December 1st, 2015
It’s over. Over the last three days I finished the sprint to 50,000 words. I have dragged my characters to the brink of hell and learned more about the world I’ve created than I ever knew before.
I created some really crappy stuff… I created quite a few gems that I’m proud of. Characters changed. Plot holes happened. Nearly everything I didn’t think would happen to me has happened. And yet, as I struggled to keep things moving and as I jumped from one thing to another with no regards for the laws of space and time, I managed to do something I’ve only done once or twice in me life. I won.
And now, only one question remains:
Where do I go from here?
The answer should be obvious. I haven’t finished my story. My characters are only on the brink of hell. They aren’t in hell yet. There are still two pages of outline to get through.
But when I started, I wasn’t planning on writing more than one book.
“I’m only writing a stand alone novel!” I told myself. “Series books are too difficult to publish!”
And then November the 15th hit, and halfway through the month I paused, stared at my screen and thought…”Okay…Maybe it’s two books.”
And then a little later on: “Okay three. Three books. BUT NO MORE!”
And when I finally Validated my word count earlier on November the 30th, I looked over how much of my ideas I’d covered and I whispered, “And a series of novellas…”
The sudden surplus of ideas and inspiration in and of itself is a blessing! After so long feeling like I had nothing to say, now it seems like I can’t shut up!
The problem now is where to stop. Where does writing end and editing begin? When do I know when I’m done? How do I get off this crazy train?
I did not want to write the next ASOIAF. I’m not even sure I could! I just wanted to tell a story about a military regiment stuck in enemy land with no magic and limited tools as they set out to destroy an Emperor. Now everybody and their cousin wants a chapter, my ideas have grown roots and branches, and my plot is a forest of ideas being strung together as I try to keep up.
Finding a way to build to a climax and an ending has always been an issue, but now the ending has moved so far away it may as well be chilling in London eating all the scones I crave. Needless to say, I’m very happy that I proved I could meet the NaNo challenge. But I’m also a little overwhelmed. I don’t see an end anywhere in sight.
December will continue the writing gauntlet as I try to find an acceptable end for what might be book one. Or at least part one. At least this way, I’ll have something to edit in January for NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month). Maybe with a little something fleshed out an polished, I’ll have a clearer grasp at the world in which I’m working. Right now all of my ideas are just flying at the page and it’s difficult to keep straight.
But who know’s what will happen? I certainly don’t…
Validated Word Count: 50,426 words
Congratulations to everyone who actually finished a novel this month! You guys are on point! To everyone else continuing on into December…
Happy Writing!
~Abby Rose~