Category: discovery draft
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NaNoWriMo Day 18: Completing the story arc
I knew from the first day of NaNoWriMo I would not complete the story. Yes, I will reach 50,000 words. Yes, I will write a narrative, but it will only be part of the narrative–or what I’m calling “step four” in my NaNoWriMo plan. My writing process for NaNoWriMo 2022: Step 1: Write one complete…
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NaNoWriMo Day 17: The Big Conversion
My writing process for NaNoWriMo 2022: Step 1: Write one complete sentence summarizing each scene. Step 2: Turn each sentence into a five sentence paragraph. Step 3: Turn each paragraph into five paragraphs. Step 4: Turn the five paragraphs into a narrative. Now that I’ve reached step four, I’m converting everything to Scrivener. Up to…
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NaNoWriMo Day 15: Staying Ahead
I only got in 232 words yesterday. But that’s okay. The day before, Sunday, I got in over 5,000 words which put me a few days ahead. Yesterday, I have an all day meeting which mentally drained me and I have to wrap up emergency dog sitting for a coworker over the weekend. On the…
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NaNoWriMo Day 14: Half Way There
I finished the third step of my writing process for NaNoWriMo 2022. My writing process for NaNoWriMo 2022: Step 1: Write one complete sentence summarizing each scene Step 2: Turn each sentence into a five sentence paragraph. Step 3: Turn each paragraph into five paragraphs. (I’m writing step 3 in red to help it stick…
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NaNoWriMo Day 13: Go ahead; write those flashbacks
One way I’m building up my word count for NaNoWriMo is by using flashbacks. My main characters have a complex backstory (don’t they always?) and I’m finding it’s a great way to keep me on top of my daily statistics. But using flashbacks can help in other ways. They can move the story forward. They…
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NaNoWriMo Day 12: High Stakes
I have a lot of action scenes in my NaNo project this year. By action, I mean fight scenes, high stakes drama. I’m trying to balance them with reflective scenes where the characters are trying to figure out how what’s happening around them affects their mind and emotions. And, even more important, when the characters…
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NaNoWriMo Day 10: Death and Oops
Even though I outlined in Preptober, I decided to kill off one of my characters. Rather violently. I think I had a bad day at work and I was taking it out on this poor fictional being. But later I realized that character was needed for a couple of functions in the story. Oops. No…
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NaNoWriMo Day 9: Inside and Outside Action
As I plan and write scenes, one thing I do is what I call the ‘outside’ action and also the ‘inside’ action. During Preptober, I created an Excel spreadsheet and wrote the point of view from each character in that scene. This point of view plans out the physical action each character performs (outside action).…
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NaNoWriMo Day 8: Word Sprints
One practice I’ve put into play with NaNo 22 is writing sprints. I’ve done them in the past, but I pretty much use them exclusively to get my word count done. I do one or two before work and about two or three after work. Word Sprint: a short period of time in which a…
Andrew M. Friday 