Category Archives: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2016

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It is that time of year again, my peeps! I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month once again and I am SO excited for this year because I am so excited for the story I’m writing and the characters I get to learn about and so much more.

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s a yearly, month long writing extravaganza where you have thirty days to write 50,000 words, which is the length of a short novel.

Now, 50,000 words might sound very intimidating – and it is! – but it’s a very fun month and there are a lot of people who participate, encourage others, and provide awesome support. There are even NaNoWordSprints that are hosted every day by individuals and the official Twitter account for said sprints and they really help to push individuals to reach goals.

I’m also very excited for this year because the awesome people in charge of NaNo created some new, helpful tools for writers this year which I am SO GLAD they finally implemented because we’ve only been waiting a million years for them. And that is they’ve introduced 1) a word sprint tool on the site, which is cool, and 2) they’re making it so we can add to our total word count by what we’ve typed, instead of trying to calculate the total on our own. So say you’re already at 5,678 words and you’ve written another 1,392 words. You don’t have to try to calculate that total, but rather there will be an option to add what you’ve typed (the 1,392) into the bar and it automatically calculates it. I love it.

SO, how about I actually talk about the novel I’m going to be writing this month? I mean, that is kind of the whole point of this post.

I’m not going to lie: I did start writing early. I COULDN’T HELP IT. I was too excited for my story, my characters, and everything that I just had to at least start it and see where it went from there.

I did talk a bit about my novel in this Beautiful Books post a few weeks ago, but I figured I’d talk about it a little more here and how I hope my month of November will go.

Here’s my working synopsis:

Nara is a thief of the Rising City, and she’s been one since she was a little girl, trained and abandoned by her father. Now, as a twenty year old, she is one of the most infamous thieves in all of the Rising City. But when one mistake almost costs her her life, she is thrown into a life debt by someone she never would have thought she’d ally herself with: a Magician.

Mikail is a Magician, a rare breed that is seldom seen in the world anymore, and he is still honing his skills. When his powers manifested at a young age, he didn’t expect to be in the eye of every powerful person in the Rising City – especially that of the Queen. But when one day his magic goes haywire and he saves a thief from most certain death, he thinks that maybe she is his ticket to freedom.

Though the two cross and their lives mix, neither one could be prepared for what happens to them – or their hearts.

I love these characters and I didn’t realize how much until I was writing my responses to the Beautiful Books post. I had started writing this story for Camp NaNoWriMo back in April of this year, but I just couldn’t write any good chapters. I was seriously getting so upset with how my writing was turning out that I tried writing at least two or three different kinds of stories before giving up. I would sit there and write a chapter, hate it because it didn’t feel or sound like who I envisioned the characters to be at all, and then rewrite the ENTIRE chapter the next morning, surpassing whatever I had written the previous time so I could up my goal.

It was horrible and I don’t want that to happen again.

As it turns out, when I started writing this story early, I tried a new method and I’ve found that it’s worked for me so far. Instead of writing in third person past tense, I’m writing in first person present tense, keeping the dual perspective, and I’ve found that I like it so much more for these characters.

To me, their voices are distinct, their mannerisms their own, and I just need to learn so much more about them through this story – their story – and I can’t wait to see where they take me.

As for the goals I hope to achieve this month, here are a few I definitely hope to achieve in my writing and overall:

Overall

  • Reach 50,000 words and surpass it by at least 2,000 words by November 30th.
  • Learn as much about my characters and world as possible.
  • Make new friends as a result of this year’s NaNo!
  • Enjoy myself and don’t stress too much over it. (I do work full time, even if I have this first week of the month off for vacation.)

Specific

  • Write at least the average goal of 1,667 words per day, but personal goal: write at least 2,500 words per day.
  • Let the characters tell the story, as usual, but don’t let the plot go wild.

