NaNoWriMo
I've written more than 50,000 words in a month easily, without actually trying. I know that is a frustrating thing for me to say for writers who have trouble getting 500 words out, but we all have different problems when it comes to writing. Mine has just never been word count.
My first problem is finishing things. My second problem is sticking to my original ideas without getting distracted by girl!Holmes/Watson/all of Avatar/Kirk/Spock/Harry/Draco/all of BtVS/19th c. novels/other fanfic/various and sundry. My third problem is sticking to one original idea. I have a million original ideas, which I know is another frustrating thing for me to say for writers who have trouble coming up with ideas. That has never been my problem either, but I don't think it's necessarily more helpful to have so many ideas when I can't pick one! When I decide to put my nose to the grindstone on one, I always decide it isn't "worthy" or won't be good for a "first" novel (either due to commercial success or because it isn't impressive enough) or that it's too big of a project, and so I start on a different idea.
I'm going to work on my Persephone novel. This is a young adult novel with three Persephones: the goddess, and 19th c. girl, and a modern American chick. The Hades is the same every time, but Persephone doesn't remember her past lives. She evolves as a person and a woman in each iteration, by the end taking a position of power in the myth. Or something. The three stories are interwoven; I'm going to use some experiments I tried in 5 Ways NFA Probably Didn't End in order to connect them. I'm toying with the idea of bringing in glimpses of other Persephones in other time periods and cultures.
I think this is a good project because it's worthy. It's complex, rich thematically, deals with important concepts, and allows me to do some writerly experimenting. I also think it's a good project because it's not too big. I already know the beginning, middle and end of the story. I already know the world(s) of the story. I can add more Persephones, but I still know the story and world for each addition. There might be greater, grander projects to which I could dedicate myself, but this one is definitely one I want to write some day, and now seems like a good time.
The reason I'm writing all this down is so I have to hold myself to it. A lot of times I don't say much about what I'm writing, because then when I don't finish it, people ask me about it, and I feel like a failure. But see, now I have to finish.
My main concern is that this novel is going to be longer than 50,000 words. Once I hit the 50,000 mark, I might have difficulty finding the impetus to continue. Maybe I should make December a second NoWriMo for just me.
Okay, here I go.
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My first problem is finishing things. My second problem is sticking to my original ideas without getting distracted by girl!Holmes/Watson/all of Avatar/Kirk/Spock/Harry/Draco/all of BtVS/19th c. novels/other fanfic/various and sundry. My third problem is sticking to one original idea. I have a million original ideas, which I know is another frustrating thing for me to say for writers who have trouble coming up with ideas. That has never been my problem either, but I don't think it's necessarily more helpful to have so many ideas when I can't pick one! When I decide to put my nose to the grindstone on one, I always decide it isn't "worthy" or won't be good for a "first" novel (either due to commercial success or because it isn't impressive enough) or that it's too big of a project, and so I start on a different idea.
I'm going to work on my Persephone novel. This is a young adult novel with three Persephones: the goddess, and 19th c. girl, and a modern American chick. The Hades is the same every time, but Persephone doesn't remember her past lives. She evolves as a person and a woman in each iteration, by the end taking a position of power in the myth. Or something. The three stories are interwoven; I'm going to use some experiments I tried in 5 Ways NFA Probably Didn't End in order to connect them. I'm toying with the idea of bringing in glimpses of other Persephones in other time periods and cultures.
I think this is a good project because it's worthy. It's complex, rich thematically, deals with important concepts, and allows me to do some writerly experimenting. I also think it's a good project because it's not too big. I already know the beginning, middle and end of the story. I already know the world(s) of the story. I can add more Persephones, but I still know the story and world for each addition. There might be greater, grander projects to which I could dedicate myself, but this one is definitely one I want to write some day, and now seems like a good time.
The reason I'm writing all this down is so I have to hold myself to it. A lot of times I don't say much about what I'm writing, because then when I don't finish it, people ask me about it, and I feel like a failure. But see, now I have to finish.
My main concern is that this novel is going to be longer than 50,000 words. Once I hit the 50,000 mark, I might have difficulty finding the impetus to continue. Maybe I should make December a second NoWriMo for just me.
Okay, here I go.
This entry was originally posted to Dreamwidth. Read Comments | Reply