Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a writing update, so you’re in luck! If you wanted to know more about my novel and where it’s currently at, then you’re going to love this post. And if you’re just interested in seeing a sneak peak of the book, then welcome! I hope you enjoy! (but please don’t tell me if you don’t)
Surprise, surprise. I actually opened up my Lost Queen manuscript and started editing. Who knew that I had it in me?
I sure didn’t.
Hey everyone, I’m back at it again with another NaNoWriMo writing update! If you missed my first update, you can check it out here. The pat week has been pretty intense and a lot has changed since then.
I had planned to post this on Monday but I forgot . . . so you’re getting it today!
This is the first year I’ve done NaNoWriMo without immediately failing and it feels really good! I’m excited to provide this update because I wasn’t sure how well NaNo was going to go this year for me, but so far, I’m pleasantly surprised!
This past week has been amazing for my writing! I wish I had Scrivener to track my progress, but alas I have Word and my memory at this point. Which means that some of these numbers might be off (sorry). I’m trying my best.
It’s been a little while since I’ve done a writing update and since I’ve gotten a lot accomplished this week, I thought it was time to let you know where my book is!
This is a sad update because honestly, I haven’t written in weeks. I was on such a roll with writing and then *poof* my motivation disappeared and now I have a half finished manuscript sitting on my computer, judging me.
This will be a short update because there hasn’t been a lot going on. Honestly, I just need to finish the dang thing so I can start editing. I like editing more than drafting personally it seems (I say until I start the editing process) so if I can just cram out this book, then maybe it will actually turn into a publishable manuscript. Maybe.
So far, my manuscript is currently at 52,516 words (a 27,495 word increase) or 162 pages (up from 76 pages). I’m definitely nearing the climax of this book as we build up to the scene revealed in the prologue and I think because I’m nearing the end of this first draft, I don’t wanna write it. I would guess there’s about maybe 20,000 or so more words to finish this book and then with LOTS of editing, I can get it up to 80-90k. I don’t want my story to be too long, especially for a first draft/first book, but there’s so much that happens I can’t make it too short either.
UGHH THE STRUGGLES.
So yeah, I’m currently stuck in a cycle of “I can’t write, but I need to finish this book and it’s stressing me, but I can’t write because I’m stressed” – we love writing.
Hopefully I can get out of this rut, finish this book, and start editing! I want to have this manuscript finished and polished by the end of summer so I can start querying. We’ll see if that actually ever happens.
Wish me luck!
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It has been a while since I’ve done a writing update so I thought I would let you know how my manuscript is going!
First off, I managed to get to 90 pages/26,000 words before I realized that the whole thing had to be scraped! It was devastating but also very needed. The story idea I had wasn’t working out on the page and it might be better as a middle grade, but I’m not ready to write that story just yet. I decided to scrap the thing and just rewrite it. So no more mermaids, hello witches!
The actual writing for it is between older YA and adult – I’m not quite sure where it lands yet. I think it’s going to hit upper YA/NA territory, but I’m over 25,000 words into it, so we’ll see!
For this process, I decided to save the original draft (NEVER DELETE ANYTHING!) and copy the draft into a new document. As I’m writing, I’m going chapter by chapters, reading through what I have and salvaging what I can. The beginning has all been deleted. There was nothing there I could keep, but the more middle parts might be saved depending on where this book goes.
So far, my manuscript word count is at 25,021 words or 76 pages. Which I wrote in a week and a half and still writing. I would be at a higher word count, but Friday and Saturday were not good writing days. I wrote a little bit on those days, but I think it was maybe 1200 words total for the two days. I started rewriting this draft two weeks ago and I’m proud of what I’ve done so far!
My writing process is pretty much a pantser – I have a general plot line I want to follow, but my characters are holding the reins on this one and I’m just following their story! I’ve been writing about a chapter a day, with each chapter being at least 5-6 pages long. Some are shorter, some are longer, but that’s the average for this draft. I’m hoping to hit at least 100,000 words for this draft, but we’ll see if it gets there. So far, I have high hopes that this will be a solid, long draft that I can work some magic into!
My goal for next week is to add at least another 15,000 words to the draft and really get this story going. When I opened my draft for the first time in a while, I was at 23,000 words. I added about 3,000 and then realized it all had to go! So fingers crossed I can get to 40,000 by the end of the week!
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For those of you who didn’t know, and I assume that is almost all of you, I am writing a book. Multiple books actually. So far, I’m about a third of the way through one of my first drafts and it’s …. not going well at all. I think the biggest thing with writing, and specifically my writing, is that I have the beginning and the end in my head, but the middle? Nonexistent. Like completely not there. Which of course makes it difficult to write the middle and get to the ending I have envisioned.
So how am I going about fixing this issue?
By avoiding writing of course!
I’m just kidding. I sometimes meet up with my friend Alexa from Writing the Universe to talk through plot holes, character develop, and overall writing issues. Last Monday we worked through the middle section I was trying to envision. Thankfully, we found a solution together that feels right for the book and it fits. Now I just need to write it.
Besides that, figuring out ages for characters is also incredibly hard. The book with the most progress has older characters, oldest being 25 and the youngest being 12. My main characters are 18, 21, and 25 with other 16-22 year old characters in there too. This is supposed to be a YA novel, but I’m worried people will dislike the fact that some of the characters are older. But I have to make them older or else it doesn’t work with timeline.
It also doesn’t make sense for the society to make them all 15-18 year olds unfortunately. The content and topics are still YA, and the main POV is of my 18 year old, but I still worry. At least Sabaa Tahir did it first with making Laia 18 and Elias 21 (THANK YOU).
After the brainstorm session today I also was pushed to start writing another book idea I have. This one has a younger MC (16) and its a really interesting premise. I’m so excited! The biggest thing I love about this is the Greek mythology included in it. I haven’t written anything with Greek mythology in it before, but I’ve been a Percy Jackson stan since 5th grade and I’ve been obsessed with the mythology since I was young.
It feels so nice to have somewhat of a plan for now, but with enough wiggle room to not feel trapped. It actually makes me excited to write. And to give you all updates on my writing.
So of the two main WIP I have going on here is the word count so far:
WIP #1: 23,119
WIP #2: 656
I can’t decide which book I want to work on for NaNoWriMo in November, but we’ll see how developed each are when we get there.
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We Write At Dawn 