That’s it! Oh man, guys, I am SO excited for this NaNoWriMo. I haven’t been this excited since last April 2015. I hope that this month proves itself successful because, damn, I miss writing. I want to make this my profession and I’ve pushed it away for long enough. Let’s get this party started!

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? What’s your novel about? Have you come up with an idea? Are you more of a planner or a pantser? Share all the things!

Beautiful Books 2016| Introducing the Novel

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Hey peeps and welcome to Beautiful Books, hosted by the lovely Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up & Further In. What is Beautiful Books? It’s very similar to the monthly link up of Beautiful People, but this month it focuses on NaNoWriMo writing projects rather than specific characters in the novels. You obviously don’t have to be participating in NaNo in order to join; it can be any writing project.

So for today I’m going to be discussing the project I will be working on during NaNo, which is the one I started for Camp NaNoWriMo this past April: The Thief and the Magician. I want to restart this novel because even though I didn’t get very far the first time, I still didn’t enjoy what I was writing almost at all. I love my characters Nara and Mikail, but I didn’t like the way the chapters were coming out. I literally rewrote every single chapter that month to improve it because I couldn’t stand what I had written the day before.

So for NaNoWriMo 2016 I’m going to be working on this story of mine that I really want to tell. With that, let’s jump into the questions:

1. What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?

I honestly have no idea where the initial spark came from. I have a writing journal where I write any idea that comes into my head that I would like to one day use in a novel, and I must have been looking at it one day because I have written in there: the thief + the magician. I don’t know if I wrote it in after I thought about writing it, which looks like the case considering I have more details than I normally write in my ideas area, but that’s probably where it started. I’ve had the idea for it since at least March or April of this year, so not too long.

2. Describe what your novel is about!

Here’s my current working synopsis:

Nara is a thief of the Rising City, and she’s been one since she was a little girl, trained and abandoned by her father. Now, as a twenty year old, she is one of the most infamous thieves in all of the Rising City. But when one mistake almost costs her her life, she is thrown into a life debt by someone she never would have thought she’d ally herself with: a Magician.

Mikail is a Magician, a rare breed that is seldom seen in the world anymore, and he is still honing his skills. When his powers manifested at a young age, he didn’t expect to be in the eye of every powerful person in the Rising City – especially that of the Queen. But when one day his magic goes haywire and he saves a thief from most certain death, he thinks that maybe she is his ticket to freedom.

Though the two cross and their lives mix, neither one could be prepared for what happens to them – or their hearts.

It sounds good, right? That’s the best synopsis I’ve ever written, and even I want to read this novel – but first, I have to write it!

3. What is your book’s aesthetics? Use words or photos or whatever you like!

I was seriously so excited for this question when I first read it, so here is my working aesthetic for my novel:

thiefmagician

4. Introduce us to each of your characters!

Nara is a twenty year old thief who has been on her own for the last eight years after her father passed and her mother left six years prior to that. She learned all she knows from her father, whom she loved and respected greatly, and continues to learn all she can to become the best thief in the Rising City. She’s brave, sarcastic, quick on her feet, intelligent, but sometimes she gets too cocky, which can cause her to get in a bit of trouble. She’s also afraid of thunder storms.

Mikail is an Illusionary Magician, a rare breed of Magician that is rarely, if ever, seen in the empire anymore. His skills have always been desired ever since he was a child. Now, at eighteen, he runs for his life. He may look pretty serious a lot of the time (resting bitch face is a curse, alas), but he’s actually pretty friendly and easy to get along with. He’s smart, kind, and has a compassionate heart, though that may one day lead to his downfall. He’s also afraid of heights and, on occasion, his own illusions.

The Queen is a powerful woman who looks to be in her mid thirties but some think she is much older than that as she never seems to age and she’s been on the throne for a long time. Her game is political ploys and schemes, always looking for the next thing that can continue to increase her power and hold over the Rising City and the empire. She is intelligent, cunning, swift, and full of secrets. Though she does have one fear that she doesn’t let anyone know or get a hold of.

