So, in my last post I told you that I had finished my novel. Well, in this post, I am going to share with you a very amusing story about that novel. It was a couple of days and around ten pages before I was done when I noticed that I had a big problem. A little back story first.
When I started the book, I was keeping track of all of my characters that I was using on a little piece of paper. I wrote down their names as they entered the story, and I crossed them off if they left the story. Well, when I went on vacation in the middle of August I took that list with me, just in case I had time to write on the trip. I didn't have any time to write, so bringing the paper was pointless, but I always like to be prepared. When I got home after the vacation about a month later, and was ready to start writing again, I realized that I was missing that piece of paper. I searched through all of my stuff, but it turned up nothing. I guess from then on I would have to wing it. No big deal--or so it would seem.
I was getting close to finishing, and I wanted to bring a character that I had used in the beginning back into the story, well since I didn't have the piece of paper that had my characters, I had to scroll back through my story to find the character. Along the way I noticed something, something very important. I had four characters missing!!! I was tantalizingly close to finishing my novel and then this comes out of nowhere! Frustrated, I searched through my story to find where I had lost my characters. Two of the characters were easy to remedy, they were close to being pointless, so I opted to eliminate them entirely from the story. A simple solution. The other two characters were a bit more challenging. They disappeared later in the story and I had issues finding them. I figured out that one of them had been sent somewhere, and that I could just say that he was going to stay there. Another simple solution. The final character was the worst. I ended up finding where he had disappeared from my writing, and I now had to add him to where he was supposed to be for the next 40 pages! Slowly, I ended up getting him where he was supposed to be, and I could finish the final pages of my book.
I told a few people about my writing misstep, and, upon hearing it, found it highly amusing. The moral of this story? Be sure to write your ideas down, and don't lose them! Or, just have a photographic memory, like my character Krista! I hope your writing doesn't have some of the same snags as mine! Until next time readers!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
BOOK DONE!
If you could all see my face right now, you would see a giant grin pasted across it. The reason behind this grin? There are several reasons, the first of them being: I realize how much I don't keep this blog updated! My last post was in July. :) I deeply apologize for not writing posts as often as I should. Hopefully, it can become a good habit.
The other reason that I have a major smile on my face, is that the other day I finally finished the novel that I had been working on for ages. It took a lot of determination to grind out the final 20,000 words, but I got it done. I still haven't thought of a title yet, that I need some help with, and honestly, it can wait for a while. My plans are to let the book sit until December. When that time rolls around, I will diligently edit it so that it is polished to the best of my ability. In the mean time, I have another project to work on. You may have already heard about this, but it is national writing a novel month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to write 50,000 words in November of whatever topic you choose. I encourage all of you to give it a try. Even if you only get to 20K by the end of the month, at least you gave it a shot. Writing a novel is a challenging thing. It takes major commitment to get it done. However, there is something very satisfying in finishing a book. If you don't get it finished, at least you will learn something about yourself. I have heard from many people that they despise writing anything, but I think their mindset would change if they gave this a try. I know I just said that writing a novel is challenging, but it is a lot of fun too. To develop a story in your head, and then get it all out in words can be very enjoyable. You are the author, you can make characters do crazy things that you are too afraid to try or aren't able to (i.e. bungee-jumping, scuba diving, high speed driving *please don't try this one*, travel to the moon, travel to a foreign country). If you don't know something, you can just make it up; there is a lot of freedom in writing a novel(with some exceptions). Like I said, I am going to do this. It is already Nov. 13, and I haven't wrote one word for my novel, and to be honest, I am not entirely sure what to write about, but I feel no pressure in this--not to pound out page after page to get it done, or to come up with some stellar plot. I am just doing it to enjoy all aspects of writing. I want all of you to feel the same joys. So, before I put you to sleep with any more ramblings, I will wrap this up.
Give a novel a chance, more importantly, give yourself a chance. You may be impressed with what evolves. Take the next month and write what is in your head and what is in your heart. Good luck! I would love to hear that someone gave this a shot! Until next time, readers!
The other reason that I have a major smile on my face, is that the other day I finally finished the novel that I had been working on for ages. It took a lot of determination to grind out the final 20,000 words, but I got it done. I still haven't thought of a title yet, that I need some help with, and honestly, it can wait for a while. My plans are to let the book sit until December. When that time rolls around, I will diligently edit it so that it is polished to the best of my ability. In the mean time, I have another project to work on. You may have already heard about this, but it is national writing a novel month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to write 50,000 words in November of whatever topic you choose. I encourage all of you to give it a try. Even if you only get to 20K by the end of the month, at least you gave it a shot. Writing a novel is a challenging thing. It takes major commitment to get it done. However, there is something very satisfying in finishing a book. If you don't get it finished, at least you will learn something about yourself. I have heard from many people that they despise writing anything, but I think their mindset would change if they gave this a try. I know I just said that writing a novel is challenging, but it is a lot of fun too. To develop a story in your head, and then get it all out in words can be very enjoyable. You are the author, you can make characters do crazy things that you are too afraid to try or aren't able to (i.e. bungee-jumping, scuba diving, high speed driving *please don't try this one*, travel to the moon, travel to a foreign country). If you don't know something, you can just make it up; there is a lot of freedom in writing a novel(with some exceptions). Like I said, I am going to do this. It is already Nov. 13, and I haven't wrote one word for my novel, and to be honest, I am not entirely sure what to write about, but I feel no pressure in this--not to pound out page after page to get it done, or to come up with some stellar plot. I am just doing it to enjoy all aspects of writing. I want all of you to feel the same joys. So, before I put you to sleep with any more ramblings, I will wrap this up.
Give a novel a chance, more importantly, give yourself a chance. You may be impressed with what evolves. Take the next month and write what is in your head and what is in your heart. Good luck! I would love to hear that someone gave this a shot! Until next time, readers!
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