10K!

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I have a good momentum going with the NaNoWriMo book. I’m not sure if this is because I actually have an outline, which I rarely do for my books, but whatever it is I’ve broken past the 10,000 mark. I surprised myself by writing over my daily goal of 1667 words during my lunch hour yesterday. I usually write about 800-1000 words during my lunch writing time, but yesterday the words came out fast and I got them all in before the hour was up.

I’m not usually an outline kind of writer. I like to take an idea or a character and just start writing to see where the story takes me. This was the case with LIBBY. All I had at the beginning were a few characters, so I started writing and let the story unfold as I went along.

But this time I really like having the outline that I put together in October because I’m not staring at the screen and trying to figure out what happens next. I look at my notes and go, still allowing myself to deviate as the story leads me into another direction, but knowing basically what needs to happen and when. The outline was a struggle to put together, since I hate outlining and have a hard time thinking that far ahead in a story. I had to do a long process of it: write out a one sentence plot summary; turn that into a one paragraph plot summary (one sentence each for beginning, middle, end); turn that into a three paragraph plot summary (one paragraph each for B, M, E); turn that into a three page summary (one page each for B, M, E); and then turn that into one big list of plot points in chronological order. It was a lot of work for my non-outlining self and I doubt I’ll do it for every story I ever write, but I am enjoying having it to help me keep up a fast writing speed this month.

4 comments

    • marperez says:

      Shana,

      That’s a GREAt word count. I thought about doing NaNoWriMo, but missed the start date. Waah. Maybe I’ll do a fake one and tell myself I need to write 700 words per day. That’s it! That’s my goal. You’ve inspired me (that and the deadline.)

      Mar

      • admin says:

        Thanks! Doing your own NaNoWriMo is a great idea, anything that gives you a push to get words down is good. 😀 Good luck with your goal (and the deadline!)

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