NaNo: Sunday update

[keiliss]

15448 / 50000
(30.9%)

Sooo - I ended up deleting a longish scene that was just plain wrong and spent a day and a half reading before starting over. In knitting I would call this knitting backwards, that situation where you were doing really well and then find you have to rip out half a sleeve. Word count looks a little sad now, but it'll go back up during the week. I'm not too worried about that, there's still plenty of month left. I'm more fed up that I mangled something I'll need to build on later and that I'm still hesitating about it.

I suppose the good part is I knew to stop instead of trying to force it, but it's still a bit depressing. Anyhow - onwards and upwards, as they say. It's all part of the drama *g*.

Comments

[levade]

You caught it early on, instead of reams of pages later, that's good. :)

Besides, first drafts are meant to be messy and full of crossed out, mangled bits.

The hardest part for me is when I get fond of those parts that aren't working, I know it, and still like them. I put them in the cut scenes and go back now and then to read them over and wonder, which probably isn't helpful to going forward. I guess I always think that maybe, just maybe, they'll fit somewhere. *snort*

Good luck and don't stress on the word count. Once you get rolling you'll mow down that number!

[keiliss]

It's that strange thing of just knowing it's wrong and flailing around trying to make it right and finally accepting it can't ever be right and it has to go --- even if it has some pretty phrases and at least one decent description. I have bits and pieces saved from a bunch of fics. I'll never find anywhere to put them but I couldn't delete them. This last bit wasn't that dear to my heart, I made it disappear and moved on (after reading a hell of a lot about early ships and sailing :( :( :( --- you'd think someone who's lived in a port city for a large part of her life would understand that kind of thing better wouldn't you?)

Anyhow - thank you :)

*hugs*

[levade]

Well....I'm not sure how a modern port is like an ancient Elven or Human one. :) And reading about sailing ships is not sailing one (yep, I've sailed and still don't know all the terms, dangit!).

It's tough, is all I'm saying. Like writing about a blacksmith when you know nothing about forges or metal or ...stuff. ;D

I guess the tough part, besides writing, is knowing just how much detail to put, without needing to spend a year on a tall ship to know how it all really works.

I'd love to spend a year on a tall ship, btw...

*hugs* Write on, sister!

[feralfae]

Love , hugs, and power to your muses, Kei.

Tia xxx

[keiliss]

There's Numenor, and there's the coastal cities in the south of M-earth and there's the elves and they would all have very different kinds of ships and shipbuilding techniques. And I will happily go round the bay y'know, but don't ask me how it was built or how it all works or what you call the thingy that attaches to the whatsit. I just needed the differences clear in my head so there'd be background references and I could picture life on board a Numenorean ship and what an elf would think of it.

Waaaay more than you wanted to hear about, LOL.

[keiliss]

Awww, thank you, tia :)

*hugs*

[levade]

Actually not way more. Do you think the Numenorean ships were more like the Spanish galleons or ships of that era, or more like the tall ship that sank off the coast of North Carolina here in the US? I tend to see them more like the one that sank, that big, that sturdy, all practical and made to explore. Where I see Elven ships more as sturdy and strong but elves had more time in one lifetime, in one craftsman's life, and so they could perfect beauty and strength in one form. Not to mention their ability to add their will to what they create, giving it a bit of what a human would call magic.

I tend to think Elros picked up a bit of Cirdan's craft hanging out with him before he went to the island and he would pass that on to his descendants.

See? I can ramble on about this .....

[lilith-lessfair.livejournal.com]

I suppose the good part is I knew to stop instead of trying to force it

That's a really good part!

[scarlet1061.livejournal.com]

onwards and upwards

Next (this) week will be better :-)

[red-lasbelin.livejournal.com]

Yes, NaNo doesn't take into account wild blow out parties, or cooking all day for prep. *G* My sister's schedule (she's also doing NaNo) has been thrown off by the drama and upsets of L, so she's not sure how she's going to make up her word count this year.

She did say there's a blog she's following of a girl who decided this year that she was going to do NaNo every month this year - and she's doing well so far. The thought of that many words...I can't even imagine it!

[engarian.livejournal.com]

You're doing marvelously, and you're right - there are plenty of days left in the month. I love checking on you in my Buddy List and seeing where you are with your word count.

I'm already looking forward to after NaNo when I can allow myself to edit, move things around, delete and rebuild. My characters keep acting in unexpected ways, now a homosexual duo has entered into the field. I knew the two male characters were in there, they are essential to the plot. I didn't know that they were anything more than friends. I'm not sure I want to walk down the road that they opened this morning but...as I reassure myself...I can edit in December and if I decide to, I can throw their relationship to the bad plot winds.

That damned inner editor constantly requires his cage locks and bars checked.

- Erulisse (one L)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I recognise that feeling exactly - I call it unpicking or unravelling, too.

