NaNoWriMo

Writing Wednesday: Prompt

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WW Prompt

Here’s today’s Writing Wednesday Prompt:

Combine the following 3 elements into a scene, short story, story synopsis, etc:
aging clown
undeveloped roll of film
blackout

(These elements were 3 randomly drawn cards from my Storymatic deck.)

If you write something from this prompt, by all means let me know! Feel free to share what you wrote, if you want!

**If you’re looking for more like this, you might want to check out the story seeds posts I wrote for NaNoPrep a few years ago. They are not specific to NaNoWriMo, and each contains a list of several different types of prompts or ways to generate story ideas. You can find them here: Story Seeds 1, Story Seeds 2, Story Seeds 3, Story Seeds 4**

My 2020 NaNoNovel

/ Kristi / 2 Comments

Here is the synopsis I whipped up for the novel I’m writing for NaNoWriMo starting on Sunday:

Morano

In the underground prison of the Class of Morano, a band of mercenaries who live in a hidden desert base, a brutal battle is coming to a head. In four different cells, there are four different people, whose stories are important to the battle.

Rusalki Morano, leader of the mercenaries. She will do anything to stop those intent on destroying her family. But what will happen if she turns out to be more of a threat than any enemy?

Juris Aganar, second-in-command of the Pithean forces. He has every reason to want to make it home alive and whole, but he knows that the odds are against him.

Acronis Morano, one of many adopted Moranos. He knows Rusalki will elevate his brothers and sisters to a whole new level, but will the cost be too high?

Evan Thossan, a soldier in the Pithean army. He believes he is more than qualified for anything the Moranos can throw at him…but is he?

Are you participating in NaNo this year? What are you writing?

For anyone out there who is participating, feel free to check out my series of tips and tricks for the month, and also to add me as a writing buddy! (Let me know you came from here, and I’ll add you back!)

Weekly Writing Update: 10/25

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I have finished the revision I was doing with one of my sisters, and any further revision of  “Outcast” is up in the air right now. I may be completely done with revisions, but it’s difficult to know, and I’m not in a huge hurry to make that decision. I have started on line edits, though, because I don’t anticipate any large revisions from here forward. By the end of this month, though, I think I’ll know for sure what I have left to do, and be able to set a publishing date (or know if I need to push it back a little instead). I don’t like being so up in the air at this point, but such is the life of a self-published author with no budget.

NaNoWriMo starts in a week, and I think I’m as prepared as I’m going to get. I finished the character interview I started last week, and though it didn’t lead to any wild “Aha!” moments, it still helped me get a firmer handle on a character that has only been in one book so far, but will have a prominent role in what I’m writing for NaNo (first draft of book #4 in the series). I also got my outline, which had been only in the notes sections of Scrivener, into a printable form, so I can have it with me wherever I may write next month. I’m ready and excited to start!

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

Weekly Writing Update: 10/18

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My progress toward publishing “Outcast” has not been as swift as I would like, but it is progress. I’m hoping one more session with my sister will get us to the end of her notes. After that, I will start on a final line edit, but take my time to give my other sister time to possibly send more notes. I hope to have as little work on for publication in December as possible during November, since NaNoWriMo will most likely take up most of my free time.

And speaking of NaNoWriMo, though I already feel ready for it, I didn’t want to pay no attention at all to the story I’m planning to write during this prepping month. So yesterday I started a character interview with one of the main characters in the book I plan to draft next month. Unfortunately, I haven’t done any writing by hand for at least 9 months, and apparently it’s going to take some time to get used to again. I didn’t get nearly as far in one session as I have been able to in the past, because my hand hurt too much. I look forward to continuing it today though.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

Weekly Writing Update: 10/11

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After a few months off for a variety of reasons that culminated in just not caring enough to work on my book, I have dived back in with enthusiasm. I’ve actually been working on the near-final revision of “Outcast” for a few weeks now. The majority of the work I’ve been doing involves using the notes made by one of the other members of the TCSTB (I love being able to use that acronym again). The exciting thing is that, once I had her notes in my hands, I realized that, though there was plenty to work on, it’s a very small fraction compared to what needed revised in Pithea when we spent over a year working on it together. I do have another sister (the one that wasn’t able to be part of the TCSTB) who is planning to make some suggestions for revision as well, but I daresay, based on what she’s sent me so far, it still won’t be an overwhelming amount. Now I just have to be patient while I wait for time to discuss notes with one sister and for the other sister to have time to send me her notes.

In the meantime, NaNoWriMo looms ahead. My plan for this year is to write the first draft to what will almost definitely be book #4 in the series. The outline has been done for over a year, but I’ve spent some time already reading through it and refreshing my thoughts about it. And during that time, I already had a new “Aha!” moment.

Though I’ve already shared my thoughts about how the joy of discovery is my absolute favorite thing about writing, this is a different kind of discovery from what I talked about there. It involved the realization that a chunk of the end of the current draft of book #3 might actually belong in book #4. I’ve been considering this ever since–not letting myself be completely sold, while being pretty sure it will solve a lot of structure problems I have with book #3. I’ve decided to wait and see how long the draft for book #4 comes out to be, because it will only work if it can handle another 15k+ words without being too long.

