The Words: 2139 written today, all on my Neo again, written alongside 3 sprints with NaNoWordSprints. I don’t really have much else to say about the words today.

The Story: Not long into my writing today, I looked at my outline and realized that, while writing away from home yesterday without my outline, I’d gotten a bit off-track. The story isn’t being told in chronological order, but I followed Lorrin from the base to the ship as she is being transferred by the king himself to the front lines. The story is supposed to skip ahead a few years to show the resolution of Lorrin’s time in the remote town dealing with the local animal issue. I realized that after my first sprint, so I made a note to come back to where I was later, and then changed gears.

So I wrote a scene that takes place some time after the war with Antios, when Lorrin is stationed on a different base and reconnects with someone from the past. But this isn’t necessarily a happy reunion, so to avoid more base drama, Lorrin gets herself transferred to the northern-most base in her country (unnamed currently), which is where we find her at the very beginning of the story.

Total word count: 28,816

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 8th

The Words: 2896 written today, on my Neo, at my first write-in for the year!

Yesterday, I realized that I was halfway through my outline, but not halfway through the 50,000 words, and not even close to halfway through the month. I prefer to write most of the month, even if I hit 50k early, but that’s harder to do if you run out of story.

I have already started to think of ideas for a 2nd story to start on if I do run out of story, but I’ve decided it will also help if I slow down a bit. I still want to write at least 1667 words every day, because that’s the core of NaNoWriMo, but I won’t be pushing to write any more than that.

The Story: On the ship on the way to the front lines, the king tells Lorrin about the enemy, who is a recent threat to their country. This is mostly shown in flashbacks.

The man leading the enemy army was once the king’s best friend. When they were in their early twenties, Antios itched to explore the world. They’re taught as children that most of the countries out there are off limits to them, for one reason or another. They have some allies, but there is a lot of fear and hatred out there. The king, at this time still a prince, tries to tell Antios that traveling so far is a bad idea, but he sets off on his adventure anyway.

Total word count: 24,233

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 6th

The Words: 5686 written today, all on my Neo again. I wrote about 2000 words before I went to bed last night, and then got the rest with sprints throughout the day, both with my region’s Slack group and with NaNoWordSprints. (It helped that I had today off.)

The Story: A character almost got mauled to death by a bear today, completely unexpectedly (even by me). It was a pretty exciting start to the day’s writing. Lorrin has been recalled from the remote town, though, before the situation could be resolved. She is being sent to the front lines to fight under the most renowned general in the army.

Total word count: 21,337

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 5th

The Words: 4550 written today, all on my Neo. I didn’t write any last night after midnight, because I knew I’d have plenty of time throughout today to write. Just as I was about to start writing my first words today, I remembered that my home region recently started up a Slack group, so I joined that quickly, and was able to participate in some word wars with a few fellow Wrimos from my region. As helpful as writing with NaNoWordSprints is, I prefer more direct sprints and wars if possible. After getting the daily word goal, I took a break, and then caught a #1k30min on Twitter later, which netted me 1500 more words.

The Story: In today’s writing, we learn about the time that Lorrin spent in a southern region during a particularly brutal war with a very dangerous man. The war is in the background right now though, as some base drama leads to Lorrin being sent to a more remote location to help out with an unusual situation there. As she tries to figure out why local animals are behaving so strangely, she meets a man who does not want her or her fellow soldiers’ help.

Truth be told, they will never come to understand what is going on with the animals, and I am struggling to figure out how (and if) they can even stop the problem, or if it will be a continuous problem. This is the first way in which this story actually connects to my main story world.

Total word count: 15,651

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 4th