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Welcome to this week's Novel Support Group (NSG). Anyone can join. If you're new, tell us a bit about who you are and what project you are working on. Although we can report on any number of things, here is a list of suggestions (suggestions welcomed).
What were your goals last week and did you accomplish them?
Describe what you worked on.
Set goals for next week.
Did you learn something during this week?
Here is a list of things that you can do each week as we work on our novels (suggestions welcomed).
Writing on a novel
Characterization
World Building
Relevant research
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Last Week's Goals
I actually got some work done for my last week goals. Finally. It was not much but at least I was able to get some progress made.
My goals for next week:
Brainstorming characterization for main character
Develop mutually exclusive internal conflicts
This week I want to continue focusing on the characterization for my main character. I want develop some internal conflicts this week. So far I have one idea but I want to see how far I can take the conflict.
What did I learn this week?
Not much here yet either. Just glad to have made progress.
Dreamer's Rose: Continue to let it rest. Easy one.
The Shaman's Curse: Get the query and synopsis fixed and start sending this out again. Really. Well, I've worked a little on the query. I don't honestly know yet if I've made it better or worse. It's in F&F if you want to let me know what you think.
The Ignored Prophecy: Start the revision to the first couple of chapters. Well, technically, I've started. I haven't gotten very far, yet, though.
Blood Will Tell: Finish up the first revision. Work on the synopsis and the query. Yep. And I've already got notes for the second revision.
This Week's Goals:
Dreamer's Rose: Continue to let it rest. Hey, at least I know I'll achieve one of my goals.
The Shaman's Curse: Figure out the query letter and start sending this one back out.
The Ignored Prophecy: Revision to first five chapters. Not all of them actually need to be revised. Others will be virtually scrapped completely and rewritten. But I think it will tighten up the start a lot and get to the meat of the story sooner.
Blood Will Tell: Let it rest a little more before starting on the second revisions. I'd like to get the second revision done and have this in the hands of one of my first readers by Thanksgiving.
Seven Stars: Yes, apparently I don't know when enough is enough. It turns out I can't not have something new to work on, so I started this. It's an extension of a novelette, so I already pretty much have the first 6 chapters or so. I'm reworking those a bit to fit the new structure and brainstorming conflicts and plot. One of the reasons the novelette never went out of my computer was that I wasn't happy with the ending. I knew there was more to the story. It just couldn't be that easy. So, I'm going to tell the rest of the story.
Other: I also need to work on revisions to my two short stories, Dragons Are Forever and The Seeker, so I can get them out there.
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited November 13, 2009).]
OSC talks somewhere about how your first draft is really just a learning experience and won't bear much resemblance to the final copy. After writing my first novel I couldn't imagine how anyone could go to that much work and then throw it out in the trash as a "learning experience". But this Nanowrimo story I'm really starting to get it. The first time through is really just an oportunity to get all my ideas down, and as I do it, I'm learning about the characters and letting the story take me down unexpected paths that might or might not go somewhere in the end.
The character I've developed by the middle of the story bears little resemblance to the one at the beginning, and so that all needs to change too.
Rather than constantly going back and rewriting, I just make myself a note and ride the story to the conclusion as though it was a galloping horse. By the time I'm done, almost everything about it needs to be changed, but I've learned some incredible things I couldn't have learned any other way. So this is not the time to worry about whether I'm showing or telling, or if the dialogue to exposition ratio is perfect. It's not even about getting the characters names perfect.
When it's done, I'll give it a few months to rest and then try it again. I think that would be the perfect time to outline it and make sure the names are right. Then I can cut and add and do all the things to make it shine.
Everyone has their own writing style, and I think I've found mine! I'm so excited about it I'm going to paste this in the Nanowrimo section too, so everyone can share my joy.
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Well, this week I moved, finished up some pressing Real World Commitments and made some decisions on the world-building for TGS. Oh, and contracted H1N1. Yippee.
Goals for next week: 1) Sleep 2) Sleep some more 3) 10K on nano
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I'm half-a-chapter into my newest novel attempt. Since I wrote it as a short story and it was a WotF HM, it just feels right expanding on it.
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@MAP. It's about par for course with regular flu - completely miserable with some debate over the ER - but these things always hit me hard. As long as I don't develop any secondary infections, I'll be a happy camper.
Posts: 715 | Registered: Nov 2007
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Sadly missed my mark of a single chapter by a mile. I wrote about two paragraphs, decided I hated them, paced around a bit, then gave up the ghost. I sadly allowed myself to be distracted by Dragon Age this week as well, though that's done now.
So, for this week again, my goal is to start and finish the Wagner chapter!