Bay 12 Games Forum

I'm up to 29,204. I've pretty much forced myself into a daily goal of 2000+, I've realized, and not a word less. I guess that makes me a minimalist overachiever, heh?

I'm currently writing a pseudo-political scene, and have found out some interesting things about characters - both previously mentioned and newly discovered - as well as the setting and plot at large. I find it more interesting to know that my emperor isn't quite an all-powerful, untouchable despot as he could have been, being held accountable by a functioning political system alongside the feudal system of vassals and divine appointments.

I enjoy writing from perspective characters that are all manners of gray: an imperial loyalist who values honor and justice - and, in his naivete, believes the empire truly embodies these things without fail - above all else; an otherwise unremarkable woman with considerable mechanical engineering skills, who gets dragged into the civil war unwittingly, and whose brother is on the other side of the conflict; an emperor who genuinely cares for his people, but often acts in tyrannical ways, and is losing a civil war while having to deal with political fallout from the loyalists that still remain in his government.

Even some of the minor characters are somewhat enjoyable, with their nuances, goals, fears, schemes, and agendas. A young, disciplined, but spiteful Grand Marshall who has ambitions to become emperor himself, unbeknownst to the emperor; a pair of quirky rebels - one unwitting noble, the other a cynical sellsword - who perform important missions for their leader, flying a modified freighter housing a technology the likes of which the galaxy hadn't seen since the days of an era that has become little more than legends and myths; an unhoused centurion-knight who was exiled from his noble family when they sided with the rebellion, and who covers up his sense of lost dignity with cutting remarks and a poor attitude; and lastly, but not least of all, a loyalist High Lord who is willing to take the risk and responsibility of re-birthing an ancient Order that died out centuries before and fights outside the time-honored traditions and unwritten laws of galactic warfare, in a desperate effort to change the tide of the civil war.

Hm, I haven't noticed my drive to write lessen at all during Week 2. Does that make me the Chosen One?

I'm actually just now getting things in my novel to where I wanted to get to. Though my goal for November is still only 50k, I want to finish this novel out somewhere around 100,000 - 110,000. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to hit that goal, no problem. I jump around between perspectives each chapter/scene change, to keep my narrative fresh. There's two distinct perspectives (with separate plotlines that intertwine in places) that drive the narrative, and one more that frames it with the bigger picture of what's happening. I like how it works out.

'Things That Have Happened In My Story, In Something Approximating The Sequence It Is Written In, Without Too Many Spoilers':
- Emperor agrees to a plan that can save his empire
- Female protag finds out something that gets to her
- Male protag becomes part of a group
- Female protag goes out; encounters people who don't initially trust her. People also make startling statement.
- Male protag goes to a spaceport, setting is fleshed out a little, boards starship.
- Female protag finds statement crazy, but intriguing. Has to fly back to town with people who still only halfway trust her; Imperial forces interrupt, forcing emergency jump.
- Male protag goes through induction to group alongside others; things happen.
- Emperor gives orders to a subordinate, to further the plan
- Male protag is informed of the orders, and his role in them, but first reflects a bit on training.
- Female protag has been brooding; faster than light travel cannot be interrupted once started, nor can messages be sent while traveling faster than light, and these facts make her bad situation worse. Comes to grips with it, however, knowing she would have died had they not jumped. In this same chapter, they arrive at their destination. The people who almost-don't-trust-her realize, by chance, where they arrived is about to be attacked by empire.

I know, I know, it's all vague and whatnot, but I don't want to spoil my plot any more than that. Especially when things can change.

Looks like the retro trend has officially gone too far.

No such thing, good sir.

At least not until someone kickstarts retro 8-bit interactive hentai. Then we might just have a problem.

Either way, I really like this. Might just back it, depending.

Wrote 2268 words today, putting my total word count at 22967.

Today was a weird day, in terms of what was written. I finished up the chapter I began yesterday, the last chapter I needed to insert to catch up my recently introduced character to everyone else. Then I finished a chapter I left hanging in order to go back and introduce a new perspective character. Then, I had to write the next chapter that would come in the book; it turned out that it needed to be from my newest protagonist's perspective.

I've been writing about her almost nonstop for days now. I've really gotten to know this character well, more so than the other two. She feels more well-developed, and maybe even more enjoyable to write. But as much as I've enjoyed her initial mini-arc, I really can't wait until her story collides with one of the others' here in the next few chapters. That's when things will really start to heat up - as if lasers and explosions weren't heated enough - and start driving things towards the inevitable climax of the story.

Some things got better, some things got worse. I've got my motivation back, I think. Though I just hit a chapter break, which always tends to break my flow a little. I'll recover. Unfortunately, every time I get into a good pace writing, my shoulder starts acting up, and preventing me from writing for a minute. It's enough to break me from 1200 words an hour to 800 words an hour.



