The Novel Challenge Hub

Izz said:

4,250 today. I need to make sure i disconnect the internet while i write. Otherwise every few minutes i go check emails and click links and stuff, which is not good for productivity.

Click to expand...

Tell me about it. Sheesh.

I think i'm only looking at 60k or so for this one. Which is probably about right for a talking animal novel.

Click to expand...

Hey, neat. I didn't know you were writing about a talking animal.


Well, I broke the 5k mark this morning.

No wordage today. I need someone to jumpstart my muse, I guess.

*gets the jumper cables*

Izz said:

Cybernetic badgers and dachshunds duking it out in post-apocalyptic Berlin. There'll also be rats with mechanical wings.

Click to expand...

Omigosh, that sounds AWESOME. Like, the epitome of awesome. Like... like... ah, screw it, words fail me. >.< (So, uh, when you finish it, if you're ever lacking for betas... I'd volunteer in a heartbeat. )

Still no writing. I fail at life. And words. And naming. I think I could actually maybe start writing if I had more than two names (at least they're both major characters...).

Okay, three, but number three is very minor and may not ever get his name mentioned in-text.

Y'know what, if I don't have 1,000 words of novel by this time next week... um... somebody kick me or something.

I'm off to fry my brain over the naming issue. *curses characters who refuse to be named, 'cause it's so obvious they're just doing this to spite me*

LilliCray said:

Y'know what, if I don't have 1,000 words of novel by this time next week... um... somebody kick me or something.

Click to expand...

Will do.

I actually came up with a name, somewhat accidentally, yesterday. It's for a very minor character, though. Necessity. That's the name. She's a stripper. That's just her stage name.

Anyway, I usually suck with names, too. In fact I still don't like most of the ones I have for the novel. But I figure, that's what ctrl find and replace is for. I'll fix 'em later.

KitCat said:

*gets the jumper cables*

Click to expand...

I'm almost at the 30k mark, myself! Going to bed now, right after writing the most emotional lines of the entire book. It was pretty awesome.

Grats!

Looks like much progress is being made. Congrats to those working consistently and hugs to those still getting in the groove. We shall conquer the writing world together!

Day 2 of regular schedule for me which means lots of time to write at library while girls are at dance. Three days of actual writing accomplished (good). However, powercord went out on netbook and I sit waiting for delivery man to bring a new one. (bad) Have hijacked kid's computer for online access but will be forced to handwrite if nothing received before we leave this afternoon. Haven't done that in a while!

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

For those of you with characters who're hiding their names, I suggest tiptoeing off to the Sandbox (password is vista, same as SYW) and posting a thread asking for suggestions.

I'm plugging along. Slow and steady.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Newbie alert! Newbie alert!

Since I'm allowed into the Novel Challenge with novellas I can now say hi!

I signed up for W1S1 in a moment of madness to push myself into getting more shiny covers on my website. What? Isn't that the reason every writer wants to be published?

Anyway, I have five novellas in various stages of progress, all of which I plan on submitting this year. There will most likely be more as time goes by, since my ideas are spawning like rabbits right now.

Current WIP is a sci fi romance titled Tin Cat, on which I need approximately 8K more. Or however many words it takes to reach the end. There's no plan. I don't do those.

Izz said:

Cybernetic badgers and dachshunds duking it out in post-apocalyptic Berlin. There'll also be rats with mechanical wings.

Click to expand...

Didn't you have a short story about this? Or was it just discussed in the monthly prompts thread a few year ago. Methinks I've heard you mention it before.

My novel is languishing. Because I'm dallying with the short stories. (Stupid shorts with their promises of being quick and easy.) But I'll get back into it soon.

well, another 2k, another night of not finishing the book. Sigh.

I hate the last third of a novella. Always. It just... I have everything in mind and know exactly what needs to be written, but getting it down? Drags like a... um, dragging thing.

I just want to finish, but there are all the pesky plot ends to tie up and a satisfying resolution to deliver.

So I'm pretty much still on schedule for my recent NaNovel--in the writing/revising/rewriting stage (original plan is to begin querying this book sometime this month and move on to a different work for Feb/March).

Gave the first 3/4 or so of it to beta/co-writer near the end of December as a catalyst for really finishing the thing and having a coherent first draft.

Some good feedback so far; we're currently battling over a few points however.
And I still have yet to whip the last chapter into some kind of shape.

I'm mainly struggling with the motivation to get back in there and adjust some things I know I need to. Plus, I spend a lot of time in Researchland--so much of it won't come near the story, but I like to be really informed. But I have a hard time not feeling like I'm wasting time, even though some of it's really necessary.

And finally, I ordered some books to help with the next editing pass, including the long-time-coming Strunk/White "Elements of Style." I'd also like to work on my description skills so one of the books focuses on that.

Well, I guess that's it for now; time to go back in.

I finished my first novel in September (yay), but it's too long (boo). I set it aside and just picked it up again to do a final run-through before I start querying, and - darn it - I thought I had it at 140,000 words, but it's 150,000 words. Grrr. Have to see how much pruning I can manage.

I'm right there with you Pemako, but I'm still writing. See the total in the sigline? Yeah.

So. this weekend I have a 3 day weekend. I swear. If I don't come out of this weekend with AT LEAST the lead up to the end, I'm gonna set this thing on fire. Which will be hard, as it is inside a computer which I don't want to set on fire... but you get the idea. I can't rush it, I have to set up that my girl is having this certain dream - she's having this pyschic connection with someone... so there has to be a set up, nd then she wanders out of where she isn't supposed to wander out of and BOOM! Sh!+ gets real.

Hi everyone - newbie here - sort of.... As you may see from under my avatar, it's been a while since I joined this forum - but I haven't been around much. Things happened in my so called Real Life, to keep me away from the net for more than a year.

Back now, picking up the bits and pieces of my life (those of them still lying around, that is) and happy to be here again. This novel challenge is a great idea - one of the pieces I'm seriously picking up is my WIP - a novel that has been in the works for 3-4 years now and is about two third (three fourth?) finished. About time to get it done!

I haven't done much since Christmas, but plan to get serious as of tomorrow. I won't set any word count per day goal, though. I don't work that way. I'm the kind who must edit as I go - I need to get every paragraph/scene/section I work on perfect (= as perfect as I can make it) before I continue. Should I just type away to meet a certain word count, my inferior writing would make me lose both momentum and inspiration and in the end interest for the whole thing. That would be pointless - a sure recipe for failure. So, I can't predict how long each sentence/paragraph/scene will take me to write. In the past, I have rewritten and rewritten and rewritten certain scenes for up to two weeks before I was satisfied - which would average something like 10 words a day... At other times, I've finished a longish chapter in less than three days. So word count won't reflect very well how hard or not I work.

Instead, I'll report the time spent with butt in chair every day. I'll try to do a two hours a day minimum, starting tomorrow. That way, it ought to be possible to have the whole thing finished by the end of May, unless I run into some serious trouble with certain scenes, and get stuck for weeks again. Wish me luck!

I got my first 1500 words of the night. Hope to have two more writing sessions.
I even got caught up on all my chapter summaries.