First Draft, What To Expect at 20,000 Words

A quick update on Camp Nanowrimo, I'm over 20,000 words. :) Yay! Most of them are crap. 

However, I would not have gotten this far in without outlining my novel. I'm in love with the way I set up this novel almost more than the novel itself.

How I Outlined My Novel And Why I Love It

What do I mean by most of my words in my first draft being crap?

Sometimes the words are just exposition, setting up the scene in a very blazé way that even bores me, but they get me started. (Unnecessary backstory) It's not that they aren't important, because they are. It's that they do not move the story forward in an engaging way. I write them out. I call it word vomit.

Then suddenly, I'm in the scene, I'm creating dialogue, my characters are alive and the story moves along quickly. The next thing I know, I have a 1,000 words for the day.

You got it, Terry Pratchett with a third 'T', not Prachett as this meme screws up his name!! The first draft is the place for meeting your characters, them changing the outline and plot in ways you hadn't thought of, and lots of word vomit as you tell yourself the story. The rewriting and editing phases are when you cut out the backstory and keep it hidden from readers until that crucial moment. It's where you take the parts of your characters personalities you learned by the end and put them into the beginning where they felt flat.

I can't wait to get there. At 20,000 words, my characters are beginning to fight for their goals, to care, to meet each other, and to interact. Things should escalate quickly. This will be good.

Getting here was a struggle some days, but from here, the story will tell itself.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Slice of Life, Summer Edition: Plus, Where I Learned to Outline My Novel

This summer has been very rainy. My garden has gone nuts, which means a huge harvest, but it also means it's too muddy out there to weed. I lost a tulip tree. It sat in a swamp that used to be my backyard for a week. Bye bye. The lake in my front yard kept coming back.

We tried to go to Holiday World in early July, supposed to be the hottest summer month, but it rained.

Now, a scattered showers and overcast day is the best time to go. No lines! We got to ride some rides twice in a row, or some rides for the first time because there were no long lines in the hot sun.

But this rain was relentless, and eventually cooled the air temperature down to uncomfortably cool when wet. They closed the park early, before a lightning storm hit, and took names of people for free admission on another day. I'm looking forward to it. even though this theme and water park is exhausting. It's built on hills and those water slides have 7 or 8 flights of stairs to the top. That walk back to the car (even though we got good parking because attendance was low) is killer! I'm working out before we go again!

Also, I made a whopping 8 cents. Found in the parking lot. I love finding money.

You know what's going to happen. We are going to go back to school in early August, and that's when it's going to finally be summer. It'll be hot and good swimming weather and we have to make the kids stay indoors and learn. 

But let's not think about that now. I have a couple more weeks before I have to think about that. Sort of. I've already been planning. Shh.. don't tell anyone that part of my brain is still on teaching mode.

I'm distracting myself with writing for Camp Nanowrimo. I have over 10,000 words. I'm pretty pleased with myself. I couldn't have done it without writing up an outline and using Scrivener. 

Here is the basic outline idea.

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-story-structure-complete-series/

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-structure-scenes/

Scrivener makes this easy.

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/my-writing-process-pt-1-of-2-how-i-use-scrivener-to-outline-my-novels/ (part 1)

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/my-writing-process-pt-2-of-2-how-i-use-scrivener-to-write-my-first-drafts/ (part 2)

Love Weiland and Scrivener!

Health and Sleeping Naked and What is Your Real Age Quizzes

Sometimes on my blog I address issues that are important to me.

I have been thinking about my health and sleep.

http://tinygreenmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Baby-Sleep.jpg

I slept in a really long time. I guess I needed to catch up on my rest. Sometimes I wish I had a stay-at-home job where I could sleep in as much as I need to like I can right now on summer break from teaching. Sleep is only one part of overall health, though.

I logged on to sharecare dot com, making sure to uncheck any boxes that said to email me constantly, because I don't need that. This is a site that is associated with the Dr.Oz show, but I went there to take the 'real age' quiz to see what age my body is. I'm a sucker for quizzes sometimes. I put in my health data, rounding my exercise to an overall number. There were standard health questions, like about diabetes or asthma, but then there was one for hours of sleep, two about quality friendship, one about flossing, one asked how many nuts do you consume, and one asked about sex.  I liked that it addressed some parts of our lives that also influence our health outside of family history and personal exercise habits.

How'd I do?  It calculated that my body is about 5 1/2 years younger than my age. That's really nice. I have a feeling that comes from blood pressure, exercise metrics, lack of family history on some key diseases, and my BMI measurements. One thing I do not know is my cholesterol levels. Those would influence my 'score'. I guess it's time for a check-up, huh? I could use more exercise, more flossing, and more vegetables. Sometimes I need better sleep.

http://www.capturedbycarrie.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/0508-newborn-baby-photographer.jpg

My husband shared a couple articles on the benefits of sleeping naked. (yes, 3 different links.) Of course he had his reasons, backed by statements in these articles.

So, I tried it, but was either too hot with the covers on and too cold with them off. I tossed an turned and got a sucky night's sleep. I guess I need to adjust the temperature before bedtime, or turn the fan on and grab the covers.

 But were the statements in the articles true? Yeah, there is an increase in intimacy and a cool dry feeling in the nether regions. I can't say much yet for the skinnier me, or the cortisol effects since I clearly had a stressful night. I'll try it again, though.

Might even get a nap today.

Sleep is good!