acequeenking (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acequeenking) wrote2018-12-06 09:53 pm
acequeenking) wrote2018-12-06 09:53 pm
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Lessons I learned from NaNoWriMo this year
I kind of wanted to write something out on NaNoWriMo, because it's been over for six days and it's just now beginning to sink in that it's over. I managed to do 50K again, which means I've won for 3 of the 5 years I've attempted it, and I'm proud of that. It hasn't been easy to do while being in school and working full-time aside. But I'm kind of disappointed too; I've always hoped to have an actual, publishable (by fanfiction standards) fic by the end of NaNoWriMo and once again that hasn't happened. Though unlike the 50K Mass Effect hobgoblin that will Never Be Even Remotely Done, I think I will finish this one. I'm glad that at the very least, I've got sizable Bones of a fic Skeleton; it's the first three and a half parts done, out of probably ten, and now I just have to finish the rest.
As with every year, I feel like I've learned a couple things:
1. I didn't burn out this year by pacing myself. I won in 2015, and I didn't write pretty much all of December that year, and I didn't do NanoWriMo in 2016 because I was still exhausted. The fic I produced - basically several disjointed scenes of a shambling relic - I never finished, or even touched after November. That year I went hard on doing on/off days; sometimes I wrote 1K, sometimes I wrote 5. I'd often miss a couple days and then be miserable trying to write 6K in a day. And then I'd take the next day off and have to write 3K the next...
In 2017, the next year I NanoWriMo'ed, I used 4theWords and meant to use it to kill off some WIPs and treats. I went hard on getting a word count goal done early even if I hated myself. I liked the site but again, major burn-out, and I didn't do anything in December of that year but yuletide, which was hard to write even though I quite liked the fandom and the recip. I wasn't as burned out, but I definitively was still tired. This year, I went for roughly 1.7K every day, though I took a couple days off. I honestly actually enjoyed writing this year!
This year, I mostly used Scrivener alone and wrote a fic for a new fandom. I loved it for the most part; I didn't feel a ton of stress beyond the usual nano-drive. By the end of the day, I was punching 2K even though I didn't have to. I'm sure part of it was new fandom love, and part of it was that I was more relaxed this year than the last two. But I think this is what I will be doing next year as well -- and unlike the last couple years, I am certain I will be doing next year, if things remain the same.
2. I planned things out beforehand, but things still went wonky. In 2015, I pantsed it beyond a vague general idea (Saren surviving ME1 and becoming a Cerberus' experiment, ala Shepard). 2017 was just random different gift-fics, so while I outlined, for the most part, each individual work was 1-8K and not really long enough to think of having more than a one or two sentence outline. This year, I wrote a rough outline, roughly a paragraph for each part of the StoryGrid Five Commandments of Storyline for each "chapter." But each chapter turned out to be longer than I thought, and it turned out to be a set of mini-arcs over what I "thought" was a chapter - no self-respecting reader is gonna read a 10K chapter!
After NaNoWriMo finished, I started going through what I wrote by adding it to the Storygrid spreadsheet o'death aannnddddd I've already noticed so many problems that need fixing with what I've already written. I think I'm going to try to map out the entire story on the spreadsheet because I hadn't realized how fuzzy my worldbuilding was getting: one character had no less than 3 ways of traversing barriers between worlds, but another had none; one character complained bitterly about sunlight, but another in the same place at the same time quivered in the dark; at several points, the junction between worlds took massively different amounts of time to traverse; the second chapter/arc dragged as it went from negative development to negative development to negative development. It helped point out a lot of good errors and places I needed to firm up time/worldbuilding, but I think as a result I'm gonna try to finish the spreadsheet before I keep writing on the fic.
3. When I write, I don't have much time for anything else. The sucky thing about writing a lot: I didn't get far in Assasin's Creed Oddessy, still haven't finished Yakuza 0 after the plotline, and I started but probably will not get terribly far in Fallout 76. I've seen few movies beyond the mad rush of old movies to watch in the background of writing during a couple of weeks before FilmStruck died (RIP). I still haven't finished reading Circe or Restless Dead or any of my library books. My media consumption really stalled. In previous years I could keep up, but between schoolwork and work work, I wound up using my few hours available for writing and angsting about writing. And admittedly, I balked a couple times about going out with people when I was behind on words, though I'm not giving up my limited real-life interactions for fanfiction just yet.
The scary thing is, I don't mind it. I got a good original novel idea, and if I can finish the NaNoWriMo of doom, I'm going to try to actually write it. That's scary as a thought, given how long I've been a one-shot and done writer for the most part. Doubt it would ever get published (writing is pretty much a hobby for me), but I'm not really worried about that. It'll be fun, I think...but I probably won't get around on it until next nano at the rate I've been writing lately.
But I'm still looking forward to it.
