Tag Archives: word count

And The Typos Keep Flooding In

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It really is amazing the misspellings that occur in a month.  I thought I’d share some of the more notable things that I’ve managed to type in the last couple weeks from my harry potter fanfic.  As usual, any comments in parantheses are my thoughts and everything is copyright me:

  • “She ran after fred, screaming arr at him.”  (the image that popped into my head is mrs. weasley dressed up as a pirate, chasing fred with a sword.)
  • “You’re a smart woth” (what’s a woth?)
  • “d.a.a., helping fred and george with he joke ship, and she’s resarcong the giant prehistoric chicken” (1- what’s the D.A.A., and 2- what’s a joke ship?)

there’s a few other ones, but I never marked where they were…so those will wait until I can look through it and see where they were.

Secret Service Novel: 26,592; I had a great title…and promptly forgot it.  I’m slightly off of where I want to be, but I have some interesting ideas to work with.  Today, Kiora took a trip to the future.  She went ahead 3 years, and apparently, somehow, started something (that’s yet to be determined) with dustin when they were in texas escaping her aunt audrey.

Harry Potter Fanfic: 26,860; george has admitted to liking hermione, if only she would admit she has feelings for him. 

2006 sequel: 26,712; chloe found a letter hidden under a rock in her front yard from her dad to her mom, and is now embarking on a scavenger hunt to find him.

Grand total: 80,164; knowing I’m halfway there is such a relief!

Typos!

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Today I thought I’d share some of the funny stuff that I end up writing.  In any given NaNo, there are always grammatical errors and spelling errors.  And in any given NaNo, you leave out words, say things in very bizarre ways, and even type things that you later read and think “WTF?!!” 

I’ve managed to shut out my inner editor (well, for the most part).  A rough draft written in one month is not the time to worry about grammar or spelling.  Not caring about spelling or grammar leads to some pretty interesting typos and stuff.  Last year, I kept spelling ninjas as ninkas.  I’m comtemplating going back through previous NaNo’s and trying to find the funny stuff.

While I haven’t gone back and reread anything, when I do notice stuff, I make a comment in word, so I can find it easily.  that’s very rare for me, but when you plan to write 150,000 words in a month, being able to find this stuff easily is becoming a necessity.  So here’s a few gems from my secret service novel that I’ve managed to catch after writting it.  I’ll post stuff from my other novels later, everything is copyrighted to me.  oh, and my comments are in parantheses. 

  • “It’s not having secret service agents around you all the time is helping things.” 
  •  “She might not be able to kick you clowns out of class, but she most certainly can and will kick me out of class if it means you people being quiet.”  (the image of a relatively petite girl calling a bunch of guys twice her size clowns is hysterical)
  • “hat explains everything,” dustin said” (i had no idea hats could explain stuff)
  • “duiton whispered to kira” (i have no idea who duiton and kira are…maybe dustin and kiora’s doppelgangers?)

Secret Service Novel: 24,035; I’ve just now decided that this novel is the one that I need to write last.  I’ve struggled off and on with the other two, and I figure if I write the one that I’m not having trouble with last, it’ll make me feel better about having something that I have no trouble with.

Harry Potter Fanfic: 23,927; to resurrect the giant prehistoric chicken, there’s a spell that needs to be performed and a potion that needs to be made.  I still haven’t figured out how to get them to the underworld, but I’m sure I can come up with something.  Hermione’s going to ask fred and george to get the ingredients she needs for the potions. 

2006 Sequel: 25,060; I’m halfway there!  chloe’s decided she wants to find her dad, and get some answers from him about what happened between him and her mom.

Grand total:  73,022; just over 2,000 words before I hit the halfway point.  That’ll be in the next few hours (I hope!).  I can do this.

Am I A Planner or a Pantser?

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I had a great idea for today’s post…and then I forgot it!  It must not have been too memorable then, otherwise I would have remembered it, right? 

There are typically two groups of people, the planners and the pantsers.  Planners obviously plan out their novels in varying degrees, while the pantsers are, for the most part, the opposite of planners.  I see it as a continuum, with people being a combination of the two.  It seems, however, that people definitely lean more towards one group than the other. 

I always thought I was a pantser, doing pretty well with just characters and a vague idea.  I coming to the conclusion that while I am most definitely a pantser, character biographies are good, because I have a much better understanding of all my characters.  I’m definitely not the “outlining my novel, and these are the points I need to have” type, because I tried that one year with my quest for pants novel, and failed miserably.  Granted, that’s the type of novel that really shouldn’t be planned, and it would probably work well with a different idea.  I will admit that the level of planning largely depends on what I’m writing.  Harry Potter needs minimal planning, as the world is already there for me to play with.  My secret service novel, on the other hand, definitely needed several pages of notes, and some research about not only the secret service, but I had to look at the cabinet, and a few other things.  I’ll probably talk about research and planning another day.

