NaNoWriMo Re-Writes Update - March

Melissa:

I've now started a word number chart, to track the change in numbers...up and down as I'm deleting and adding as I go.  It's not as dramatic as it was with Nano but I've added lots in notes and have many scenes to completely write.  I've noticed I did a lot of telling and I need to show it, create a whole scene to convey my thinking.

Now.  Question.  What is a person to do when they keep getting distracted with other ideas?  lol.  Seems the creativity is flowing and jumping around.

Between the adds and deletes, I've added 7,642 words to my NaNoWriMo Re-writes.  These were added from my reading and from now as well.

Then, I caught the bug for a short story from a song.  I wrote 3,951 words for that this month.  Which I do need to get back to.

AND, thanks to Skyla Dawn Cameron (who seems to know I have a weakness) I've signed up to do Camp NaNoWriMo in April.  This is yet another idea I want to try.  It's a fairy tale remix with steampunk to it.  I signed up to do only 10k words.  I'm not ready to do another 50k just yet.  I've got to much mapping to do.

THEN!  Yes, there's more. lol.  Jackie and I were joking around one rough day... we came up with a dual novel project.  I've got LOTS of research I need to do to get caught up, even half way close, to what Jackie knows.  I think she's going to have to carry me on some aspects. ;P  lol.  But that's partners, right?

I really need to get through Jayda's story so I can go back through and finesse the words, sentences, paragraphs...ALL OF IT!  lol.  I'm still in the writing stage and have soooo much to get through.  I might be about a quarter of the way through at this point.  (no page numbers, sorry.  Haven't figured that part of Scrivener yet.)  I even have a whole leg of the journey that needs to be written yet.  *phew* So much to get done!

Oh!  I had a new character pop up on me too!  She was to be a step on to show a connection and explain the world a bit.  Ha!  That's a joke.  This girl decided she's a lot more than what I thought.  So, it seems she'll be sticking around more and I'll have to write her in where she's needed.  But there are a few characters I need to write in anyway.

So, I have my work cut out for me.  I'm learning the goods and the bads with NaNoWriMo.  I still think it's an amazing idea and will continue to do it.  Maybe that topic is for another post... ;)

Jackie:

I'm happy to report that even before the last day of March hit, I was finished with my entire read through. Woot! I made a lot of notes for things to be changed or expanded throughout, so I will have a bigger word count once I translate all the handwritten notes. I usually have fairly neat penmanship but some of these puppies look like hieroglyphics, I tell ya!

Adding to that was something that started out so little, my deciding I didn't like the name of my project, which turned into a whole new direction for the story to go. This is a really good thing because the original draft had so much focused on the one part that there wasn't much mystery to the mystery book. It's always good to have a few things going on and I think that the change is a good way for it to happen. Here's hoping I can work it all out.

I also have a very small cast in my story, making it hard to incorporate a change like another story line. This goes along with what Melissa said about NaNo...the time restriction didn't really allow me the opportunity to flesh out more interesting people. So, I will attempt an outline in future projects, with a larger bunch of players to keep the reader on their toes ;)

I am also participating in Camp NaNo; this filtered down to me from Melissa, who decided to do it with Skyla...a total domino effect, I'd say. I'm keeping on with my 2011 NaNo project, to grow its numbers (or at least I hope so.) I registered for 10k but if I can muster the time, I'd like to see 25k added to get it closer to a publishable level. We'll see, I guess.

I had started a short story in March as an experiment. And totally contradicting myself about the outline, I just winged it. I got about 1400 words and that's where it stalled. I have an idea of where I want it to go but not sure how to get there yet. I think I'll use it as a writer's block project; if I get stuck on my main project, I can switch over and type something else for a bit.  It's kind of like what Melissa asked above about the multiple ideas, but with a (reasonable?) argument.... thoughts?

And yes, we concocted a story that we've thought of a way of writing together. It's kind of exciting with just the small ideas we've tossed around so far but I have a crap load of library books out to do more research. And I've been sending stuff to Melissa to get her up to speed. She now knows things about me that many don't but instead of running away screaming, she's jumped on my crazy train and I'm more than happy to share my hobby :)

My last point is about my writing: I've noticed I tend to lay the clichés on thick. So, to work them out of my system (and keep them out of my actual writing), I've started hitting Melissa with them on Twitter :D I'd love it if anyone could add some here too, just to see if I've missed any...though I'm still not done with my existing collection. Watch out, Melissa!

So, March was a success, but there are still miles to go to hit the mark. Wish us luck!