...and lack of words.

[devi]

In other news, I've pretty much given up on Nano. I've been working late most evenings of the week, but it's not just that. I seem to have lost the knack of fast writing. I'm planning every bit before I write it, especially with the Choose Your Own Adventure story (working title Traffic Lights). And planning doesn't count towards your word count, but I don't want to dive in and write confused, badly-thought-out stuff. I remember the sheer tooth-pulling agony of turning The End of Words from a Nano-novel into a proper final draft this summer, and I don't want to knowingly write stuff I can't use.

But I've got 27k of words I didn't have before. If I could do 30k a month, I'd be finished a draft of another book by February. Maybe I'll try to do that instead?

*

A man on the tube yesterday, wild-haired and unshaven and holding a can of strong cider, was addressing the whole carriage in a thick Northern Ireland accent, barely moving his lips so that I was looking around for a long time wondering where this Ian Paisley blare was coming from. He was saying 'No' a lot, which added to the Paisley impression, and 'I'm not running away. I'm facing up.' The girl opposite him fiddled with her water bottle and looked around and shielded herself with her pink handbag. Two others moved away. He said something indistinct ending in 'words', but it wasn't till he stood up to get off that I worked it out. He was saying 'You think I'm talking to you because I want something. I don't want anything from you, just words. Words, that's all."

Comments

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

*dreams of 30K words a month*...
I lack application, probably!

[elethe.livejournal.com]

I did tons of planning for this way back at the start of the year - so most of what I have written will be more or less usable later.

I am deviating slightly - but if I stuck rigidly to my notes it would be considerably shorter. The deviations are amusing me anyway.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you planned better than me. I thought I had a full plot outline, but when I actually got to some bits I found I hadn't thought out the cause and effect of things well enough at all!

[elethe.livejournal.com]

Well it's not what I thought it was going to be - but it's not that far off. Maybe it's better than I thought it was going to be in some ways. I didn't have that much faith in the idea.

[casca-2u.livejournal.com]

I think the real Win from Nano, is if you wrote more than you ordinarily would have for the month. Anything else is a bonus...

I don't want to knowingly write stuff I can't use.

Well, I can't talk because I have HARDLY begun to perform the required major surgery from last year's nano - but for me the interesting diversions is where i start to write stuff which hits new territory. So i welcome a bit of incongruence and ends not meeting.

I hope you do continue to finish the book, if your heart feels connected with the project.