Friday 30 November 2012

NaNoWriMo 2012: a month in review

Words written on my novel: 81,685

Words written on other things: 19,508

Okay, that's the boring numbery part. Now I'll go on to the actual reviewing of the month.

So, what did I learn this month?

Going back over my nowhere near 30 blog posts I've written this month, the first thing I'd have to say is that I learnt I just shouldn't try to write a blog post every day. I'd much rather add an extra couple of hundred words to my novel or do a bit of planning for a novel I'm going to work on after I finish this one than come here and write a boring word-vomit blog post. So, daily blogging isn't going to be a big feature in my future.

The second thing I learnt is actually pretty cool: writing the second draft is FUN! Being someone who identifies as a 'pantser' I expected writing a (planned and outlined in detail) second draft to be nothing more than a boring slog. That's why I chose to do it during NaNoWriMo - I thought I was going to need the added pressure to make myself write anything at all. It turns out I was completely wrong about this. No matter how much I plan and outline, the characters can still surprise me. Detailed notes for a scene don't mean when I write the scene I've already done all the fun bits. Every single bit of 'writing a novel' that I've tried turns out to be awesome fun.

I've also learnt that many other writers suffer from anxiety. I don't know if my frequent circlings and occasional dunkings in the Pit of Suck are 'normal', but I'm probably comfortable saying that at least I'm not the only one who feels that way. As long as I can keep writing I won't drown in it, at least.

So...

I don't know. I guess I've (at least for now) reached a better understanding of myself as a writer. It's probably all going to fly out the window when I start trying to apply it to a different project, but at least I feel like I'll be able to finish The Frozen Tear in December.

This draft, anyway. There's still a lot of work left in the project as a whole.

1 comment:

  1. Completely normal. I have meltdowns every other day with my plot hydra's bad behavior, but other writers I know don't really have this problem. It's an individual thing, I guess. Creativity is pain.

    Also yes. Better writing than blogging, generally.

    Anyway, great that you'll finish Frozen Tear! Woo hoo second draft!

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