Andrew Jack Writing » nanowrimo in july

Impossible Goals Update

Andrew — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:51:28 +0000

I’m going to make it.

Just.

I set myself the goal of finishing my first, rough draft, by the end f the month and as long as I keep going on my current schedule, the rough draft will be done on the thirty first. Parts of the manuscript are pretty dire, some are outright unreadable but it will be finished, and from that I can chop out a decent first draft.

I’ll go into an explanation of rough draft, first draft and final draft next time.

That leaves the question of what to do next? I’m going to take Stephen King’s advice (in his excellent book “On Writing”) and leave in a drawer for a couple of weeks and do something else.

When it all goes horribly wrong

Andrew — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:18:49 +0000

Sometimes you have a disaster of a day, or a week, or a month and your writing grinds to a halt. It can be very hard to regain your initial momentum and energy. I found that very much today where after a few things went a bit awry I found that facing the next scene just wasn’t flowing the way I wanted it to.

Still, time was ticking away and July 31st just keeps getting closer. Got to hit that word count! So I skipped ahead a few chapters. Not to the lat scene, but to the last big fight. Just about every book has this, from romance, to sci-fi to most literature. The big bust up at the end, the most interesting bit.

I wrote the hell out of it.

I can’t say it’s any good at all, I’m still too close to it but it was pleasure to write with that intensity, that focus. So my tip for today is, if you feel yourself stalling. Not stopping, but just slowing up, jump ahead to a fight scene. It doesn’t have to full on action, but cut to the conflict.

When the blood starts flying, literally of figuratively, then flow comes rushing back into my writing. Give it a try with yours!

Impossible Goals update

Andrew — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:48:31 +0000

It’s all going rather well actually.

I got to the end of chapter 5, and I’ve hit my word count (just). Now the bigger mission begins, finish draft one before the end of July. I’ve been mapping out he rest of the novel, so I know more or less where I’m going. I’m not a natural out-liner and new character ideas are making themselves known in the back of my mind so my outline and the finished product may vary wildly.

I just wrote up a guest blog submission for Nathan Branford’s guest blog competition. It’s an extension of my post on getting an accountant and bringing some extra money in. Either way it will be up on the articles page by the end of the week.

Thought for the day: Twitter, amazingly time consuming but strangely fulfilling