This month I’m finding that the only novel I haven’t yet struggled with is my secret service novel.  I’ve been moving things along reasonably well, there’s a good amount of conflict, and I have plenty of material to work with.  I did do more research than I’ve ever done, even coming up with an incomplete list of questions and possible conflicts.  I had no outline for it, no plot points, or anything, but I feel like that list I came up with has been a huge help. 

With the other two, I haven’t done anywhere near the planning I’ve done for the other.  No possible conflict/questions lists to work with.  Granted, I’m the not the best at coming up with conflict, and I usually don’t have enough of it, but there isn’t a lot of it this year, and conflict would probably be helpful.  I may have to come up with a conflict list, but we’ll see if I can actually get it done.  I have to say that I at least have a general (read: extremely vague) idea of where I’m taking harry potter and the giant prehistoric chicken- I have the next few chapters outlined.  And by outlined I mean I have a list of things I need to write about.  With the 2006 sequel, I’ve gone back and written chapters that I skipped over, which is introducing some new material to work with, so hopefully that’ll get me unstuck.

Secret Service Novel: 23,411; since I’ve had some trouble with the other two, this is the only one where I have no trouble writing way more than I need to.

Harry Potter Fanfic: 23,474; while I have a plan that’s so vague, it probably can’t be considered a plan, it may be time for harry to start dreaming about the giant prehistoric chicken.

2006 Sequel: 23,343; going back and writing stuff I’ve skipped over really is interesting.  apparently gumbo has decided he is not mike’s dad.  He does have a daughter, and he feels guilty for getting his daughter’s mom pregnant.  It appears that Chloe is his daughter, but they don’t know it yet.

Grand total: 70,288; tomorrow I’ll definitely be hitting the halfway mark, which will be a big exciting thing, and a huge benchmark.

Stupid Rebellious Characters

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During November, characters really do take on a life of their own.  You come up with all of these plans for them, and they decide they want to ignore your plans, and come up with their own.

I wasn’t planning on George and Hermione dating.  They apparently are headed towards a relationship, and I’m sitting here trying to figure out where that came from.  I’m just typing away happily, and all of a sudden george and hermione are on better terms then they’ve ever been in the entire series, chatting away, not admitting they like each other, even though hermione is helping fred and george with their joke shop and with george suggesting that he and fred get hermione a bunch of books about the giant prehistoric chicken.

Or my secret service novel.  Kiora and Dustin were going to get together when she was 18, but out of nowhere, dustin decides part of why he’s hostile towards kiora is because he’s attracted to her.  And once again, I’m sitting here wondering why he can’t wait a couple years until she’s legal. 

The characters in my 2006 sequel have decided that they’re all related to each other.  Avery and Gumbo, who met Chloe while they were all in the same treatment facility, are related to Betsy (who was one of chloe’s best friends) and Mike (who is letting chloe stay with him). 

This, of course, is why I try to avoid planning, because they’re obviously going to do what they want, without regard for what I planned for them.  If they’re not careful, I could just as easily kill one of them off just for the heck of it. 

Secret Service Novel: 23,411; this novel needs a title.  Like now.  It’ll have something to do with secrets, but I don’t have any other ideas.

Harry Potter Fanfiction: 21,627; no title needed for this one, as I already have one.

2006 Sequel: 20,017; I’m seriously considering taking a break from this one today, and getting ahead on the other two.  I do love how this novel has become my rant novel.  Annoy me enough, and you’ll probably end up in this novel.  I do need to rant though…so maybe it can be a flashback or a dream or something?

Grand total: 65,055; I should be halfway there on the 15th!

I Must Not Forget Why I’m Doing This

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I remember when I first heard about NaNo.  It was October 2005, and I thought I wouldn’t have the time to do it.  It turned out, though, that I had plenty of time for NaNo, and I immediately regretted the decision not to participate.  I vowed that I would do it the following year.  And every since 2006, I’ve done NaNo.  I started out doing NaNo as someone who loves to write, and as someone who wanted to finish a story for once.  I’ve started a few stories (mostly in high school) and never finished.  Since starting NaNo, I’ve (mostly) finished everything I’ve started.  While my november drafts are never completely finished (as rough drafts are never are), they are much more finished than anything I’ve ever started.  Since my first NaNo, november has become the one time of the year that I know I can finish what I set out to do. 

