I finished the draft of this new novel on Thanksgiving Day. Since then, I’ve been filling in some gaps, trying to get to at least the NaNoWriMo pace each day. Through Sunday, November 29, I wrote 93,200 words. The NaNoWriMo pace for that period is 48,343 words, and my personal pace of 2,000 words/day is 58,000.
I’ll eke out a few more words on Monday, November 30, and end the month with a draft of about 95,000 words. Pretty good for someone who has never written more than 20,000 or so words in a month before.
I don’t know whether the NaNoWriMo process has helped or hindered this book. It was a help to write the entire draft in a month, because I could remember most of what I’d already written. So perhaps there is less duplication in this first draft than in many first drafts I’ve written.
On the other hand, there are still a lot of gaps in the plot. More than 100 of the scenes in the novel have “TBD” written in them, with a note about the hole to fill, which might be anything from a name or a date I can find easily to an additional scene or two that I need to research before I write it.
And many of the scenes are pretty sketchy. I’ll need to expand them, combine them, or cut them. I found that I was inside my three point-of-view characters pretty well, but that meant that often I was simply recounting what they saw or heard or felt, rather than creating scenes with dialogue and dramatic tension. I enjoy writing dialogue, so I’m hoping expanding the scenes won’t be too painful. But I won’t know until I get into it.
STILL, I DID IT! (Though there’s still one more day to go.)
No doubt about it, Theresa! You are amazing! I’ll be interested in hearing about your progress from here on out. The really good thing — good point you made — is that by writing fast you have fewer duplications. that’s my issue, so I’m ready to hear how things go for you here on out. CONGRATULATIONS!!
Congratulations, Theresa. That’s quite an accomplishment. I admire your stick-to-it-ness!
That’s incredible, Thetesa!