Those of you joining us in doing NaNoWriMo, how are you getting on?
Are your word counts worthy? Your plots perfect, and characters carefully crafted?
If so, you are doing much better than me.
We’re almost at the end of week one, and to be on track for 50,000 words by the end of November, we should be at the 10,000 words mark.
For those of you who have achieved this – well done!
As Manon (our Illustrations Ed) and I have discovered, it’s not always easy to fit some writing time into your schedule.
If you read our last blog post, we had planned to use our commuting time to write twice a day. Not being a morning person; I find my brain is not suitably awake enough to write on my way to work.
The journey home has been a great success, with me alternating between typing on my iPad or scribbling in my notebook.
Manon has been captivated by a book she simply could not put down. Although it ate into her writing time, reading is essential for us writers, so it counts as inspiration.
It was purely by coincidence that it happens to feature in fiction team Lucy’s book review.
“The Things We Cannot Say” is written by Kelly Rimmer and you can read Lucy’s review here.
Pocket Novel?
Although I couldn’t tempt fiction team’s Tracey to join Nano, she did suggest that one goal of the writing challenge could be to write a pocket novel.
A pocket novel is a great springboard for a debut author or platform for a professional writer. The word count is between 37-39,000 words in length, that’s longer than the average novella.
It gives you the chance as a writer to try something new, or explore a new topic or writing style.
You could also check out the guidelines for writing a long read, which is longer than a short story, at 9,500 words but short enough to feature in the magazine.
Character Crafting
As your story develops, it’s worth considering how your story is taking shape. Characters are the stars of any story and they need to be well-formed individuals the reader can relate to.
Fiction Ed Shirley has some good advice on creating characters.
You will also find oodles of tips and advice on Shirley’s blog, an excellent resource for all budding writers.
Into Week Two . . .
Now is a good time to set your writing goals as we go into week two of NaNoWriMo.
My word count to date is around 5,000 and I aim to at least double that by this time next week.
As well as writing on the train, I’ll continue to meet up with other writers taking the challenge this month.
I made it to the “write-in” as they are called last Sunday and felt encouraged and inspired being around others who were all busy typing away.
There’s something about the creative energy of a group, to galvanise you into action!
Find out if there is a “write-in” near you, or why not start your own one?
Read about how Sharon got started on NaNoWriMo in her first blog.
