Nanowrimo Wins by K.O.

It’s official: Nanowrimo has beaten me.

I was doing pretty well with it for a while. I was behind my word quota, but not by much. I easily could have caught up before the deadline.

But there were a few things going against me and they eventually won out.

Being Truthful to the Characters

I finally got through a major hurdle. I mean, I think it was a major hurdle. I had been working on the same chapter for three days. I couldn’t get it to sound exactly the way I wanted. I’m not actually sure that it is the way I wanted. But it was enough to feel comfortable sending it off to my friend to edit.

Stephen King to the Rescue!

In honour of Stephen King’s birthday, I sat down to read my favourite book of his, The Stand. I didn’t get very far into it before I changed my mind and switched to his book On Writing. I struggled with my writing (or editing) today and thought that this might be a good way to snap me out of it (drawing and a walk didn’t help – refer to my previous post for that to make any sense).

It did. Or somewhat did.

A Rough Day

Writing has been rough today. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve changed my editing process or because my mind is on other things. Probably both. But I was only able to write 199 words in two hours. And that sucks.

I can usually write 1500 words in 40 minutes. But that’s when I’m doing my stream-of-consciousness style writing. When I edit, things are usually slower. I tend to finish a chapter a day at least, though.

That has changed.

My Characters Audition

It occurred to me today that with each rewrite I do, I’m making my characters audition for a role in my book.

For example, in one rewrite a character may be stubborn, but in another a little less so. He/She may be inquisitive and confident, then more of a weak follower.

It isn’t that their characters completely change. But there are some differences that come out each time that I write about them.

And when I begin my final rewrite (the one before I move on to pacing and grammar), I settle upon the character I feel best fits the part and write them that way.

Things Have Changed

So, I know it has only been a day since I complained about editing. I mean, how much could change in a day, right? Well, the answer is: a lot.

Here’s what’s happened.

On Not Quitting

I came across this quote yesterday by Richard Bach: A professional author is an amateur author who didn’t quit. I couldn’t have seen it at a better time.

Editing and rewriting my book has been hard. Even now, looking now at one of the pages of my manuscript, I see all of the notes on how I need to expand certain parts (I wrote a post about that) and cut others, how I have to get deeper into the characters’ thoughts and actions, how I must add a lot more description.

That I took those notes in red ink doesn’t help (as I had been warned). It looks angry. It looks aggressive. It looks like blood has been splattered across the page.

But let’s get back to the edit and rewrite.

EXPAND!

I spent the week reading through my manuscript. I had been doing edits on my computer, but decided to print it off and work with it that way (with a notebook to write in as well). It was great to approach my writing through something other than typing on a keyboard and staring at a screen. It got me into the story from another direction.

But what I’ve found is that I have a lot more work to do.

Times Change, People Change

I woke up feeling miserable today. Honestly. Utterly and hopelessly miserable.

I kept thinking about my story and how much more work on it lay before me. In addition to taking notes in a notebook, I printed off my manuscript and have been writing on that. It’s just note after note after note.

I see where characters need to be developed, conversations expanded. The pace needs to be slowed in places. And hurried up in others.

It’s a lot.

But I also got to thinking about my life. And how, this morning anyway, I felt as though I haven’t done much with it.

Picked Up a Pen

I’ve switched from editing on my computer to editing in a notebook. I suppose it isn’t “editing”, per se. It’s more of jotting down ideas as I read along. But it’s something different. And it’s something good.