Tag: nanowrimo

  • CampNaNoWriMo Update #1

    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…

  • First Weekend of Camp NaNoWriMo

    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…

  • Friday’s Findings: The Scratchpad Method

    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…

  • Still Deciding What To Do for Camp NaNoWriMo

    Still Deciding What To Do for Camp NaNoWriMo

    Camp NaNoWriMo starts April 1st and I’m not sure what to do. It’s not a lack of ideas; it’s too many WIPs to choose from. I have a draft for my novella Traption and I was going to edit it. Then I decided to work on a rough draft for my novella Normous. But now…

  • Friday’s Findings: Scene Revision

    Friday’s Findings: Scene Revision

    Writing scenes is one of my favorite parts of fiction writing. I watched a great video on scene revision and learned a lot: Revise Your NaNoWriMo Novel with Writing Mastery Academy & Fictionary In this video, author Jessica Brody talks about three checkpoints to review a scene with to improve it. She has even more…

  • I think I’ll do Camp NaNoWriMo

    I think I’ll do Camp NaNoWriMo

    Camp NaNoWriMo starts April 1st and I think I’ll work on the next draft of my novella called Traption. I’ve set my goal to be 25,000 words. That’s what is different about Camp NaNoWriMo: the participant can set their own word count. So, even though I’ve already started revising Traption, I have so much rewrite…

  • Is the level-down revision method helpful?

    Is the level-down revision method helpful?

    A couple years ago, I took an online course called Write a Bestselling Novel in 15 Steps by Jessica Brody. It was free through my local public library’s website and in it, Brody talks about her book Save the Cat Writes a Novel. She uses examples and exercises to ensure a vivid understanding for each…

  • What a Mess!

    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.…

  • Friday’s Findings: The Story on Two Levels

    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…