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By SHARON K. GILBERT
November 6, 2007
OK, SO I broke one of my own NaNoWriMo rules — do not edit. I’ve spent most of the morning reading through 99 pages of my nascent novel, dashing down notes about plot, characters, place names. etc.
Honestly, I don’t usually do this until the book’s nearly done, but I’ve hit a wall on plot. Sometimes this happens, which can be a major hurdle to some. I tend to use such inconvenient lemons to make prosaic lemonade. I go back to the beginning and read (a great chance to clarify your story and refine characters — and of course, you can organize the book’s salient points — this helps with continuity later on).
It’s nice to take a creative, cleansing breath. Writing full-tilt garners an impressive word count, but it doesn’t always lead to a readable book. Since my novels take place in near present time (this one is set in 2010), I must take care when referencing current events. While my political landscape isn’t exactly the same as that of the ‘real world’, it’s important for me to find a way to comment on geopolitics in a fictional realm. This relates to character names as well as to events.
I’d love to close my eyes and discover another 17000 plus words at the end of the day, but it’s not going to happen. My initial ‘steam’ is running low. Most likely, I will slow down to a steady and manageable pace. This doesn’t mean I won’t make 50k by month’s end–you can bet I will. It just means plot must take precedence over speed.
How’s your writing going?
