Writing A Work In Progress

Is this really only my third blog post for November? Wow. This is tough for me. I knew my blogging would take a dive, but… I committed to my writing days being for my NaNoWriMo2019 attempt. I’m far behind my word count goal, but I’m making steady progress on the days I’m supposed to. And I’m enjoying the story writing process too!

But this tale has taken a twist – I didn’t see this coming! I was expressing to my wife early in the month my excitement for writing the first scene of my Novella. She was intrigued…then later she had the seed of an idea for her own story.

One thing led to another…

About half-way into the month, my wife started writing her story. She just let it flow! It’s like the dam broke. Boo-yah! She has blitzed beyond my own word count right off the field and kept going. She has surpassed my own goal!! I set out for 20,000 words. She is already beyond 25,000 – and that with a late start! She even set up her own profile on the NaNoWriMo site.

I’ve encouraged my wife to write, using my own learning and experience so far. It’s been nice. It’s new, it’s creative, it’s fun…it’s novel! Yes. I prefer my puns intended! (I even almost bought a coffee mug with that exact quote on it from Books-a-Million. Just sayin’.)

So, this week will be challenging for me. There’s this thing called Thanksgiving Day. Some turkey is gonna try to get in the way of my writing that day! What do I do? We’ll see. I’m sure it will all turn out fine. I plan to keep writing my novella. The real challenge will be December because I want to continue but I’ve got to get back up to speed on my regular blogging.

Until then, y’all have a safe and wonderful holiday time this week!

What do you think? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

My 20,000 NaNoWriMo Goal

The Write Cause

Okay, I did something that might be a little bit daunting. I signed up for this year’s NaNoWriMo event in November! It’s official. Also, it is exciting and kind of crazy. But what’s the point of dreams if you never go for’em?

Hello, I’m Wanna B. Author

Escaping into imaginary worlds, connecting with interesting characters caught up in conflict – this is a story. And who doesn’t love a good one? I like reading fiction, but I’ve wanted to write my own for a long time. In fact, I’ve already tried.

A few years ago, my first attempts at writing a story were unfinished and not good. Fail and fail. But at least I really tried. I had a good sci-fi story idea with some semblance of a plot. But my characters were not developed well. The writing was likely poor. Yet I wrote!

Back then, I didn’t know what I was doing. I think I kind of winged it. Pantser maybe. But though there was no writing success to speak of, the little ember of desire to write didn’t go cold. In fact, a second story I began, a fantasy, is still one I’m fond of. I created a map of a world and started my characters on their journey. The plot was somewhat mapped out too. But I guess time and life cut that trip short.

Enter NaNoWriMo. I’d heard about this last year and was intrigued. I blogged about it with admiration of the many brave souls who pushed themselves to churn out 50,000 words in a month. With such an official writing initiative supported by a community of enthusiastic fiction fabricators, I felt compelled to try my hand at being a nascent novelist. But I decided to shelve it in the Book of Dreams.

Things have changed over time. I’ve recently reignited my fiction fondness by reading a bunch of good stories. And that makes me wanna get in on the fun, writing my own make-believe adventure. Where will the characters go? What will happen next? My imagination gets revved up and I try to tap into the creative side of my 3-pound brain.

What could hold me back from chasing a pipe-dream to author a novel? Reality might do it. Fear is also a suspect. I’m – hold on, here it comes – busy. When am I going to have time to write 50,000 words? Life is not going to say, “Hey, go ahead and take November off. The world will wait. Go write your magnum opus.” Maybe I can write a book, but should I?

Well, what the heck? I’m gonna go for it. You gotta start somewhere, right? Let me give it a good shot, and even though it’s likely I won’t finish writing all-the-words, I can at least have a good start on a first draft. The best part is, I’m sure I will learn a lot from the process.

I give credit to the fun, encouraging, brave, and inspiring writing community for my choice to jump in the deep end, sink or swim. There are many aspiring and succeeding authors on Twitter and on blogs that welcome newbies to join the fold. They offer advice, tips, and encouragement. And many of them struggle to write, like real-life normal people wrestle with anything. But they jump life’s hurdles and write.

To make it more feasible, and fun, for me to clear the bar, I simply lowered it. For my first ever NaNoWriMo, my goal is 20,000 words, which would get me a novella instead of a novel. And that would be amazing if I pull it off!

The breakdown of those 20k words is also do-able. I’m focusing my writing time on weekdays, and there are about 20 of those in November. That makes the daily goal just 1,000 words. And I’ll use the weekends for cushion and to catch up when I need to. So I’ve got a goal and a plan.

I’ve also got a story idea, a partial plot, and my protagonist and antagonist started. The table of conflict is set. The main dish served is a Paleontologist who wants to find the origin of humankind, a species who had a special connection with the earth. But what the hero really wants is to find his own origin – his parents – and thereby know who he really is.

It’s kind of simple, but I’ve been trying to make the plot intricate and interesting. Anyways, I get excited when I think about it. My interest is piqued! That’s how I know I’ve got an idea worth chasing, taking risks, and making the NaNoWriMo commitment. And it should be fun! I’ve written down a lot of details already and look forward to typing the story.

Go For The Goal

So that’s it. My 20,000 word NaNoWriMo goal. November will be interesting. And busy!

If you dream about writing a book but haven’t yet made any attempts, maybe just go for it! Consider the time and effort it would take, and try to make things work. Think about story ideas that make your imagination buzz. Once that creativity gets started, your desire to write will grow!

That’s been my experience at least. I just hope when November hits and I sit to write, the words will start to flow. Until then, I’ve got more plotting to do.

Do you aspire to write fiction? How have you pursued that passion? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

About That Blogtober Thing

31 Posts On The Wall

Okay. So there’s this thing called Blogtober. It helps bloggers push to have a post every. Single. Day. But I don’t plan to do that this year.

