11.07.07
Motivation!
So this morning I took a look at my current progress (just a hair under 20,000 words) and compared it to the progress I’d made in 2005, when last I managed to hit 50K before the deadline. On November 7th, 2005, I was complaining that Guitar Hero had sapped my time and was, and I quote, “the reason I’m not at 20,000 words”. If pressed to determine why I’m not at 20K right now, though– and arguably I’m close enough to spit, and if I elected to go back and polish a scene I’m feeling iffy about, I certainly could be at 20K– it would have to be the word that is the title of this post. Motivation! I have it; my characters kinda don’t.
The biggest problem that I’ve run into over the writing so far is the willfulness that my characters are exhibiting in terms of how they’re reacting to the situations that arise. I find myself detailing to an almost painful degree the minutae of every single action that they’re taking; I literally spent a page and a half detailing what was ultimately maybe an hour and a half’s worth of boring action– weeding the garden and taking showers. It’s good writing, don’t get me wrong, and there were some bits of characterization in there that I really liked, but ultimately, it was just detail of questionable necessity. Of course, this is why I’m forcing myself to think of this as just a draft… because this stuff is going to get cut, or expanded, or whatever later on.
Anyway, I’m actually glad to know that, in the long run, I’m still on track and doing well; I expect that I’ll be closer to 30K in a day or two depending on my level of dedication tonight and tomorrow. What a lot of people seem to misunderstand about NaNo is that the entire story is to be written in 50K words; that’s a feat few writers could pull off in one draft. For me, at any rate, the 50,000 word mark is where I start really becoming invested in the story; it won’t leave me, and I start extending it more and more, and giving it a lot more detail, internally and on paper. The scenes “play” more internally, and I start noticing things that weren’t there before. I can easily see this story running upwards of 100K, if my current progress through five of forty plot points is any indication. Those 100K words most certainly are NOT going to be all within November; you saw it took me a year and a half to scrape 99K for Incon, right? We’ll see, though; I’m kind of hoping I get this draft done before next November.
I’m hoping that everyone else who’s writing is having as much fun doing it as I am, regardless of how much progress they’re making with their stories. I do feel for those of you who can’t write due to time constraints. Regardless of your situation, I just sort of hope that everyone at least sees the tales they hold within themselves, and even if they never get told, just realizes that there’s nobody in the world who’s completely uncreative. Ciao for now, folks. We’re likely to have Bailout for the remainder of the week while I try to focus.