As with every year, I feel like I've learned a couple things:
1. I didn't burn out this year by pacing myself. I won in 2015, and I didn't write pretty much all of December that year, and I didn't do NanoWriMo in 2016 because I was still exhausted. The fic I produced - basically several disjointed scenes of a shambling relic - I never finished, or even touched after November. That year I went hard on doing on/off days; sometimes I wrote 1K, sometimes I wrote 5. I'd often miss a couple days and then be miserable trying to write 6K in a day. And then I'd take the next day off and have to write 3K the next...
In 2017, the next year I NanoWriMo'ed, I used 4theWords and meant to use it to kill off some WIPs and treats. I went hard on getting a word count goal done early even if I hated myself. I liked the site but again, major burn-out, and I didn't do anything in December of that year but yuletide, which was hard to write even though I quite liked the fandom and the recip. I wasn't as burned out, but I definitively was still tired. This year, I went for roughly 1.7K every day, though I took a couple days off. I honestly actually enjoyed writing this year!
This year, I mostly used Scrivener alone and wrote a fic for a new fandom. I loved it for the most part; I didn't feel a ton of stress beyond the usual nano-drive. By the end of the day, I was punching 2K even though I didn't have to. I'm sure part of it was new fandom love, and part of it was that I was more relaxed this year than the last two. But I think this is what I will be doing next year as well -- and unlike the last couple years, I am certain I will be doing next year, if things remain the same.
2. I planned things out beforehand, but things still went wonky. In 2015, I pantsed it beyond a vague general idea (Saren surviving ME1 and becoming a Cerberus' experiment, ala Shepard). 2017 was just random different gift-fics, so while I outlined, for the most part, each individual work was 1-8K and not really long enough to think of having more than a one or two sentence outline. This year, I wrote a rough outline, roughly a paragraph for each part of the StoryGrid Five Commandments of Storyline for each "chapter." But each chapter turned out to be longer than I thought, and it turned out to be a set of mini-arcs over what I "thought" was a chapter - no self-respecting reader is gonna read a 10K chapter!
After NaNoWriMo finished, I started going through what I wrote by adding it to the Storygrid spreadsheet o'death aannnddddd I've already noticed so many problems that need fixing with what I've already written. I think I'm going to try to map out the entire story on the spreadsheet because I hadn't realized how fuzzy my worldbuilding was getting: one character had no less than 3 ways of traversing barriers between worlds, but another had none; one character complained bitterly about sunlight, but another in the same place at the same time quivered in the dark; at several points, the junction between worlds took massively different amounts of time to traverse; the second chapter/arc dragged as it went from negative development to negative development to negative development. It helped point out a lot of good errors and places I needed to firm up time/worldbuilding, but I think as a result I'm gonna try to finish the spreadsheet before I keep writing on the fic.
3. When I write, I don't have much time for anything else. The sucky thing about writing a lot: I didn't get far in Assasin's Creed Oddessy, still haven't finished Yakuza 0 after the plotline, and I started but probably will not get terribly far in Fallout 76. I've seen few movies beyond the mad rush of old movies to watch in the background of writing during a couple of weeks before FilmStruck died (RIP). I still haven't finished reading Circe or Restless Dead or any of my library books. My media consumption really stalled. In previous years I could keep up, but between schoolwork and work work, I wound up using my few hours available for writing and angsting about writing. And admittedly, I balked a couple times about going out with people when I was behind on words, though I'm not giving up my limited real-life interactions for fanfiction just yet.
The scary thing is, I don't mind it. I got a good original novel idea, and if I can finish the NaNoWriMo of doom, I'm going to try to actually write it. That's scary as a thought, given how long I've been a one-shot and done writer for the most part. Doubt it would ever get published (writing is pretty much a hobby for me), but I'm not really worried about that. It'll be fun, I think...but I probably won't get around on it until next nano at the rate I've been writing lately.
But I'm still looking forward to it.
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I hear you on the pacing. I made myself stick to 2k on the main project, only going above that 2 days, I think.
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I generally am a 500~1,000 word a day person, so 1.6 was a stretch for me that I am hoping I can keep up. Fingers crossed I can get up to your 2K <3
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and I won't go looking for treats in every little exchange that strikes my fancy.I feel ya on the scary thing. I have been in star wars so long writing anything else is really like learning to fly again. I didn't realize how much I'd OD'ed on it.
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I hope your problems will resolve themselves. <3
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I 100 percent feel you on not being able to do much else. Overall this year I have written more than any year prior, but I feel I haven’t consumed as much or met the reading goals I set out for myself as a result of writing. I’m hoping to find a good balance in 2019!
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I find if I edit while I'm writing for nano, I'll lose it. It's just too many words to worry about quality at that point, if that makes sense?
Also, do you look at
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What you've already accomplished sounds pretty impressive. You made your Nano goal, you're working on your story and figuring out how to improve it, even if there's still more to do. You figured out how to write at a pace that's better for you. That's amazing!
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It is scary but I'm looking forward to trying it...once I actually finish any of my writing projects. D:
Also your icon is so prettyyyy