| Image from sxc.hu by nazreth |
Last year for National Novel Writing Month I wrote my favorite novel of the 3 years I've participated. I titled it, Fade to Farewell. My love for the title was enough to keep me motivated to keep writing even when I didn't want to. This novel seriously felt like my lifeline last November after I suffered a pretty rough time. I remember there were days it was even painful to write down parts of the stories that were more like memories to me. The most awful thing happened when my laptop crashed, and I lost over half the novel since it was not backed up yet. It was the roughest NaNoWriMo I've experienced by far! You can imagine how much I wanted this novel to see the light of day after all that work. Somewhere along the way I became very tempted to shelf it, and forget it. All of a sudden I figured it could be rescued. If I keep throwing away things because I thought they were impossible to edit then I will never see a novel of mine make it. Right now my goal is to edit a chapter a day.
Another round of NaNoWriMo also begins next month. Meaning I have another novel idea to roll out titled, Absolution. I want to plot slightly better than I have in the past, and at least know what I need to write from day to day. I have around eight ideas charted now, and my goal is to fit a certain amount of words, or more into each chapter. I also feel I should do some character planning to make everything seem stronger. My motivation is wavering between these two novels though so it makes each difficult to get into at different times.
I'm a little bit concerned at my wavering excitment about the next idea for next month. I know if I kick myself into gear I can do it though. I like to think of the scenes that first introduced me to the idea, and made me want to write, which leaves me forgetting the larger story I need to hash out. The more I write the more pressure I feel to make it good. Though that leaves room for me to improve over last year it also puts pressure on me not to fail. I'm trying to feel encouraged as much as I can, but I feel like so much is working against me.
I'm currently trying to write short fiction while editing my first two NaNo novels, but will suspend all editing for November. Good luck next month.
ReplyDeleteI've been debating when to halt the editing on last year's novel. I think I'm going to at least a week before NaNo starts so I can put all my extra time into next month's idea. Good luck to you too!
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