Jennifer Jensen's Blog
Posted by Jennifer Jensen
It's official. The November craziness of National Novel Writing Month is over. My gray progress bar turned gradually to blue as I accumulated words, and 50,444 words later, it flashed green, and later purple with a big "WINNER!" inside it. Hurray!
It was an exhausting month. I finished by the 22nd, as planned, but I had hoped to keep writing in snippets even while we had visitors. I was surprised at how quickly I dropped it all when I uploaded my official count! I wasn't entranced with the story anymore, and had no time to think about additions and revisions, so my brain was quite ready to shut off.
It was difficult to turn off my internal editor, but the more I wrote, the easier it got to just write the story without worrying about how it sounds. That, and the discipline to write every day, are the best things I’ve learned from NaNoWriMo.
The characters did drive the story like I had hoped. A side character appeared and grew into a main antagonist. A brother’s frustration turned into major psychological problems. And as inner ramblings revealed characters, I found I could have the theme (which developed during the first two weeks) echoed through my MC, her mother, and her friend (who didn’t even exist until the end of week two!).
I got caught up in our All-Ireland-Word-War (Munster came in third), so I have some padding and off-the-wall tangents which will be tossed out later. Chattering inside my character's head is good for wordcount and character development, but it sure doesn't move the story forward.
I'm heartily glad it's over, and quite proud of the accomplishment. I’ll work on something else while this cools off, and then begin a major re-write later. And yes, I'll probably do NaNoWriMo 2009, but with an outlined plot this time. I guess I like a challenge!
I’d love comments from any other NaNoWriMo participants – how you did, what you learned, etc.
 |
Posted by Jennifer Jensen
(Written 11/17/08, edited and posted 12/1/08.)
I knew NaNoWriMo would be difficult, but . . . wow!
Halfway through November, I’m at 31,028 words. I have to be – I lose the whole last week of November with guests coming. That required a jump from the usual 1,667 words a day up to nearly 3,000, which was far more than I ever thought I’d have to do.
I’ve also discovered I write in short scenes. My articles here are 400-600 words, and since children’s lit often runs to shorter scenes anyway, that has become a comfort zone. Unfortunately, that means my 3K goal takes several gut-wrenching sessions throughout the day.
It’s been more difficult without a defined plot. I found that I need time to think, to roll ideas around in my head. And I wanted to come out with something that was at least headed toward a publishable novel, instead of off-the-wall scenes written just for the sake of wordcount.
My smoothest time writing is when I’m in a character’s head. I can ramble on in someone’s thoughts, and I discover more about them as I do. But after Week One, I realized I have talking heads with not much happening . . . b-o-r-i-n-g! My thinking time in the shower sometimes gives me another idea or two, and then I’m out of steam again. I take Sundays off, and they’ve turned out to be good subconscious time, so by Monday I have several more plot directions to follow. Still don’t know if I’ll like where it’s going.
The only reason I’ve made it this far is an online “meeting time” with friends in the States, where we report in, encourage, and crack the whip. Thank goodness for writing buddies!
Eight days left - wish me luck!
Posted by Jennifer Jensen
It's official: I signed up this week for NaNoWriMo. I have one early teen character, possible secondary characters, a setting, and a general idea of where the plot might go. Actually, I have several underlying character motivations - I'll write what comes and I expect the writing to focus more on one than another as I get further into NaNoWriMo.
I'm in the Europe:Ireland:Elsewhere region (my main region), plus lurking on he US:Indiana:Indianapolis region. There's also an "All-Ireland Word War," in which the province with the highest average wordcount per writer takes home the title. Which means aiming for more than the 50,000 word goal.
If you want to track my progress, go to Authors and search for my user name: JenJensen. And any encouraging comments, here or there, would be appreciated!
Posted by Jennifer Jensen
I first heard about National Novel Writing Month several years ago, but wasn't at all ready to do it. It's a different story this year.
I have two finished-but-needing-revision novel manuscripts under my belt, but after all I've learned in the last year, I've been wanting to try a story with characters and a situation, but without planning the entire thing. And NaNoWriMo seems the way to do it.
To write 50,000 words in a month means you write without editing. Some people start with a fully plotted synopsis, some start with nothing but a basic idea. My goal is to begin with some well-formed characters, write to see where the story goes, and end up with a massive amount of pages from which I can pull the structure of the story. Followed, of course, by rewriting it into a smooth-flowing draft.
By taking away my internal need to edit as I go, I hope to free myself enough to write for the story's sake, but still be writing with a purpose. I guess I'm not enough of an "artist" to write without a goal or purpose.
What about you? Ready to set aside time and really focus on a book? If so, I may see you on the NaNoWriMo forums (but only if we're caught up on word count). If not, think about next year!
Posted by Jennifer Jensen
I just got a heads-up that other writers will want to know about: Publishers Weekly is hosting a one-day seminar, “Book Publishing 101,” on Monday, September 22, 2008 at NYU in New York City.
Publishers Weekly calls it “A One Day Course for Writers about How Publishing Really Works.” The seminar includes:
Panel discussions by editors, agents, and authors
- Breakout sessions on alternative publishing, marketing and publicity, and children’s/YA writing
- Keynote address by Wally Lamb, bestselling author of I Know This Much is True, She’s Come Undone, and The Hour I First Believed.
- Manuscript and proposal critiques
As an added bonus, one writer will be profiled in an upcoming Publishers Weekly issue.
The cost for the seminar is $245, and includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and the closing cocktail/networking reception. See the Publishers Weekly website for more information.
Caution: The website shows Sept 16th as the submission deadline, but the marketing department said Sept 10th. So if you’re interested in a critique, do it now!
