My current work in progress is coming about through an online class I’m taking with Michelle Richmond (The Year of Fog), the class titled ambitiously enough Novel in Nine. We students are tasked with completing a novel in nine months.
For some, a nine-month deadline is nearly impossible. I know the feeling. It took me a four long years to finish my first novel. There were times when I felt like giving up, because to be frank, time was NOT on my side. Of course, I was greener then, basically stumbling/typing in the dark, not knowing what the hell I was doing. Practice might not make perfect, but it definitely increases your chances of completion.
Classes are a good way to keep to a schedule, to set small, reasonable goals and attain them. It’s all about the baby steps. Our class happens to include discussion, always helpful in that you realize you’re not toiling alone, nor are you the only one guilty of making mistakes. I was thinking about that today because our “assignments” happen to be reasonable with the possibility of completion within the week. Plus, they’re geared toward being included in the Novel.
Likewise, NaNoWriMo is a writing-cattle prod device that works well for me. 50K words? It’s nothing in November. I just tell myself it’s got to be done and it gets done. (Probably not agent-ready, but what first draft is?)
Michelle has given us a goal that can be managed easily, 10K words a month.
Here’s the difference between the class and NaNo: It’s about the word count, but it isn’t about the word count.
I don’t know why or how, but in November I can sit down and pump out a couple thousand words in an hour and a half. In the class, I’ve got my eye on the word count at the bottom of the document, but instead of writing as fast as I can, I find myself trying to write as well as I can. Plus, if I know something is coming up in my personal life, I can forge ahead and finish my assignments early, which is what I did in March.
I’m at the point now (about halfway through) where I have a solid story going, including a beginning, the start of a middle, and a pretty defining ending. I know what scenes and plot lines I have to weave in (six more things…totally doable). Many of the scenes I have to fold in coincidentally have something to do with the lesson of the week. This type of writing is more carefully thought out and not so haphazard.
Oh, I’m still a pantser. I’ve got the requisite index cards all over my desk scribbled with information that may or may not end up in the final draft. I’ve filled up my journal with drawings of houses and maps of the area and handwritten spreadsheets of characters and where they intersect and how much time I’ve given them. I’ve got a stack of reference books I’ve purchased from eBay stacked up under my desk.
And yes, I’m still a procrastinator. Just because I know what I need to insert doesn’t mean I just jump into my chair first thing in the morning and start writing. I’ve got a house, bad weather, a web site relaunch, a new puppy, and a part time job, as well as wanting to dabble in the other artistic pursuits that have caught my fancy.
There are upsides and downsides to each method of getting the writing done. The journey is the same; it’s the modes of transportation that are different. The thing is to find the one that works for you at the time and to enjoy the ride to The End.
