Words/Time: 595 words of writing practice using a prompt. Though I didn’t plan specifically to do writing practice related to my 2015 NaNoNovel, it did end up being related. It was short, but I kinda liked it.
Too Many Irons in the Fire
My 2015 NaNoNovel
“Too Many Irons in the Fire”
During the Midwest’s biggest annual historical reenactment, a local blade smith named Shawn Mallory disappears. Twenty-five-year-old Darcy Preston watches her dad worry over his missing friend. Darcy looks for clues about where Shawn may have gone, but the crowd and her own obligations to the event slow her down.
The more Darcy watches and talks to the many other blacksmiths attending the event, the more she begins to suspect that Shawn’s disappearance may have been orchestrated. By the end of the week, as the busiest day of the rendezvous approaches, Darcy is convinced that her own father is in danger.
Can she convince her dad of her suspicions in time to save him?
I’ve never made a cover for a NaNoNovel before. Rather than make it official with words and such, I went simply with an image. It’s better than I’ve ever had before.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 22, 2015
Words/Time: 30 minutes working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. This was spent mostly trying to boil the plot I have in mind down into a few paragraphs that I can share here and on the NaNo site. You wouldn’t think that would be so difficult, but it’s not easy trying to figure out what the main plot thread is in a story you haven’t written. (In my case, it’s not always easy figuring out the main plot thread in one I have written.) Also, trying to boil it down to a short, succinct synopsis with no extras, even when those extras maybe feel like they’re integral to the story, can take some thinking.
While I was working on that, I had to adjust my timeline a bit to clear up some events I’d muddied. I think I’m finally ready to start my outline.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 21, 2015
Words/Time: 1 hour working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. I’ve been brainstorming a subplot to fill out the middle of the novel and trying to figure out timelines. I added a bunch of events and notes to my file in Aeon, and wrote out clues and other mystery-related notes in a journal trying to visualize how the mystery part needed to play out. I’m getting more excited about the idea now that it’s starting to feel like a full story, not just an opening and climax. I think I can finally work on a full synopsis to post here and on my NaNo profile.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 18, 2015
Words/Time: 27 minutes working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. I’ve started laying out the sequence of events that I know, which is mostly the very beginning, and a few sporadic things that I don’t know when will happen, or even in what order. As I’ve started to look harder at this plot, I’ve realized I don’t have much of a plot. I have a feeling I’ll have a sketchier outline this year than I have the last few years. It worries me a bit, but if all else fails, I can just write about normal rendezvous life and events if I can’t pin down the mystery plot for a while. At least I’ll be getting words out.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 14, 2015
Words/Time: 46 minutes and 1593 words, the latter of which was revising “Pithea” with two of my sisters over Skype. Also known as the 58th meeting of the Tri-County Sisterhood of the Traveling Book. We got through just over 5 pages of double-spaced text. We’re struggling to even find time for the meetings these days, as things are really busy for all of us right now. It wouldn’t be so bad–I wouldn’t even mind taking some weeks off until some of the craziness passes. But we’re so close to the end of the story, I want to try to squeeze in at least an hour each week. The amount we got through today was pretty much on par with what I’d expect for a shorter meeting, so I’m happy with it.
The time was spent early this morning (before I went to bed) working on the plot of my novel for NaNoWriMo. I spent a lot of that time researching. Most of it, in fact. Maybe all of it. I started looking for information on what red-hot metal would do if stabbed into a body (not a pleasant or easy topic to look up) and ended up looking at Hollywood misconceptions about how blades are made.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 13, 2015
Words/Time: 23 minutes working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. I started a timeline for “Too Many Irons in the Fire.” I was going to do a lot more, but then my kids came home and the next hour was spent getting them ready for bed. And then I worked on a blog post for tomorrow, which took me longer than I expected to write. So now it’s midnight and I never got back to my work. Maybe I’ll do some more before I go to bed…though I’m really tired, which doesn’t usually happen to me this early. It’s been a long last few weeks.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 12, 2015
Words/Time: 20 minutes working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. The weekend is over, so I wanted to make sure to do some writing work today. However, there’s still a lot of craziness as I recover from my work’s busy season. My head isn’t in the right space yet, and probably won’t be until at least Thursday. For now, though, I’m making lists of things that I want to use in my writing next month–observations I made at the last few rendezvous and things I remember from 12 years of attending these shows. And I started writing up a more detailed synopsis for the plot, only to decide it was getting too detailed (I was aiming for no more than 5 paragraphs). I’ll have to work on that some more.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 9, 2015
Words/Time: 35 minutes figuring out character names for my 2015 NaNoNovel. There are nine (for now) reenactors that the main character will interact with at some point during the story. That’s more characters than I’ve ever planned for at the outset of a story. I’ll have to work on a way to make sure they’re distinct enough. If I get confused during the writing, there’s no hope that future readers won’t be lost.
Daily Challenge Check-in: October 8, 2015
Words/Time: 58 minutes developing my 2015 NaNoNovel. I’ve reworked the synopsis a bit from my original plan and given it a more official title. I then set to work on naming the main character’s husband, father, and mother, all of whom have prominent roles in the story. And I have a cast of about 8 characters who are all important side characters, and they all need names. I think I’m actually so used to coming up with fantasy names now that picking normal names that I like is…a lot harder than I thought it would be.
I’m going to make a full post later once I’ve fleshed out the synopsis from 2 sentences into a few paragraphs, but for now, here is what I have:
“Too Many Irons in the Fire”
When a loud, obnoxious blade smith disappears during a historical reenactment, the daughter of a neighboring blacksmith attempts to track him down. Her search is hindered by the rendezvous crowd, her own obligations to the event, and the odd behavior of the other blacksmiths.
A Journey of Words 