Sadly, this means that I can’t really work on revision of book #3 until the end of November, even though that’s what I’d like to be doing while waiting to move on in my revision of “Outcast” until others have time to continue helping me. So…I can’t really say what I’ll continue working on this week–hopefully another session with one sister, and outside of that, maybe some writing practice just to keep myself immersed in the series.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

NaNoWriMo Season

/ Kristi / 4 Comments

NaNo handouts

NaNoWriMo starts in 31 days and 11 hours, from the time that I am posting this (for my time zone). First, a quick explanation for those who don’t know what I’m even talking about: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It is an event that has been around since 1999, becoming more of what it is today in 2005. At its heart, it’s a personal challenge–write 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November. Signing up and participating simply gives you somewhere to track your progress, goodies if you win, and a huge community of like-minded people, cheering each other on.

Tomorrow begins the month known by many as Preptober. Normally at this time, I’m falling all over myself with excitement at the coming event. This year, though, I’ve been in a major slump with my writing. I’m just starting to pull myself out of it, though, and I anticipate NaNoWriMo helping me with that (it is part of my favorite time of the year, after all).

If you’re planning to participate, or even just thinking about it, and need some tips for getting ready, there is a lot out there. In the past, I’ve noticed that on October 1st, my reader here on WordPress explodes with posts about NaNo. The NaNo site itself has a prep page, though the schedule they write out covers two months, starting at the beginning of September. It could be condensed down to work for October, though, if needed.

I have written many posts about how to prepare for NaNo, as well as how to survive and thrive during November itself, in the past. There is even a sequence of posts with tips about how to plan a story from the ground up. Even if you’re not a planner, there are things you can do to prepare for writing 1667 words a day.

I wish my fellow Wrimos well, and hope to hear from some of you during the month! Please feel free to add me as a writing buddy!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? What are you doing to prepare?

Writing Wednesday: Prompt

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WW Prompt

Here’s today’s Writing Wednesday Prompt:

Include all of the following words in a scene:
consequent
afflict
self-consciously
indulgence
sadistically

bonus: capitulation

If you write something from this prompt, let me know! Feel free to share what you wrote, if you want!

**If you’re looking for more like this, you might want to check out the story seeds posts I wrote for NaNoPrep a few years ago. They are not specific to NaNoWriMo, and each contains a list of several different types of prompts or ways to generate story ideas. You can find them here: Story Seeds 1, Story Seeds 2, Story Seeds 3, Story Seeds 4**

Weekly Writing Update: 5/3

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

Camp NaNoWriMo ended on Thursday, and I finished strong, averaging just over an hour of work done per day (my goal was 1 hour). I’ve been working my way through my proof copy of “Outcast,” currently about 63% done with this revision. I am reading the story out loud to find awkward wording and, in theory, proofreading issues. But I’ve realized as I go that I’ve been focusing less on those tiny details like commas, missing words (I’ve twice now discovered a missing “to” or “a”, things like that) than I meant to, as I’m apparently paying more attention to the wording. So I’ll likely still have to do a line edit after this, but it’s okay, because I’m waiting on some advance readers to finish with the book anyway.

I took a couple of days off after Camp ended, but plan to start back in tonight. I’m going to use the NaNoWriMo site to track my current goal of 45 minutes worked per day, because I know that watching a graph that shows if I’m under or over my goal has always been an important motivator to me, as I work on an arbitrary goal.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

Writing Wednesday: #StayHomeWriMo

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WW Prompt For today’s Writing Wednesday Prompt post, I’m going to again share a recent #StayHomeWriMo prompt from NaNoWriMo. StayHomeWriMo-checklist-4-29 I’m really excited to try this prompt out! For more, follow this link. How are you staying sane and healthy during this time? If you write something from this prompt, by all means let me know! Feel free to share what you wrote, if you want! **If you’re looking for more like this, you might want to check out the story seeds posts I wrote for NaNoPrep a few years ago. They are not specific to NaNoWriMo, and each contains a list of several different types of prompts or ways to generate story ideas. You can find them here: Story Seeds 1, Story Seeds 2, Story Seeds 3, Story Seeds 4** 

Weekly Writing Update: 4/26

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We’ve just ended another week of Camp NaNoWriMo. It was a little lighter for me, as I only averaged just over a half hour of work done per day (my goal was 1 hour per day). What I really did was small amounts of either busy work or work on book #3 without diving too deeply, because I was just killing time, so to speak, until my first proof copy of “Outcast,” arrived. It finally came on Thursday, so I’ve now had 3 days of reading through it and marking some changes for the next draft, which may not be the last one, but should be the next to last, at least.

The great news is that, unlike when I got my first proof copy of Pithea (book #1), the cover on this one looked great already! I keep looking at it and thinking surely I’ll need to make some tweaks, but other than needing to finalize the synopsis and author bio on the back (the bio was copied & pasted from Pithea, so still says it’s my first novel), I think the rest will end up left alone.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).