It’s also like summer camp in a way.  I’ve never been to summer camp, but it has the feeling of seeing people you haven’t seen all year.  I’ve met some great people through NaNo that I know I’ll talk to for years to come. 

I used to write a lot in high school, and my first couple years in college.  And then, suddenly, I was writing less and less, until the only time I actually write anything is during NaNo.  It’s like my brain knows that writing happens only during November. 

There’s a great sense of achievement and satisfaction on December 1st knowing that I’ve just written a novel.  And even though I know I probably won’t edit it (though I’ve made a couple half-hearted attempts), I still wrote a novel in a month. 

This time around, I’ve been writing everyday, and I’ve been remembering why I started doing NaNo, and how much I love writing.  I have a strong feeling that this year will be the year that I keep writing post-November.

Secret Service: 19,917; none of the secrets have been revealed, but it looks like kiora will be getting a visit from one of her aunts. 

Harry Potter Fanfic: 20,059; things are moving along at a great pace.  I am deviating a bit from Order of the Phoenix, but then again that’s the point of fanfiction, right?

2006 sequel: 19,995; I took a break from moving things foward, and went back to one of my skipped over chapters.  It was a nice break from where things were going, and it definitely provided me with some stuff that’ll be helpful for the rest of the month.

Grand total: 59,971; I’m just under where I want to be, about I’m slowly creeping up on the halfway mark, which means that things will start to get easier.  I should be able to add a few thousand words tonight.

Here’s Some More Fun Facts!

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I thought I would share a select few (and fun!) facts about my characters:

  • chloe has never been on a plane; for that matter, she’s never left Ashton County
  • kiora wants to be a psychologist or a teacher
  • blake always wants to fix things
  • dustin hates apple cider
  • aisling has cancer

I’m really liking this in-depth character biography thing.  And in addition to the things that come up out of nowhere, this novel-writing thing really is fun, no matter how frustrated I get with the writing.

Secret Service: 17,810; this one is going quite well, and I find myself not bored with it at all.  Kiora’s dad has mysteriously vanished, and I have no idea where he is, or why he disappeared.  Things are pretty tense between him and kiora right now; maybe he’ll tell her what’s going on.

Harry Potter Fanfiction: 18,600; nothing else to report on this one.  Hopefully the frustrations that I felt last week means that it’s out of my system. 

2006 Sequel: 18,342; I’m still a little bored with this one, and I’m not quite sure what direction I should take with it.  Maybe it’s the perfect time to go back and write those chapters I skipped over.

Total: 54,752!  I’m starting to go into a word coma, I think, but I’ll come out of it.

The Excitement’s Definitely Worn Off

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There’s a reason why I love week one of NaNo, and it’s because there’s so much excitement.  After at least a good month of waiting for Nov 1st, I finally get to write.  It’s also one of the easiest weeks, mostly because you’re introducing characters and the world they live in.  Week two is harder, because you have to rely more on moving the plot along.  Things need to start moving along at a quicker pace.  Plus, it’s the week I get bored, and usually give up on writing.  I can’t afford miss an entire week.  Well, not with three novels anyway.  With one, yes, and usually I’m fine with doing two and missing a week.  But my 150,00 word goal could be disastrous if I miss a week for all three.  there’s no way I’d be able to make that up, so I definitely need to stay more on track this year.

Secret Service Novel: 17,613; I’m hoping I can get it together long enough to write 700 words, which will put me a day ahead.  I got on a roll last night, so I went with it.  Never argue when inspiration hits.  But if I don’t write 700 words tonight, I’m not going to worry.

Harry Potter Fanfic: 16,305; things haven’t change since my last update, but those missing 300 words are mine!

2006 Sequel: 16,727; I had trouble sleeping (which isn’t unusual), so I wrote today’s chapter in the wee hours of the morning.  Granted, I get a lot of work done in the middle of night, but a normal sleeping schedule would be nice as well.  Who am I kidding?  Sleep can wait 20 more days.  Moving on, I’m getting a little bored with this…I think conflict should move things along a little.  Maybe a mini outline or something during my middle-of-the-day non-writing productive time will help.

Grand total: 50645!  Which mean that I’m technically a NaNo winner 5 years in a row!  But for me it doesn’t count until I have three 50,000 word novels.  I’m one-third of the way there.  All in all, today was a good day to take a break from writing, even I’m not totally ahead with things.

I’m A Writing Machine!

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Holy cow, I’ve written a lot of words.  Tomorrow, I should cross the 50,000 tomorrow.  Of course, it’s a combined total for all 3 novels, but 50,000 words is a lot for 10 days!

