Draft zero! That's two stories down, this one clocking in at just under 7000 words (which makes me worry it'll actually be over the limit for the anthology it's intended for.) Tonight's draft finished with possibly the single worst ending sentence I've ever written in my life, but that's okay, it's a weird ending. Two days ago, I knew exactly what this story was doing, it was fun and vibrant and it felt like it was working, just working. But something changed--shifting into Act 3, my purpose faded. The story suddenly seemed not a sequence of keyed changes, but a series of increasingly bad decisions on the part of the character. Which is not in itself a bad thing, but it can bode ill for the pace, especially in a short story.
By the end, I'd lost hold of the character's real motivation behind their actions, and it all felt like a muddle, like I was just shovelling manure onto the page to get it out of the way. The draft is done, and hopefully I can clean it up, find its purpose and structure more clearly when I transcribe it.
That leaves me One fifth of the way to my goal, and almost halfway through my time. That doesn't look good, I'll admit, but with the rest of my stories not being intended for an anthology, I have a suspicion the reduced pressure will make them much easier to draft. That's my hope, anyway. I have some doubts I can make it to ten, now -- that would be four stories a week -- but I'll make a good crack at it.
Write comment (0 Comments)1500 words this morning, which goes to show that I should try this morning writing lark again more often, even if it does mean getting up when I haven't slept instead of kidding myself I can feel more refreshed with repeated unsuccessful attempts at snoozing. I'm inches away from act 3. I meant to write more this evening, but stress of sudden unrelated stuff that was unfortunately thematically very resonant with what I was writing siphoned off all the words, and there was much tidying and cleaning instead in that self-deluded way where we think if we control everything else tightly enough, some of that control will convey via mystical osmosis to the things that are beyond us. So, that was productive (not), but at least my apartment is tidy.
Write comment (0 Comments)Wstfgl. Yes. My body might be here, but my brain decided the best way it could spend most of last night was banging the neurons into each other again. A paltry 500 words, today, and I'm at the paradoxical stage of the story being more than half-done, which means it accelerates as there's less and less to write, but also more and more difficult as I try to make the emotional arc pay off with a character whom I suspect is rather more complex than I normally attempt.
Tonight's writing was fueled by tacos. Diet be damned.
Write comment (0 Comments)One third of the way through NaNoWriMo. Theoretically, I should have three-and-one-third stories done by now. In reality, another 1500 words tonight puts me at around one-and-a-half. More than 50% behind, but hey. I knew this year's goal was outrageously optimistic, so I'm not too worried.
I have to remind myself of the difference a decent night's sleep makes, though. Last night's sleep was essentially non-existent, largely due to other people's unintentional sleep-inhibiting actions. Most of today passed in a blur; in fact my evening's writing (my brain was far too fogged-out this morning to manage anything beyond tea-making) may well be the most productive thing I did all day.
What's awesome though is that this particular story draft has been quite enjoyable, almost writing itself in places. Whereas often I have to practically tie myself to the chair to get the blank page filled, I find myself quite happily filling whole extra pages before taking breaks; the pen just keeps going.
Possibly it helps that I'm writing about a neurotic, self-obsessed, slightly-delusional writer with conveniently flexible morals and fantastic self-rationalisation skills--he's a fun character to write, to poke fun at the temptations-of-thought and other pitfalls we all fall afoul of now and then. I love the way he makes rather reprehensible things seem perfectly rational and reasonable (to him). Maybe that's why writers write about writers so often--we're perhaps afforded a luxury of self-obsession few artforms have; the ability to make art about the making of our own art and go relatively unchallenged for it.
Write comment (0 Comments)Plans to get up early to write like the wind somewhat kiboshed when my brain, after insisting it was too tired and sleepy to write anything sensible and we should go to bed early, also insisted on lying awake, crashing thoughts together like lego bricks and refusing to actually sleep. I managed a paltry 500 words this morning before heading off to my friend's 30th lunch, but I did at least manage to give my character delusions of genius that were, if not realistic, at least hilarious and entertaining to write.
Write comment (0 Comments)So, this idea of chain-smoking stories one after the other has a minor flaw: writing a whole story (or most of one) in an evening comes with quite the writing hangover. I find it interesting, actually, because writing 3700 of a novel doesn't (usually) leave a dent in my brain; I think it must be the intensity of going on the entire character-journey in one hit that leaves the brain a little fazed.
It probably doesn't help that I had to get up much earlier than normal (after going to bed later than normal) to get my highlights done for my brother's wedding. To be fair, tonight's problem hasn't been so much procrastination as sleepiness. My brain would have been quite happy to go to bed at around 8:30. So while I managed a good 2000 words today (about half of that while waiting in the salon, multitasking-high-five) I've barely reached the end of act 1 of this second story, when I meant to have written the whole thing today.
I wonder if, should I try this barrage of draft-zeroes again, it would be beneficial to draft multiple stories at once. Though that violates my usual rule, if it's condensed, it might help. So:
Slightly less of a preposterous idea when you consider all my stories are planned out and plotted with notes and details, and I can easily step between them. It's worth trying some time as an experiment to see if not completing the whole journey in one jump could mitigate the hangover. Not this time; this time I'm sticking to my established rules of one-story-at-a-time. But I'll add it to the list of things to attempt some time.
Write comment (0 Comments)My hand is cramped like a tiny crab. Today was a blissful day alone, recovering some blessed solo-time after yesterday's uber-crowds at the races. And, it being a beautiful 30 degree (celsius) spring day, I took my folding chair onto my balcony with some beer and some Anzacs and drafted the rest of that first story. 3700 words later, we have a draft that vaguely knows what it's doing. Ten percent of my Nano goal, twenty-three percent of the time. It's okay, we'll catch up...
Unfortunately, during the story's development, it grew into something that no longer really fits the theme of the anthology I was going to submit it to, but that's okay. Tomorrow I'm up hideously early for a hair appointment in a far-away suburb (I made the appointment before I moved suburbs... sigh.) which, as my hair is long enough to be sat on, will take most of the morning. I plan to take my notebook and get started (and hopefully finish) my next story, which WILL be something I can submit. Today's story will have to wait until December to be transcribed.
Write comment (0 Comments)Today is Oak's day at the Melbourne Cup, also known as Ladies' Day. I've never been before--not one for fashion, public drunkeness, gambling or abominable animal cruelty, but I've been invited by my new beau and his friends, so I'm off to see what it's about and people-watch.
We're making the day of it tomorrow, which means unless I get some words done in the morning (I'm writing this the night before, anticipating I won't get a chance to tomorrow) it'll be another no-word day. I'm having far too many of those. Day six marks two stories that should be drafted.
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