Category: discovery draft
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Camp NaNoWriMo Update #2
So I’m at 8,300 words so far. I have a week to reach my goal of 25,000. But to be honest, my goals can’t be measured in words. My first goal–to complete a draft of my novella Traption–has been accomplished. My second goal–to finish the last several chapters of my novel, Oblivion’s Hope–is well on…
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CampNaNoWriMo Update #1
Reached one of my goals for Camp NaNoWriMo: completed a draft of my novella; spending the rest of the month working on my novel, or one of them at least. I’m going to do voice journals for my characters and write a few summaries of unfinished scenes. All this goes toward my word count. I’m…
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First Weekend of Camp NaNoWriMo
Enjoyed my first full weekend of Camp NaNoWriMo for April 2022. I completed a scene from my novella called Traption. As I mentioned in a recent blog posting, I’m using a writing process I’m calling the “scratchpad” method. I use a single text document–mine happens to be in Google Docs– and will just add on…
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Friday’s Findings: The Scratchpad Method
Today is the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo–it’s my first Camp NaNoWriMo!– and I’m using something called “The Scratchpad Method.” You see, I have a writing situation. Is it a good or bad situation? It’s good in the sense I have an abundance of WIPs to work on. It’s bad in the sense I don’t…
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What a Mess!
After thirty days of writing over fifty thousand words, what do I have to show? An incoherent mess of scraps of conversations, descriptions and exposition. It’s a mess. And that’s what makes my 2021 NaNoWriMo a success. The story is there, told all the way through. I just have to rework it and rework it.…
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Friday’s Findings: The Story on Two Levels
I believe I’ve quoted this fiction writing axiom before, but Terry Pratchett said, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” With this year’s NaNoWriMo, I’m finding out how true this is. I’m feeling exactly what he was talking about. I spent September and October prepping my story. I made up characters. I…
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NaNo Update
Just a quick update on my NaNoWriMo project. Over the weekend I reached 30k words, which was my goal. I’m pleased with how it’s going, but, of course, NaNo is about just getting it down on paper (or on the computer). Some things going well: I’ve written something for every scene in the story. Sometimes…
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NaNoWriMo: I’m Not Going to Kick Myself If I Don’t
During November, I need to work my regular job. So how am I going to get NaNoWriMo done? I also need to exercise. I also need to keep my house clean. I also need to run errands. And so on… Judging from my experience in past NaNoWriMos, keeping up with my word count seemed to…
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Friday’s Findings
I’m reading James Scott Bell’s The Art of War for Writers. I’m not even finished, but I’ve already collected a bunch of writing tips and exercises to apply to my own WIPs. Here’s one–and it’s useful for the upcoming NaNoWriMo: “Say you want to describe someone’s wild hair. Write for five minutes without stopping. Describe…
Andrew M. Friday 