[aglarien1.livejournal.com]

We call it reverse stitching in quilting, lol.

[huinare.livejournal.com]

A slightly frustrating experience it sounds like, but it sounds like you made the right decision to delete something that wasn't working for you.

The people I used to knit with called it "tinking" when you undo a mistake by un-knitting/knitting backwards/whatever one wishes to call it. You know 'cause tink is knit spelled backwards. I could never decide if that was amusing, or just kinda gross sounding (like tinkle).

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

You go girl! *shakes pom poms*

[chaotic-binky.livejournal.com]

Over 15000 words is still quite a feat - I hope you finish well before the end date :D

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

It was worth it too, because tonight I found a picture that helped answer a whole lot of questions :)

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) I've got back to writing now, finally resolved the problem. Nothing like being stopped dead in your tracks by something you hadn't thought was a problem.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Why would someone punish themselves like that? Just - why?? Ouch. (though of course the writers all say Write Every Day, so maybe a mini NaNo, 1,000 words a day or something)

The past few weeks must have been very rough writing-wise for E, there's been so much going on and so emotional. What I'm planning is several sessions a day instead of one, just keep adding little bits every chance I get even if it's just fifteen minutes and 300 words. Hope she'll be able to do something similar.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I write horrible first drafts normally anyhow, so I'm used to thinking 'ewwww, that'll take hours to edit' and moving on, which is really useful during NaNo *g*. Couldn't do it this time though, because I needed to explain something central to the end of the story. I've just done a great deal of reading on a subject that doesn't hold all that much interest for me --- which is probably how I got painted into that corner in the first place, LOL..

Characters with minds of their own - yesss *g*. There's a chapter in Burning Bright where Lindir and Erestor make out, get attacked by Badger who Erestor kills. They then hide the body and join a group also heading for Lindon. The outline just said 'cross Eriador, reach Lindon, part company'. I wrote almost the whole chapter in one session and at the end sat staring at the screen wondering where the heck that came from. Love it when that happens!

Are you planning to write to 50k and stop or will you keep going till the end of the month or however long it takes to get your first draft down? I always wonder that when people reach the NaNo requirement early.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

It gets smaller and smaller but eventually you can make a clean start, yes *g*.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

LOL, yes that's it exactly. Good term for it :)

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

LOL --- yes, my first thought was 'tink' could be misunderstood! Makes perfect sense though. I think it could grow on me.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

Hope it's going well for you too! *hugs*

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) I added a page tonight and it seems to have its balance back now so I'm feeling much better about it. See how far I can get by next weekend.

*hugs*

[melusine6619.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling too well. But that's still quite a bit done. You'll get there, I know you will!

*hugs*

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm past 30,000 words now and my characters have a long way to go. So I won't be stopping when I reach my 50,000, although I may pull back from my 2000-3000 word a day requirement. It's exhausting and I really will have to work my six-day weeks starting in a couple. That's one reason I'm so focused at doing everything I can on the front-end of the month - because I know, as a retailer, that my time in the holiday season is seriously contracted. I am estimating that the draft will be somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 words and then I can start shuffling and revising. Oy!

I have other obligations - a Santa fanfic exchange story and my monthly challenge pieces, so I'll put "Face" into a virtual drawer for one to two months, then I'll start the revisions.

And yes, my two secondary characters in the 1800's portion of the story are becoming stronger and, I think, will be around for quite a while. I need to get some angst into the story but it hasn't cropped up yet. It may be sitting back and waiting for the revision parts before raising its head, but it has to come eventually. Things are going too easily just now.

- Erulisse (one L)

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

Knitting backwards. :D I tend to refer to it as 'frogging'... because you rip it, rip it, rip it. >_>

It's awful to lose the words, but great to be able to move on with a better scene. Your word count is still fabulous! Hooray for writing.

I envy you being able to write terrible first drafts. :D I know that sounds nuts, but I have such a strong inner editor that I get blocked up all the time by fixing things before I can move on.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Drafty as opposed to thorough: I write the first draft quite fast, which is the only way the story unwinds for me, then I go back and give it grammar and sensible punctuation, then I get rid of the holes and lame bits and things that looked great but don't work. Then I send it to Red. It comes back and I read the comments and apply them. Then I go through it as though someone else wrote it and I'm beta reading and I fix it some more (this is sometimes the 'gut and rewrite' stage). Sometimes it goes to Red again. Finally it might be ready to share.

Personally I would rather take time and get it right first time!!!!!!! You don't know how I envy you, lol!

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Aww I love that icon! Thanks love, I've still got a few thousand words to claw back because I stopped to write something else yesterday, but I've got past some of the bits I was worried about writing. Of course there are more to come :( I wish I'd read more Numenor fics now, I really feel out of my depth trying to picture it.