Flaming Fingers

My fingers are burning up my keyboard so amazingly fast that there are flames shooting out all over the place.

Okay, maybe not. But I did write 4,228 words in about 3 hours this afternoon. That’s pretty fast. My word count for NaNoWriMo is now 13,052. Wahoo! And the story is officially over the starting hump and all the fun action gets to happen now. Either the story is going to roll out before me like some grand red carpet, or the earth in front of me is going to crumble and fall away like some video game. One or the other. I’m kind of hoping for the red carpet, but seeing as I don’t know what the next big key in the story is going to be–you know, the one the story sits on–it really could go either way.

Oh, and it seems to be taking more of an urban fantasy feel than a chick lit feel. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not seeing as urban fantasy is pretty much the next genre bubble that is about to pop. If it hasn’t already. At least there are no vampires. (Nothing against the undead or those who write about them.)

So there you have it, a NaNoWriMo update.

Down to NaNo Business

Today, I officially began writing my story for NaNoWriMo. I must say, I am a writing machine. In the span of two hours, I went from 0 words to 2888. And they even make sense. Plus, I think I even have progression working in my favour this time. However, I’m not sure if I introduce a story hook in a compelling way and soon enough in the first scene. I did spend some time tinkering with that. But this is, of course, a rough draft and as Chris Baty, Program Director over at NaNoWriMo said in his pep talk email of November 1st:

“The books we write in November won’t start out like the novels we buy in bookstores. Because the novels we buy in bookstores didn’t start out like bookstore-novels either. Nope. They started out as way-less beautiful, way-more exciting things called first drafts. These are the dinged-up cousins to final drafts, and they’re packed with crazy energy and laughable tangents and embarrassing instances where a main character’s name shifts six times over the course of a single chapter.”

I agree wholeheartedly. And that is why, I am not so worried about whether my story starts off with the biggest bang that it could. Part of the reason why is that I don’t know the whole story yet which means that I don’t know what’s going to be the best way for it to begin. In fact, I’m pretty certain that I’ll be changing the beginning in at least one or two or eight ways before the story is considered ‘ready’.

If I can keep things going, I will be done my 50,000 words in a span of 34 hours (nonconsecetive). Does that sound right? Seems a bit…fast. Then again, I have tossed down over 80,000 words in a month, so 50,000 shouldn’t surprise me.

I pinched this timely photo from Inner Geek.

Now if that NaNoWriMo website wasn’t so amazingly slow that I could actually check in on my NaNo buddies and upload my word count…

NaNo-Uh oh?

I’ve promised myself to write a new story for NaNoWriMo this month. I even have a story idea that has been flouncing around in the back of my head for at least 6-8 months. No worries, right?

Well maybe if the genre I write in wasn’t dead. Seriously. I had a published author tell me the story of how her chick lit novel didn’t sell, despite editor interest, last year. I’ve heard agents proclaim that the genre is dead. Can’t sell a thing. Not so good for the unpublished writer of chick lit, is it?

But I have faith. I really enjoy writing chick lit and it is the genre for which I get the majority of my ideas. There has got to be a way. In the meantime, what is a gal to do when she’s promised herself to write a NaNoWriMo story but the story idea is <eeek> chick lit.

I suppose it means suck it up and write it! Write what you love–that’s always the advice they give out, isn’t it?

NaNoWriMo Anyone?

Next month is NaNoWriMo time!

That means National Novel Writing Month. That means, in November, try and write a novel (50,000 words) minimum during that month. It’s a challenge with its own reward–a 50,000(+) word novel!

Anyway, I am thinking of doing this. Otherwise, I may stay in this editing loop that has got me mired. (Not a wholly unpleasant place to be. I’m learning lots and I like to learn.) I’ve written new scenes for the works that are supposed to ‘complete’ and I keep tinkering with. That means I keep ignoring the new story idea that’s been pestering me for over six months. Now given, I have learned a lot in the past while and it has been important for me to focus on fixing and improving and not just writing more junk with the same old errors and distracting myself from honing the new skills I’ve been learning. But now, it’s back-on-the-horse time with a great excuse to keep me focused and motivated and goal-oriented.

Let’s see…November has 30 days. If I wrote every day, that would be how many words a day? 1666 words per day. Wow, that’s quite a few. I know I can do it though. And you are allowed to do character profiling beforehand and have an outline (if say, you were the type of writer interested in that)–just no story words down on that screen! Which means that I might need this:

This and a whole lot of take-out.

In fact, the book I am reading for my book club, Water For Elephants, was written as a NaNoWriMo challenge. Cool, eh?

Interesting stats: In 2007 there were over 100,000 participants, with over 15,000 of those folks finishing with a 50,000 word or more novel. This year, I will be one of them. Oh yes, I shall! Want to join me? I promise to email you motivational pep talks!