Sometimes, writing a novel stretches out. Sometimes it compresses. At least in feeling if not in actual practice. My first project compressed at the end. Fingers flew, and everything fell together. My current project appears to be stretching. It probably just means that I'm not as close to the end as I thought.
It's odd how sometimes the scenes that you think will be quick end up ballooning out into an entire chapter. Or the chapter you were planning finishes off early and it's like... oh, now what? I don't think one situation is better than the other, it's just the organic nature of writing. I try hard to let the story take a life of its own, and am often surprised by it. I have a structure in mind to try and keep the pacing consistent, but it's more guidelines than boundaries.
Anyway, the first draft probably won't be done by Monday. My goal is now to have it finished before the end of this challenge. That gives me what, three more weeks? It's also going to make getting it out by Christmas even more risky, but even if I don't make it, it shouldn't be too long after, which isn't a bad thing.
Here's a look at how I did last week with my goals:
Here's the big finish, the word counts:
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It's odd how sometimes the scenes that you think will be quick end up ballooning out into an entire chapter. Or the chapter you were planning finishes off early and it's like... oh, now what? I don't think one situation is better than the other, it's just the organic nature of writing. I try hard to let the story take a life of its own, and am often surprised by it. I have a structure in mind to try and keep the pacing consistent, but it's more guidelines than boundaries.
Anyway, the first draft probably won't be done by Monday. My goal is now to have it finished before the end of this challenge. That gives me what, three more weeks? It's also going to make getting it out by Christmas even more risky, but even if I don't make it, it shouldn't be too long after, which isn't a bad thing.
Here's a look at how I did last week with my goals:
- Writing Lesson Learned: Want to see your Muse laugh? Set a deadline. Sometimes stories just don't cooperate with the schedule you had in mind.
- WIP Pages: 7. One ahead. I've been logging in some extra hours to try and hit my first draft goal. Still, there is only so much story I can force out. I fill like one of those noodle machines, dough having been poured in in the back to be forced through a teeny-tiny hole in the front. Viola! Fettuccine. Pushing too hard will only over-stretch my noodle.
- Blogging: This makes 3/3 with a fiction post. 3/3 with a fiction post on the other site too. Good times.
Here's the big finish, the word counts:
- Since last check-in: 6,157
- Fiction: 2,523
- 41% New Fiction
- Grand Total for the challenge: 51,049