Secret Service: 16,451; I got on a roll with this one, so I went with it.  Her relationship with her dad is starting to become more strained.  The thing that has surprised me the most with this novel is the fact that the secret service doesn’t have as big a role as I had orignally thought.

Harry Potter fanfic: 15022; The pace of the story moving slowly but quickly all at the same time.  Other than that, things are pretty…expected. 

2006 Sequel: 15,044; Chloe did get a visit from one the patients from the time she was in the treatment facility, which was a nice surprise for her. 

Grand total: 46,517; I’m very satisfied with my wordcount, but I’m not stopping until I get 150,000.

Fun Facts and Other Stuff

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I’ve noticed in the last week that I’m getting very particular about when and where I write.  I’m perfectly fine when I’m not at home, so I’m not too concerned.  However, writing at home is proving to be slightly problematic.  The middle of the night works is a productive time because no one’s awake except for me. The morning is fine because my mom’s not home.  When she is home, however, is the time I have the most trouble writing.  While I typically try to avoid writing during this time, and try to focus my attention on other productive tasks (eating is good, and so is going to the gym), it would be nice to actually get writing done during this time.  Perhaps I need to write elsewhere during this time.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to go into some rant about how much I hate being cooped up at home.  What I’m learning is that I need to work out the best times for writing, and working around things that are potential annoyances.  It’s definitely a different experience from past NaNo’s when I would write at school or during my lunch breaks at work. 

So onto the fun facts part of the post.  Today was the day for secrets to start coming out in my secret service novel.

  • Kyle, one of Kiora’s secret service agents was adopted and is trying to find them
  • Dustin admits that Kiora is pretty, and might possibly be attracted to her, but won’t admit to it.  It might be why he is so hostile towards her
  • Kiora has an aunt Arabella that she doesn’t know about, and she’s currently in a psych ward
  • Blake (kiora’s dad) knows Arabella’s in a psych ward, and refuses to tell kiora about her unknown aunt
  • luna’s mom (luna being a classmate of kiora) and luna are in the same psych ward as her aunt arabella
  • holly (who is the presidents daughter and a classmate of kiora’s) is involved in some group; she currently trying to recruit kiora for the group, but her sister aisling is against the idea; holly also had to wait for luna to not be around in order to talk to kiora about coming over one weekend
  • i get the feeling that blake and luna’s dad go way back, but the jury’s still out on that one
  • I also have a feeling that kyle is somehow connected to kiora’s family, but the jury’s out on that one as well

Secret Service Novel: 13,386; I’m pretty happy with how this is going.  I’m starting to show what’s going on with other characters and the whole reason why Kiora need secret service protection will probably come up again (I just wish I knew when that would be).

Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken: No updated word count; I had trouble sitting down and focusing on writing today’s chapter.  There’s no particular reason why I’m having trouble focusing, since it’s been a problem I’ve had today.

2006 Sequel: 13,476; Chloe’s been doing a lot of reflecting and a lot of volunteering the last few thousand words.  Other than that, there’s nothing to add.

Wordcount: 39,019; assuming I can focus long enough to write the Giant Prehistoric Chicken, my word count should be at around 40686

The Problems of the Giant Prehistoric Chicken Are Solved!

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As you know, I’ve been having some trouble writing my Harry Potter fanfiction, and I think I’ve managed to figure out why I’ve had so much trouble with it.  First of all, I think I was trying to mimic J.K. Rowling style a little too much.  Secondly, I was trying to mimic the structure of her novels a little to much.  And the last reason I’ve been having trouble is becasue I’m trying to keep everyone too much in character.  Now that I’ve been able to focus on my writing style, I’ve been having a much easier time writing it.  As far as mimicking her structure and keeping the characters as they are in the novels, I’ve decided to throw that out the window for the month.  I’m now losely following her novel structure, and the characters are still themselves, but I’m changing things a bit for the month.  Hopefully I’ll have an easier time writing it now, but if not, it’s a project that’ll wait for another month.

Secret Service Novel: I haven’t worked on this novel today, so there’s no updated wordcount, but I’m confident that I’ll get the 1667.

Harry Potter: 11,707; I don’t have anything to add to my above paragraph.  As a side note, Deathly Hollows Part 1 looks really epic.

2006 Sequel: 11,739; No thoughts on this one, other than to say that it constantly surprises me. 

Wordcount: 33,757; that’s taking into account the fact that I haven’t written anything for my secret service novel.  assuming I get the 1667, I’ll be at around 35,400 words.