With the third week of Nano starting, I’m a tad behind the goal (about 4,000 words). I knew week 2 would be busier, and it was. But I also knew I’d be facing my biggest challenge as a writer.
20,000 words.
That point in the story has always been a bugaboo for me. I love writing openings and endings. The start of my stories fly onto the page. When I reach the final conflict, I’m like a kid in a candy store. But the 15k to 30k window is where I stare at a page and struggle with doubt.
That’s when the hard work aspect of writing truly begins.
So, it wasn’t a complete shock when my productivity dropped last week. All the usual accusations formed in my mind.
This story isn’t good.
You’re not going anywhere with this.
How dare you attempt to write a good book when you can’t write a decent sentence.
Sound familiar?
If so, that’s the time to write more. Give yourself permission to not be perfect. Know you’re going to come back to that section to make it great once you finish the story. And then slog through it.
In addition to my 20k blues, I discovered a small problem with writing by the seat of my pants.
Plot holes.
Since I’m not outlining this story ahead of time, cool ideas keep popping in my head while I write. Some of those ideas are at odds with what I’ve already written…
There must have been at least five times last week where I sat down and proudly hammered out the next scene by adding my “cool idea” only to realize that meant repairing an earlier scene to fix the plot hole. While you’re not supposed to do that in NaNo, I’m way too OCD to ignore a known plot problem.
So, I’m a bit behind. But there’s good news. I’ve never made it this far in NaNo, and I’m on holiday vacation for all of week 4.
Oh yeah, be afraid 50,000 words. Be very afraid.
The New Authors Fellowship 
That’s awesome, Will! I’m standing up and cheering for you! (Well, in spirit.)
Yesterday I passed 24,000 and am so excited. It’s my furthest during NaNo, too. I’m certain 50,000 is trembling in its boots!
Here’s to finishing strong!
Awesome Teddi! I’m just under 25,000 words right now, so we’re at the same spot. If I can get to 35,000 by Sunday night, I think it’s in the bag 🙂
“bugaboo”
Can’t tell you’re a dad, huh? =)
Awesome going on the word count. And yes, plot holes abound in pantserland. It’s the price we pay…yet, doubt those cool ideas would’ve come along during the outline phase.
Hats off to you all. I’m struggling with whether my pride can take not winning nano (probably not) to allow me to just keep editing. So, we’ll see what happens toward the end of this week.
Editing is important too. I didn’t understand the saying that “Good books aren’t written, they’re re-written” until draft 11 of my first novel. But it’s so true.
Discovery writing has been an interesting adventure. Strangely, not knowing where I’m headed has helped me to write a bit more fluidly. I didn’t expect that.
I do believe the editing process is going to be nightmarish though. I’m also a bit concerned about my characters being underdeveloped. But that’s the fun of editing 🙂
I hear you about plot holes. I wrote about three or four scenes a couple of weeks ago that I thought were really good and then I thought about it and realized that would totally never happen. So…trash, start over, press ahead…