First few days of NaNoWriMo

This year, I ended creating an outline with many holes.

That is unlike last year, where much of the story was planned and developed. However last year's story was something was several years in the making. Many ideas, thoughts, and creative juices went into that story.

This years story was undeveloped until a month before the contest.

In the last month, I had written about 5000 words of conceptual structures, character archetypes, drama interactions, and thematic discussions. But at the core of my planning, the story arc content was largely defined by just a dozen or so single sentences. This story would be more wide open and built more spontaneously.

1st day of NNWM was difficult. I largely took my 5000 word outline, some references from the last book, and only wrote 1000 words or so of new writing. That day was very difficult.

The 2nd day went very productive. Suddenly the main character and the antagonistic character seemed to be filled with life. I wrote 2000 words easily.

The 3rd day began agonizing. My head was sore and I didn't feel like writing. Later after noon, ending the day with well over 1700 words. Suddenly I am writing another new and fresh character which came from nowhere yet fits in perfectly.

Today is the 4rth day. It sucks. I have only written 753 words, mostly transitioning from the beginning of the story, the opening scenes, to an entirely new setting. This however makes myself disoriented - unsure of that new unfamiliar setting, different than the setting that had spent in the last few days. So much so, that I feel more comfortable writing this post, and writing something else earlier today.

I really hope that I can at least get more than 1000 before the night's end.

This writing year is an attempt to put into practice both the concepts that I had learned last year, and new ones that I developed in October, from three different books.

As of now I am a fifth way done, though my momentum is suffering.

Keep pushing on!

Ken