Hello everyone!
Okay, so the first week of Camp NaNoWriMo is over, and I have written....0 words.
BUT I do not count it as a failure. I've spent the last week really creating a solid outline and plot. I have a rough outline for my entire book, and I have a scene by scene outline for Act I.
I have also created lore, backstory, really solidified my characters, and thought long and hard about my overall goals for not just this project, but all of them.
As many of you know, I've been working on 2 projects. A Haunted House project and a Haunted Hotel Project (which is getting a new name). Some things are changing.
Haunted House is on the back burner for a TBD amount of time. I'm still loving the idea of that story, it will get written, and now that I actually have an idea about how to outline and plot etc. I'm excited to start that one over and make it better. But for now, it is on the back burner. This is for a couple of reasons.
First of all, I really want to make it bigger. Now that I know how to create a backstory and a solid plot, and an entire world, I want to make that story a little bigger than just a house in a small rural town. So I'm going to brainstorm some more on that.
Secondly, I want that book to be my traditionally published work. I want to see it in libraries and on shelves in the store.
But before that, I want to try to build some sort of readership/following by publishing online. There are a few outlets for this (blogs and online writing sites etc.). And that is where my other project, the haunted hotel project, which will now be known as Project Reboot. Project Reboot needs to live online. That's where I want it. But in order to do that well, and correctly, I have to have a huge chunk of it pre-written and edited before I can start posting it online to be read.
And some of you who are reading this who are also writers have your opinions about "publishing" your work online for free...I don't want to hear them. I know the pros and the cons and I'm willing to do it. I've made up my mind.
The reason this project needs to be online is because I think it will reach a broader audience. People who read fantasy/sci-fi will like it, people who read dystopian novels will like it, people who like scary/horror things will enjoy it. It will also have action and adventure, conspiracy, and also a little mystery (sorry romance readers, right now I don't have any of that...). And then those readers who really want to give me a chance may go out and read other stuff I've published, buy my work etc. The stuff that is a little more tailored to a specific type of reader.
That's why I'm putting so much time into the outline.
When my friend, and probably the only romance writer I would read, came to visit, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I was starting to outline. I loved bouncing questions off of her, having her help me with research when I was creating my plot and backstory, but then it got to outlining time and we were in a coffee shop and I just stared at her and went "HOW?"
Outlines are hard. At least they are for me.
As primarily a short story writer, I don't work with terms like "act, scene, turning point, hook" etc. While I know that these things happen in short work, I just don't think about them, so its hard for me to describe where those things are in my short stories. And when I started writing long works, I often got lost because I wasn't aware of those things and where they needed to be, or the purposes they served.
And it hurt my self-esteem a little. Not gonna lie. But that's how it is. I learned something new over this last week, and I am suuuuper proud of my outline and my plot, and everything. I also have a concrete knowledge of what needs to happen in my novel, and a mostly concrete (though still flexible) idea of where those things are going to happen, and how.
I have NEVER had this kind of confidence going into a novel before. Never ever.
I have 22 days left to write my 5000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo and get a solid start on this story.
Wish me luck!
Okay, so the first week of Camp NaNoWriMo is over, and I have written....0 words.
BUT I do not count it as a failure. I've spent the last week really creating a solid outline and plot. I have a rough outline for my entire book, and I have a scene by scene outline for Act I.
I have also created lore, backstory, really solidified my characters, and thought long and hard about my overall goals for not just this project, but all of them.
As many of you know, I've been working on 2 projects. A Haunted House project and a Haunted Hotel Project (which is getting a new name). Some things are changing.
Haunted House is on the back burner for a TBD amount of time. I'm still loving the idea of that story, it will get written, and now that I actually have an idea about how to outline and plot etc. I'm excited to start that one over and make it better. But for now, it is on the back burner. This is for a couple of reasons.
First of all, I really want to make it bigger. Now that I know how to create a backstory and a solid plot, and an entire world, I want to make that story a little bigger than just a house in a small rural town. So I'm going to brainstorm some more on that.
Secondly, I want that book to be my traditionally published work. I want to see it in libraries and on shelves in the store.
But before that, I want to try to build some sort of readership/following by publishing online. There are a few outlets for this (blogs and online writing sites etc.). And that is where my other project, the haunted hotel project, which will now be known as Project Reboot. Project Reboot needs to live online. That's where I want it. But in order to do that well, and correctly, I have to have a huge chunk of it pre-written and edited before I can start posting it online to be read.
And some of you who are reading this who are also writers have your opinions about "publishing" your work online for free...I don't want to hear them. I know the pros and the cons and I'm willing to do it. I've made up my mind.
The reason this project needs to be online is because I think it will reach a broader audience. People who read fantasy/sci-fi will like it, people who read dystopian novels will like it, people who like scary/horror things will enjoy it. It will also have action and adventure, conspiracy, and also a little mystery (sorry romance readers, right now I don't have any of that...). And then those readers who really want to give me a chance may go out and read other stuff I've published, buy my work etc. The stuff that is a little more tailored to a specific type of reader.
That's why I'm putting so much time into the outline.
When my friend, and probably the only romance writer I would read, came to visit, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I was starting to outline. I loved bouncing questions off of her, having her help me with research when I was creating my plot and backstory, but then it got to outlining time and we were in a coffee shop and I just stared at her and went "HOW?"
Outlines are hard. At least they are for me.
As primarily a short story writer, I don't work with terms like "act, scene, turning point, hook" etc. While I know that these things happen in short work, I just don't think about them, so its hard for me to describe where those things are in my short stories. And when I started writing long works, I often got lost because I wasn't aware of those things and where they needed to be, or the purposes they served.
And it hurt my self-esteem a little. Not gonna lie. But that's how it is. I learned something new over this last week, and I am suuuuper proud of my outline and my plot, and everything. I also have a concrete knowledge of what needs to happen in my novel, and a mostly concrete (though still flexible) idea of where those things are going to happen, and how.
I have NEVER had this kind of confidence going into a novel before. Never ever.
I have 22 days left to write my 5000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo and get a solid start on this story.
Wish me luck!
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