The Lion is the Queen’s top guard, a man who is ruthless when it comes to serving his Queen. And like his Queen, he has very mysterious powers and secrets that none wish to uncover. He’s cruel, harsh, and cunning. He has no known weaknesses, which causes him to be even more of a threat. You do not want the Lion looking for you.

5. How do you prepare to write? (Outline, research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc.?)

What is this “preparation” you speak of? I hate outlining. With a passion. I also hate drafting, but I know it’s a necessary process when it comes to writing. I find that when I write out an outline all of my ideas go with it so I feel like I can’t write out what I’ve just written down. That’s why I like to keep as much as possible in my mind to write down for my story itself. I know my characters, what they look like, how old, and general appearances and personality, but it’s the story and how they act in the story that tells me who they are.

But I also do enjoy chocolate. So there’s that.

6. What are you most looking forward to about this novel?

Finishing it. Seriously. I haven’t finished a novel since NaNo 2014, and then I’m very close to finishing another novel I started for Camp NaNo 2015, but I have no clue how it really got to where it’s at in the story and it was turning into a trilogy at that point… So yeah, I’m looking forward to finishing it. If it’s even a one book thing, I have no idea. I have no end in mind, just a general story I want to tell.

But here’s what I hope to do:

  • Reach 50,000 words. (Duh.)
  • Get a nice romance going on. Maybe sexy times, we’ll see. OR just a nice friendship. I honestly don’t know where these characters are going to go in terms of that.
  • Learn all I can about my characters. Their ins and outs and everything in between.
  • Figure out what the hell I actually want to happen in the story.

7. List three things about your novel’s setting.

My novel mainly takes place in a city called the Rising City. I pictured it to have various sections around the city with grand buildings in the Shopping and Elite areas, warehouses and smaller houses in the Commons area, and then the Slums and Port. There’s large, elaborate buildings, museums, stores, a clock tower, beautiful lights, and such. They do have electricity in this world, but their modes of transportation is by horseback, caravan, or walking.

But here’s three general things:

  • The Commons houses the majority of the people in the Rising City, the capital of the Empire. It is also the main thoroughfare and festival celebration area. Parties, ftw!
  • The Elite area does have the Queen’s castle, a large, grandeur structure with opulent windows, details, and finery. It’s truly a beautiful sight, inside and out. Though, like all castles, there are secrets within its walls.
  • Past the Rising City is the Grand Highway, a large, open area of vast valleys and plains where travelers took refuge and could get to any other major city or town in the empire. It’s also wrought with dangerous creatures and mysterious beings and happenings.

8. What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in their way?

Both Nara and Mikail crave freedom, even if both are very different versions of it. Nara wishes for the freedom to come and go as she pleases without having to keep one eye open while she sleeps, while Mikail wants out of the City and into a land where he won’t be hunted and desired for his powers.

For Nara, she’s really her own worst enemy in a way because she holds all the power within herself to change her circumstances, her life, and make different decisions, but thievery is the only life she’s ever known and she feels a connection to her father because of it. There’s something slumbering within her that calls her to it, and she’s not sure she can stop.

As for Mikail, the Queen and the Lion are really who stand in his way. The Lion does the Queen’s bidding, and as the Queen wants Mikail for his power, he wants to get as far away as possible. He’d even be willing to give up his powers, somehow, for a chance at normalcy.

9. How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?

I’m not sure as I don’t even know where I want my novel to go. But as I’m typing this out, more and more scenes are playing in my head – which is nice! – just not the ending. So I’m anticipating it just as much as everyone else! I do hope that both Nara and Mikail come to terms with something by the end, but I have a feeling they’ll have more to tell than what one novel can hold.

10. What are your book’s themes? How do you want readers to feel when the story is over?

I feel like the main themes of the book are acceptance, learning to face fears, and trusting in others.

When the book is over I’m hoping readers will feel one of these ways: 1) they’re craving more from these two, wanting to know what happens next; or 2) they feel like the story came full circle and that Nara and Mikail stand out in their own regard.

