and maybe some rewriting or the continuing of writing of other past NaNoWriMo stories. Camp is the place to do rewrites I think, at least for the first few drafts when it’s major changes being done. Of course, this is just my opinion.

The first story under consideration is my November 2014 hotel story with the witch and the werewolf. The direction of the story differed from my original thinking and I think that was the story’s undoing. I would like to go back and rewrite that story, if only to follow the original story idea.

The other is my July 2015 story about the witch from the dark family background. The only reason I stopped writing it is because I needed a break I think, along with the Post-NaNo Blues. I may completely rewrite the story as certain aspects kept changing and I never fully ironed out. Since I’ve had a break and whilst I was writing the story that took place years later, I realised that there was character stuff that needed changing and completely redoing.

Another reason I been thinking about it is because I have bought an etiquette book, reproduced from the 1800’s, for general research as I’ve noticed a lot of my writing lately has required me to think about or research etiquette and deportment among other things for stories. Having a go to guide on hand hopefully will help, especially with my July 2015 idea.

If course I still have nearly two months to think about and decide, as well as the fact I still have the new idea to flesh out and consider. In the meanwhile, I do have my current writing to be doing. Hopefully it will be a little more successful this next week. How’s your writing going? What do you think of the idea that Camp is a good place for rewriting or continuing old stories? Are you thinking about Camp yet or am I thinking too far ahead? Do comment below.

#Writing Update

What a difference a week makes it seems.

Word count: 3,874 words.

That means I was only 150 words or so off my 5k target yesterday and I hit that today. Currently have 316 words so far. I had done a lot more but lost it all because I am still learning how to use the On The Go feature on the WAY site. It is a nifty little thing that would be handy for write in’s providing you have an internet connection.

Moving on, the main reason for me getting so much written is because I just let my FMC talk about her own childhood and my MMC’s. It isn’t necessarily helpful to the story but it is helpful for me. It gave me a chance to actually figure out what the main story is about anyway (which will get written eventually) but also made me realise that a lot of the ideas I already had about the characters backstories were, well, wrong. These are characters that have been developing and evolving for some years. Naturally things will change but I realised this past week that I allowed myself to go down completely the wrong track so lose my way a little with the characters. Things are still liable to change but their stories now fit so much better and I am learning a lot about the characters themselves. That can only be good in my mind.

I suppose this story is sort of turning into character sketches and it now probably won’t be the Valentines Day story I was thinking last week but I am still happy with the writing and to be writing!

How’s your writing going? Have you got a target for this month or specific deadline? Are you just writing to have fun or get back into the habit? Let’s face it, December is not the easiest month for most people to be writing. Hope your having fun and keeping warm. (It’s so cold!)

#NaNoWriMo November 2015: Days 14-19

Day 14: 10,222 words

Day 15: 10,669 words

Day 16: 10,669 words

Day 17: 12,348 words

Day 18: 12,348 words

Day 19: 12,643 words

Obviously from my word counts, I have had a couple of days where life had to take the priority and I was simply just too tired to even turn on my laptop. I know I am looking at similar state of affairs latest this month. That has led to my decision, not to drop out of NaNoWriMo, but rather to chase a lower target of 25,000 words. It is far more plausible.

In my NaNo then, my FMC has revealed herself to be a mage to her friend with benefits partner, fallen out with him, defended him from some processed preachers, became friends with him again, found out her father has died, talked with her partner which ended up with them in bed, before she travelled back to the island to discover her family are still very hostile to her.

So a fair amount has happened and it does mean I have a funeral scene and the fallout of her father’s death to play with as well as heading into the main plot. I might have written myself into a slight corner however with the romance sub plot. My FMC’s friend with benefits has basically announced it is purely the benefits part that interests him, in so far as romance is concerned. I may need to have a serious rethink about that. The changing of the word target does mean I will have to maybe bullet point at the end of the month as I am still working on the Camp story too. (The two stories do focus on common themes though so it is helpful in a way).

On top of all that, I have changed my FMC’s job, again, for plot reasons. She’s now a research assistant at the university college, perhaps working towards a Masters of Research or PhD. It does mean having to rethink the university college part. I mean, brand new universities would focus on teaching right, rather than research? If anyone could give any help or insight on this point, it would be greatly appreciated.

How’s your NaNoWriMo going? On target? Behind? Word count change? Don’t be afraid to comment below.

#Writing Update

Word Count: 3,324 words

Just under 2,000 of those words was in one day. In the story, still exposition, revealing the world, the most popular game for witches and a broomstick lesson but there are three things that have mainly dominated this week’s writing.

The first, looking back, is that my FMC is finding herself being questioned by others and questioning herself why she has chosen and begged for a place at a rival school to her family’s dark magic school. I’m not sure why she is doing that really as she knows why (wants to do something different to her family) but I can’t help feeling it is going to be important, especially after some rethinking and planning of the story and the character’s journey. It’s not a bad feeling. In fact, it is a very good feeling.

The second is the revelation of my MMC’s struggles in his classes. I haven’t really written much with him for a while, mostly because the school is split into boys and girls and I am having a go at using third person limited. The struggles revelation feels as if it is going to be vitally important. I am not sure why but again, it is a good feeling.