I think it's coffee time.

Man, 800 wph with an injured shoulder? I manage somewhere around 700 wph, and I'm perfectly healthy. I'm jealous.

I'm with Sappho and Darkmere on this. First drafts are supposed to be shit. They're the diamond in the rough; editing later is to polish it to a gem worthy of being read. NaNo is meant as a tool to get people sitting down, pulling up the chair, and writing. No excuses to be made, no cheat codes, no compromises. It's just to get words on a page. To write a novel. Not necessarily a good one, but one nonetheless. It breeds writers, and helps weed out those who don't have the determination to make it as one, I believe.

Today I only wrote 1709 words, and yesterday I wrote none as I was gone all day. I'm still more than a full day ahead of the minimums at 18526, so I'm not feeling too bad about my day off. I'll get back in the rhythm as this week progresses.

The third character I've introduced to my story is finally starting to have her plot get rolling into action and conflict, and faster than the other two have. I like that. It allows me to switch gears between chapters, to pace the reader, without having to switch gears for each character. This not only helps stretch out my word count, but also helps me keep my plot from descending into pure crap. My characters are guiding me, and not the other way around. I'm okay with this.

Also, notably, I have now more than doubled my word count from last year. Last year, I started off strong, but my insane pace died down quickly. I didn't establish a schedule. I didn't make that mistake this year and it's shown in my consistency. I'm pretty satisfied so far, but I can't let myself grow complacent. I gotta keep going. Thankfully, I don't feel tempted not to keep on.

There are people who can stream-of-conscious a writing session, and just type whatever comes into their head for hours on end. If you are one of these strange people, and you can type about 70 words a minute, you can write about 4,200 words an hour. If you can write for five hours a day at that speed, you can write 21,000 words a day. These people exist, and they write during NaNo. Many of them aren't writing anything they want to publish, they're just writing for fun. The key thing to understand is that these people are the exception to the rule, but they still exist within our sightlines, tempting us to feel bad about ourselves, and bad in general. It's tempting, but ultimately problematic because you're not racing against them. You're racing against 50,000. You win if you cross the line, and you don't get any title other than "winner" no matter how many extra words you cross that line by.

I still find it silly. 150000 in 30 days? You know, that's fine I guess, if you can devote 8 hours a day. Not quality work, but fine if you feel like suffering through it. But there are people shooting for a quarter of a million. People with 125000 on day 3. People doing 50k in one day at the last minute. It feels like some kind of pointless joke.

They don't make me feel bad, though. Maybe a little irate. But if anything, really, they make me feel good. Good in that I know that when NaNo finishes up, I might just be able to say "Yeah, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can actually achieve my dreams of being a writer." And I know some of them - most, probably - won't be able to say that at the end of the month. That makes me feel alright, if a little frustrated. It's National Novel Writing Month. I just wish people would stay true to the spirit of the challenge, and not game it like they do.

I guess I just let it get too personal for me. I want to be a writer. Have since I was a kid, writing my first ever short stories. I fell in love with the art. I forsook it for a while, but I came back. This is my chance to prove I can be a writer. Some of us are keeping up a dogged determination to make our way through this. Breaking new ground for ourselves. To get somewhere with it. The proper way. And these people are making a silly game out of it. It's almost insulting.

At the end of the day though, so to speak, their 'fun' ends with November; as for me, nothing stops November 30th. I'm going to keep writing. And then when I've moved on to other things, and written more, I'll come back and rewrite. And I'll do it again for everything else. I'll become a writer. And that's reward enough for me.

Whew, I feel a little better now. Getting that off my chest was nice.

Holy shit, I can't believe it.



9:30 pm. Another night where I finish right before bed. When I wake up, they will be blue again, and that widget will have a red box on it.

I have to say, though. Usually when I'm feeling the way I've been feeling lately, I'm not able to do things like this, no matter how badly I want to. Even though I'm having a hard time, I'm actually doing this. Even though I'm already starting to feel like I'm writing garbage, it's not good enough, I should be capable of better... At least I'm doing it. I can always fix it later. I'm not sure how I'm finding it in myself to do this. But I'm glad I started, that's for sure.

Internet High-Five.

That pesky internal editor is a tough nut to keep under wraps sometimes, but it's well worth it. There will be plenty of time after you've finished, sat back to relax, and then reread your work before he - or she, if your internal editor just so happens to be so - should be let out of its cage.

I've also noticed you're the only one of the people listed under my Writing Buddies on NaNo that have hit the 10k mark yet. You're succeeding where plenty of others, who likely don't have to deal with the same sort of problems, are failing! Seems encouraging! Encouragement in others' failure may seem vicious, but it's encouragement nonetheless.