I want readers to leave the book feeling like they got to know two people who were in very different places in the world, but who came together and made the most of what they could.

There’s plenty I hope readers will get out of my story, but those are the main things.

I’m so excited to get started on rewriting this story. I glanced over the chapters I’ve already written, and there’s some things I’ll probably keep, but a lot I’m going to end up changing. I prefer writing in third person, but I might switch to first person while keeping the dual perspective. I feel like this story is going to be a ride and I am so excited to go on this journey with Nara and Mikail.

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? In three words tell me what your story is about! What do you hope readers of your story will take away from it? What genre does your story fit under? Tell me all the things!

Camp NaNoWriMo: July Edition

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It’s that time again! It’s actually going to be my first time ever participating during the summer session of Camp NaNoWriMo, so I’m pretty pumped about it.

If you don’t know what Camp NaNoWriMo is, it’s a more relaxed version of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in which the goal for NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in one month. NaNoWriMo takes place every year in the month of November, but Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in both April and June of each year. The only thing is is that the goal for Camp is set from 10,000 to 999,999 words. So you have a much broader range in which to write!

Check out their FAQs for any questions you might have.

So I’m going to be doing a totally different story for this session and I’m going to also be writing for a smaller word count goal. I’m doing this partially because I don’t want to overdo myself like I did last session, but also because I feel that this goal is very attainable. So here’s the stats:

Word Count Goal: 15,000 words

Average Words Per Day: 484 words to meet my goal by the end of the month.

Synopsis:

Celezar is a soldier in his father’s army, a strong warrior who was brought up to hate Dragons and to fight against them for the kingdom. But he never really believed in what his father said about Dragons to be true, but he also does not want to disappoint the only family he has in the world. His heart is for the people and he would rather help and heal them than slay a Dragon.

Talia is a Firedrake and she has always been told that her destiny is to “bring a new world from the ashes of the old,” but all she wants is to become a scholar and read books – mountains of them – and to educate the world about Dragons. As the daughter of the Dragon Lord, though, she always knew that her place would be among the court, not traveling the world to learn as much as she can.

As the war in the kingdom wages on, Talia and Celezar must do what is in their power to stop either side from wiping out the other. But can they do it alone, or will they have to rely on each other – and others – in order to do so?

I’m pretty pumped because I love dragons and I want to write my own version of them. I’ve already talked a little bit about Celezar’s childhood and who he is, but I’ll talk a little bit more about each of my characters in my weekly recaps for the month. Also each week I’ll talk a little bit about writing, my writing progress, and any tips and tricks I may have.

If you want to check out my progress and add me as a friend, you can check out my profile!

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

Do you plan on participating? What is your story about? How do you feel about dragons? What is your word count goal?

Camp NaNoWriMo Week 4 Recap & Wrap Up

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Well, this month was very difficult for me to get into my writing mojo, but I started several projects, wrote more for some over others, so I’m interested to see if I’ll continue with any of them.

Goal

50,000 words total by the end of April 30th.

That’s the equivalent to a 200-225 page book. So my average daily word count goal to reach my main goal is to write 1,667 words per day.

Stats for Week 4

Day 23: 0 words for a total of 18,273 words
Day 24: 0 words for a total of 18,273 words
Day 25: 0 words for a total of 18,273 words
Day 26: 2,617 words for a total of 20,890 words
Day 27: 1,397 words for a total of 22,287 words
Day 28: 0 words for a total of 22,287 words
Day 29: 395 words for a total of 22,682 words
Day 30: 0 words for a total of 22,682 words

This Week’s Advice: Don’t Feel Rushed or Pressured to Write

I think this is an extremely important point to remember when writing: don’t feel rushed or pressured to finish in a certain amount of time (unless you’re on deadline, then good luck to you!). When writing for a competition like this (even though it’s not really a competition), it can get overwhelming to write a certain amount of words in a month if you’ve never done so before.