Ah, the wonders of pantsing and having an outline that is rather loose in my mind. Especially when that outline is limited to about one years worth in story time of plot. Who knows? It might become a little Malory Towers in its focus.

The third thing that has happened is that my FMC’s potential love interest has revealed that they are gender fluid. To anyone who has never heard of the term, it describes someone who doesn’t feel like their assigned gender all the time. This is different to being transsexual. In this case, the love interest is male. They will have periods of time where they feel male so act male but will also have times where they feel female so will act and be female for that time. I have known this since I started writing the story pretty much however I have been nervous about doing it as it is the first time I have written a character like this. How successful it is so far and will be, I don’t know. All I know is that this is right for the character and will cause conflict between them and their family as well as at school, as it is segregated between male and female with normal expectations of those genders in place and reinforced by lessons such as etiquette. I am looking forward to seeing how this goes.

I have already mentioned some rethinking and replanning has happened. This is resulting from a realisation that I needed to age the characters up so a rethink of the structure of the school and the education system in place in this world became necessary. It took me a while to figure it out yesterday at a write in, where I ended up voicing stuff out loud as well as sketching and drawing things in mid-air to help me visualise it. This is part of the value of having writing friends and going to write in’s and maybe writing groups too. You can say and do things with fewer or no strange looks whatsoever. This restructuring will definitely work better I feel and allow me a bit more room to move when writing character’s actions and dialogue. Perhaps it also explains why my FMC has become so much more introverted than normal.

Aside from all this with my Camp story, I have begun the task of doing some research and planning for November. I suspect my time may become limited so I am trying to get a little ahead to compensate. This research has included the North Pole and the Arctic Circle.

Plans for next week? Write my Camp story, research for November and trying to remember to post my wc’s on Twitter. I keep forgetting!

Monthly #Writing Update

Image Source: Insider Monkey/Google Images

I wasn’t able to post on Saturday as planned so figured I might as well wait until today, the last day of the month, to post and do it as a monthly thing. I have started using the Write All Year Excel sheet to track my word counts and other little things so it just feels right to do it like this. The main reason I am not doing it tomorrow is because I have errands to run and it is 1st September, Back to Hogwarts Day, so I suspect I will be distracted and will forget. It does mean that this is not a full monthly update.

Whether or not this will be the only Monthly update or it continues, I don’t know.

Weekly Word Count: 2,963 words

Monthly Word Count (so far): 8,081 words

So I am still shy of my 10k target for this month but either way, that is a lot of words.

I didn’t exactly do all of my aims from last week. The idea story does have some mileage in it but I ended up putting it aside and the plans to completely rewrite the first chapter of my Novella MS in favour of my Camp story. I do want to go back to the idea story with the magical spy character but I suspect it is going to come down to motivation. The Novella MS will just have to stay on my list of things to do.

The Camp story meanwhile, keeps being pushed on and on. I don’t know why I seem so fixated on it. I am just really enjoying writing it. Maybe it is because of the time of year or maybe it’s because the story keeps throwing up new ideas and announcing stuff I was not aware of was included in the story. This might sound weird to a planner but to someone like me, who plans but also allows the characters to take the lead on stuff, it can happen. It is not without its problems though.

There is a definitely Hogwarts feel starting to come to it as the characters announced that there were houses at the school, based on personality. I am not entirely happy with the personality aspect nor how the pupils are divided up between them: observations from staff, Head Boy and Girl and the Prefects who then decide who goes to what house. I am trying to think of a much more magical way for it to happen and no, a Sorting Hat is not an option! I have looked to see how places like Harrow and Eton house their pupils but it came down to complimenting the current cohorts in those houses in terms of skills, academic and sporting.

If anyone has any suggestions that might help, comment below.

Two other things have cropped up that have stopped me writing. One, the look and layout of the school buildings. I have found pictures of a building in New York that I feel is right for the school but also encompasses the equilateral and uniform design of Georgian mansion architecture. I can see it in my head because of those pictures, stuff I did at school and my local area however as I had my characters start exploring the school, I realised I needed to review parts of the design to figure out where everything is, like shared and separate facilities. I might need to do some drawing out of some stuff but for the most part I think it is sorted.

Another thing that cropped up whilst I was having two characters argue was the social structure of the magical society. It is probably going to be along similar lines of class structures within society like upper, middle and lower class at its most basic but not quite. It was a bit silly to think that this wouldn’t come up as a hierarchy of sorts with the schools is already at major play. Another thing is that one of the characters in the argument I suspect is titled so I may need to look up maybe died out titles within aristocracy or perhaps invent new ones. Is that possible?

This month, I definitely did not meet all the aims and goals I set myself but I feel I also succeeded in doing a lot too, including attending my first NaNoWriMo Write In. My local group does them year round so it’s great to be able to jump in without the pressures of NaNoWriMo itself. Hopefully, I am going to be able to attend more now I have actually managed to navigate and get there and back without hiccup. With a new month beginning tomorrow and the run up to Halloween, NaNo and Christmas as well as the events themselves, it could be a very interesting time to say the least for how much or little continues to be written.