Hello everyone. Yes,
I know it’s been a while. But I have
lots to tell I’m glad to report.
As I reported in my last blog post way back at the end of
October, my plan was to take part in the National Novel writing month run by www.nanowrimo.org. An event known on Facebook and Twitter as
#nanowrimo. I am glad to report that I
took part in the event throughout November, though I did not complete it as
intended. The plan was to write 50,000
words but I only managed 26,000.
Still, the entire experience was one I would definitely
recommend to any budding writer or current writer looking to boost there
creativity. The event forces you to
concentrate on writing, even writing for the sake of writing. Quantity is better than quality, the idea
being that you complete a 1st draft then spend the next while
perfecting what you manage to write in the tight time scale.
26,000 words was not what was required to ‘win’, but it
certainly gave me a lot to think about and has set a solid foundation for Haldred
Chronicles book 4. The main characters,
major plot points and scenes have all been formed in one way or another. What is needed now is some time to properly
connect them all together and fill in the details, particularly regards the
descriptions.
A lot of the writing was often just dialogue between
characters, to be filled in at a later date.
But that’s part of the fun! Letting
you set things up so that later you can go back and fill out the details; updating
descriptions and making the scenes truly breath.
I had a lot of positive experiences during November as the
challenge went ahead. For example, I
noticed certain activates I’d been doing in my life influenced my writing. Obviously every writer will take some kind of
small influence from there own life in writing, but during Nanowrimo this
seemed to be heightened due to the challenge to put words on the page. One example was my experience with the boxed
set of all the seasons of the TV comedy series Frazier in my DVD collection that
played in the background whenever I was writing. I have found that some of the humour in book
four has been influenced by the Frazier style of comedy; that unique sort of
dry sarcastic wit. Indeed, one of the
characters I can say with confidence is definitely my own take on Frazier
Crane, though given the setting he is sufficiently different not to just be a
direct copy.
It was a fantastic experience as well due to the community
involvement. The multiple forums on the
nanowrimo website were highly active during November and before, offering help
and tips as well as places to brag / encourage.
The topic posts were a treasure trove of helpful material from ‘how do
you escape a burning building’ to ‘dress sense of the 17th
century’. Anything and everything could
be covered and when you asked a question, however obscure, someone somewhere on
the boards would be able to answer it for you, often very quickly. For those interested, the forums are still up
and the community still very active. Go
take a look!
The experience was further enhanced by the writing buddies
system.
Before the event began, I was able to connect with a number
of like minded individuals in order to encourage each other, share work and comment. This provided a more personal connection for
developing the story and putting words on the page. Constantly these writing buddies encouraged
me to ‘keep writing!’. They were part of
the reason I got as far as I did.
I must send a particular big congrats to my writing buddies
BriegeH, Daireen, Eimi111, Erin Funk, GabzWritez and ValkyrieMist who did
successfully complete the challenge.
Good job all of you! I assure
you, I am immensely jealous J.
I may not have completed the Nanowrimo challenge, but I have
certainly benefited from the event and now, the future is clear for books 3 and
4 to grow. The plan will be to return to
book 3 in about a months time and finish it.
Before that, I will continue for another month on book 4 and fill in a
few more of the scenes. I want to leave
book 4 in at least draft 2 form.
Book 3, ‘Tales of Larrick City’ will then be finished and I
will look to release it in the first quarter of 2014.
Once again, my thanks to all my writing buddies on Nanowrimo
and everyone who encouraged me in completing the challenge. Thank you so much! Good luck with your own endeavours.
Till next time.
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