Get Your Write On

I like the idea of practicing discipline and exercising creativity to boost your blogging bits. But I also like downtime and rest, which are critical to those creative brain juices.

Also, there’s this little 50,000 word thing right around the corner. In November, I might, maybe, am thinking about attempting NaNoWriMo!

So to be kinda realistic, I’m thinking that I shouldn’t write everyday for Blogtober and then turn around without a pause and write a novella in November. I mean, that’s a lot of words.

But then again, it’s all write. Okay, not the best pun.

What if for October, I blogged 1,000-word posts every day? Could I submit those 31,000 words to NaNoWriMo as a sort of memoir? You know, two birds, one stone?

Typing Test

For now, I plan to blog as usual. And I might pre-plan a plot so I can take a stab at writing a story in November. If I shoot for 50,000 words, I should get like 20,000 at least. But if I don’t shoot for anything, I’m sure to accomplish nothing.

Are you writing or blogging a bunch soon? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

Novel, Novella, or Novelette?

Worlds Of Words

I’ve been exploring the real world of creating fake worlds – fiction. Like seeking fireflies at night, I dream of writing a book someday. I figure it should be short for starters, to increase my chances of completion (which in itself I’d consider success). But how short should it be?

Word Counts

While rummaging through websites about the writing craft, my eyes gazed at a sparkling headline: The Novella: Stepping stone to success or waste of time? Talk about hive-mind. It’s like the web knew what I was thinking!

The beginning of the lengthy piece is the best explanation I’ve found distinguishing different fiction book lengths, like Large, Medium, Small, and Fun Size!

“A novella typically starts at about 20,000 words and tops out at 50,000, which is the minimum length for a short novel.”

The first thing that came to my mind was NaNoWriMo with its 30-day blitz to 50,000 words. You can author a novella in a month!

Here’s the breakdown of book lengths:

Standard Novel – 80,000+ words
Short Novel – 50,000 to 80,000 words
Novella – 20,000 to 50,000 words
Novelette – 7,000 to 20,000 words
Short Story – up to 7,000 words

The word counts above are general ranges. But, at long last, it’s nice to know. Only recently did I ever hear the term, “Novelette.” I wondered what that was. There’s so much about the writing world I’m ignorant of. So I keep reading up.

Weighing Words

For me, the measure of word count versus page count makes the prospect of authoring a book more feasible. It sets a target to aim at.

When I write blog posts in Google Docs, for example, I check my word count at the end of my first draft to see how verbose I was. I shoot for an average of 500 to 1,000 words a post. Then my inner editor unleashes word-wrath! I get to be my own Grammar Police.

Words count, so check word counts. Speak little, say much. Be brief, concise, succinct, simple. It’s challenging.

That said, I’m out.

Did you know the length of a Novella? Have you heard of a Novelette? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!

A Story Pipe Dream

Fiction Fascination

Every now and then, my dream of writing fiction shimmies back up from the crevices between the couch cushions of my mind. With my recent resurgence in reading fiction (a new genre too), I’ve also started to think of creating my own worlds of escapism.

Imagine

Sometimes, my mind will brainstorm story ideas off and on during the day – daydreaming. I usually try to explore “what ifs” and come up with an amazing and unique synopsis that interests me and is sure to make everyone want to buy my future book. So that’s, what, a delusion of grandeur? Or a dream of glory?

Something changed recently though. Instead of just ideas, I started getting scenes in my head. An overall plot started to come together in my little brain, so I just went with it. A setting, a time, and people formed into a little world. And different scenarios played out in my imagination, like watching the story unfold in my mind’s eye.

I began to think of names that fit each person and jotted them down in a note. I pondered some of their individual traits while considering what their character might be. There were family members, friends, co-workers, adults, kids, and love interests. Some died. Some got sick. Many traveled.

Then I decided to practice writing one of the scenes I had imagined. It’s one of the early parts in my story idea. I tried to set the scene, describe actions and feelings, and introduce a character. I’m happy with how it turned out, yet I already want to rewrite it, expand, and edit. It was fun practice. But it also helped me see how challenging the story writing process is. It’s art and science – a craft.

Writing a story is no small undertaking. It’s a big investment of your time and mental energy. I read somewhere that you end up living in your story world by necessity. That makes more sense now since I got a taste of it. To me that feels daunting but also intriguing. Imagine being able to escape into a fabricated universe that you create in your mind. And although it’s fiction, it works, playing out in compelling fashion.

After those story scenes fleshed themselves out in my mind, I shelved them because I decided they weren’t to my liking. Instead, I started to come up with new ideas. I got some external inspiration and worked my creative muscles to pull some different elements together, and a bonafide story idea started to cement itself. I was excited!

There were many details emerging, like the story was starting to come alive in my brain. The usual peppering of questions arose, and answers quickly filled the blanks. I concocted a super-villain with a motive and backstory. This story idea is promising, and I’m glad to pursue it. With crazy luck, who knows, I might be able to develop it enough to take a stab at NaNoWriMo this year!

Inspire

I didn’t think this current fling of fiction fun would go far. But I am enjoying it and, I think, reaping some knowledge and experience in practicing. I’m exercising my story-telling muscles while seeing if I really have any.

To fuel this literary escapade, I find websites that talk about the writing process and how to create good fiction. Most of all, I keep reading fiction. Whatever inspiration I can find, my hands grasp it like a glass of wine. I drink every last drop.

Most of all, to fuel the fiction fire, I read more fiction. I once read a famous writer who said that to write, you should read. That works for me; who doesn’t like reading?

Have you got a story to tell? Comment below, or write to me here! Thanks for reading!