Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Things I learned (so far) while writing a novel (so little)

If you didn't know (and I'm not sure how you would since I haven't posted here in a month), I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month! This is the video that finally convinced me.




What I've learned so far:

*You will never, ever, not in a million years, ever read the draft that I finish this month. I may not even read it again. I'm estimating that I'll keep maybe, MAYBE 5 percent of it in the final manuscript (which adds up to most character names, the page numbers at the bottom -- those prob won't change, and a couple of paragraphs).

*I still prefer writing beginnings, but those middle parts are actually pretty fun. Still scared of the ending. How can you possibly live up to the build up? How can it ever be satisfying enough? Worth all that time?

*1667 words is a lot, but 3000 is a hecka lot more. Which is what I've had to do to catch up for all those nights I decided to skip.

*"I'll do it later" is never a good idea.

*Every three pages or so, I think to myself, maybe this would be a better place to start my novel. Where IS the best place to start a novel?

*Writers are a pretty impressive bunch. It takes so much more time and energy and emotion to write a novel than I ever imagined. Good reading = hard writing.