If you’re like me and a lot of other people, you’ll expect perfection and everything to flow smoothly your first go around, and that’s just not the case. Even seasoned writers and well known authors don’t even have that luck. I think it’s fairly common to get into the mindset that your writing is the best or maybe it’s not good enough, and you end up comparing yourself to another writer.

Stop that. Because there will always be someone better than you, but you have to remember: what you do is your best at this moment. You can, and will, get better with time and practice.

This past month I’ve barely written anything toward my goal. Well, okay, I’m a little over half way to my goal, but if I had actually written the past two weeks instead of derping around then maybe I would have actually reached that goal this month. But the reality is that I struggled a lot with my original idea, I wrote three or four other things before finding one that I really enjoyed writing, and even that changed in front of my eyes as I wrote it and got to know my characters more.

But there’s something important that I realized while I was writing this new idea: I can’t rush it.

I want to take my time to get to know my characters, to learn who they are, what they like and don’t like, what their mannerisms are, their backstories. And I can only learn that by writing them out and letting them lead where the story needs to go. I can only interfere so much before I know that something isn’t working and my characters take the lead again.

Writing isn’t about rushing or having the most perfect piece of work ever, but it’s a slow process of learning your characters, your story, and most importantly, yourself as a writer. Keep your chin up, fellow writers, because even though Camp NaNoWriMo happens twice a year and NaNoWriMo happens once a year doesn’t mean you can’t write throughout the entire year.

Take the time to slow down, reflect on what you’ve written, and keep going because YOU created that new piece of art. YOU created something only YOU can tell. And that’s the most important part.

Wrap Up

So this last month was less than stellar for my writing, but I still made progress on several stories, so that’s really what matters.

My ending total: 22,682 words

My Goal: 50,000 words

If I had stuck to it I definitely could have reached my goal, but life and other things got in the way, unfortunately. I still had fun and will probably participate again.

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

How was your writing month? Did the words flow or did you struggle like me? Did you find out anything new about your characters when you were writing that you weren’t expecting? Let me know!

Camp NaNoWriMo Week 3 Recap

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Oh hey, I forgot to post this yesterday, hahaha… And this week had a lot of nonexistent writing. And by nonexistent, I mean I wrote ONE DAY. That was it. This Camp NaNoWriMo I’m really struggling to get anything written, so I don’t know if I’m just going to stop altogether or try to get something done. Maybe if I hit 20,000 words I’ll stop, but we’ll see.

Goal

50,000 words total by the end of April 30th.

That’s the equivalent to a 200-225 page book. So my average daily word count goal to reach my main goal is to write 1,667 words per day.

Stats for Week 3

Day 16: 0 words for a total of 17,660 words
Day 17: 0 words for a total of 17,660 words
Day 18: 0 words for a total of 17,660 words
Day 19: 0 words for a total of 17,660 words
Day 20: 613 words for a total of 18,273 words
Day 21: 0 words for a total of 18,273 words
Day 22: 0 words for a total of 18,273 words

*I’m not including today, April 23rd, as the day is not over yet. Today’s word count will be in next week’s recap.

This Week’s Advice: Keep Going!

I might sound hypocritical here given my own progress, but if you’ve come this far this month in your writing then keep going! We’re almost to the end and your goal may seem far away (like mine), but you can do it! Even if you don’t reach your primary goal, strive to reach a smaller one.

You really wanted to get to a specific scene that you were building up to? Write it. You’ve got your beginning and ending down, but the middle seems kind of funky? Write an imaginary one as filler. Play around and experiment and see what kinds of things you can come up with because even if you can’t reach your goal you’ve still made progress this month and you should be proud of yourself!

This week was a rough one for me and I don’t know that I’m going to keep writing, but I’m going to see what happens.

How was your third week? Have you hit a lull or given up? Or have you soared higher than anything your expected? Let me know!