I Cheated at Nano
NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. Write a 50,000 word novel in the thirty days of November. And I won. Sorta.
Last year's Nano project was started early too, but I only wrote a few thousand words in November. And then I kept writing for months. Over a year later, I finally had 50,000 words, but I was stumped on how to end it. After a couple critique partners read some chapters, I realized I had spent a year writing 50,000 words worth of crap.
There were some good scenes in there. There was some good writing. But the plot lacked cohesion. Lacked motivation. I finally decided to give it up. Work on something else for a while.
One project I started working on had actually started as a couple of scenes I jotted down many years ago. Even before I really became a serious "writer." I had an epiphany what direction I could take the story and I started outlining. It felt good to have some structure thought out.
Then one day in October, I had a really crushing moment that sent me into depression. I wrote a random scene that came to me. It was therapeutic to write.
Depending on my mood in October, I bounced back and forth between the two manuscripts I now had. When I reached a major turning point to get past my depression, I thought I needed to abandon the depressing manuscript. It was going to be too dark for my fragile disposition.
But I felt compelled to keep going.
November hit and I had to pick one manuscript. The dark story won my heart. I already had 10,000 words. With the way my life was going, I knew the 40,000 remaining words were still going to be a struggle, but I wrote every day. Bit by bit I made it through. And now I have 50,000 words and a practically finished draft. Just a few holes to fill in before I start getting some other eyes on it. And I am so excited to share the story.
Funny thing is, I thought the story was going to be dark. It's about suicide and depression after all. But it turned out to be a romance. And what I had intended on being a purely secular piece, has God splashed all over it. Funny how God works.
Here's a rough cover mock up.
Last year's Nano project was started early too, but I only wrote a few thousand words in November. And then I kept writing for months. Over a year later, I finally had 50,000 words, but I was stumped on how to end it. After a couple critique partners read some chapters, I realized I had spent a year writing 50,000 words worth of crap.
There were some good scenes in there. There was some good writing. But the plot lacked cohesion. Lacked motivation. I finally decided to give it up. Work on something else for a while.
One project I started working on had actually started as a couple of scenes I jotted down many years ago. Even before I really became a serious "writer." I had an epiphany what direction I could take the story and I started outlining. It felt good to have some structure thought out.
Then one day in October, I had a really crushing moment that sent me into depression. I wrote a random scene that came to me. It was therapeutic to write.
Depending on my mood in October, I bounced back and forth between the two manuscripts I now had. When I reached a major turning point to get past my depression, I thought I needed to abandon the depressing manuscript. It was going to be too dark for my fragile disposition.
But I felt compelled to keep going.
November hit and I had to pick one manuscript. The dark story won my heart. I already had 10,000 words. With the way my life was going, I knew the 40,000 remaining words were still going to be a struggle, but I wrote every day. Bit by bit I made it through. And now I have 50,000 words and a practically finished draft. Just a few holes to fill in before I start getting some other eyes on it. And I am so excited to share the story.
Funny thing is, I thought the story was going to be dark. It's about suicide and depression after all. But it turned out to be a romance. And what I had intended on being a purely secular piece, has God splashed all over it. Funny how God works.
Here's a rough cover mock up.
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