So, another nano completed. What do I have to show for it? 50,000 words I can't use, for one. Okay, that may be exaggerating. There was quite a bit of dialogue I rather fancied. And the story is still sound. But I never once got in the groove, that place where the language flows and you know you're writing stuff that will survive the edit. That freedom and immersion in language eluded me. It was an exercise in the mundane.
But that's okay. I knew that would happen from the get-go, and I accomplished what I set out to do -- get a first draft that explores the ideas I had and shows me what I don't want to do. I learned a lot about what doesn't work in this book. My brain is already trying to edit, refining and removing the dross, nailing down what I really want the final draft to do. Not letting it, not yet. Want to finish the second half of the book first because without knowing how it truly ends up, what's the point of revising?
Alas, I don't quite know where the second half goes yet. Good thing nano ended when it did! LOL! I have a bunch of broad notes, but I can't see how to get there in detail yet. I think another focus shift is in order.
So, music listened to while writing the first half:
"The Secret of NIMH" - Jerry Goldsmith (90% of the time was this score)
"Justine" - Jerry Goldsmith
"All the King's Men" - James Horner
"Just Cause" - James Newton Howard
"Ransom/The Chairman" - Jerry Goldsmith
On word counts, the most I got in one day was a little over 5000 words. I had two days of zero words. I found it worked well to get about 500 words in before starting work. Then I could do the standard 1600 after work and end up with around 2000 for the day.
I'd like to keep that approx. hour of writing first thing in the morning as I head into December.
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