Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Many writers have found participating in the National Novel Writing Word Count Goals thread to be very motivational, but the format of the thread makes it very difficult to give encouragement, tips, and advice easily, or just to chat, gossip, or unload our frustrations. I thought I'd try an experiment for June and start a companion thread where anyone needing a pick-me-up or wanting to offer some words of encouragement to a friend, can.

While this is a companion thread to the JUNE word count goal thread, everyone is welcome to participate even if you are not keeping track of your word count for the month. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4859,

Consider this an "open chat" sort of thread. Tell us about your current work in progress, your fears, goals, hopes, irritations. Share your silly writing mistakes or your awesome one liners. Whatever helps keep you from going crazy.

If you have a specific writing question, however, it should probably have its own thread. Use your best judgement.

Pull up a chair. It's going to be a long month.
Good luck, writers.

Sommer, I LOVE this idea. Love love love love love it. Yay for the Coffee Shop!

I did a quick tally of the people who recorded their word counts for May. We wrote a total of 241,137 words.

That's like, a lot of words. Two novels and a middle grade.

What a great thread idea!

I work full-time at a coffee shop/cafe and I'm taking two classes on top of that. My work schedule alternates opening and closing, so three times a week I lock up at 10pm, go to bed at 11pm, and wake up at 3h30am so I can open at 4h30am. I'm also taking two classes in my spare hours. All of this is to say that my writing has sadly been minimal this month. =(

However, this is my last quarter and classes end mid-June. I'm really looking forward to a.) sleeping more, and b.) having more time for my writing. Thankfully, I'm able to jot down notes or write in my head during cafe down time.

I didn't join the push for May, but I did find it to be pretty productive, getting through a rewrite of several chapters, putting me at 75 pages completed, and about 17,000 words.

I hope I can actually finish this book so I can take a break before my brain starts pushing me to write another one.

Yikes. My brain hurts this week as I tried to push extra hard to make up for Memorial Day. I would love to get to beta reader stage in early July so my goals are toward that. Go team go!

Check this out guys

I am in a coffee shop that is inside a comic book store. I am sitting here writing my YA superhero story.

I am feeling so meta. Quick! Someone give me a 4th wall I can break!

I didn't even know this comic book store had moved and opened up a coffee shop. The wifi leaves something to be desired, but otherwise I am in heaven. *love*

Sommer Leigh wrote:I did a quick tally of the people who recorded their word counts for May. We wrote a total of 241,137 words.

That's like, a lot of words. Two novels and a middle grade.

Wow, that's pretty good!

I like this coffee shop idea...

Sommer Leigh wrote:I am in a coffee shop that is inside a comic book store. I am sitting here writing my YA superhero story.

Oh. My. Gosh. That's even better than having crazy-nerdy writer discussions in the middle of a casino in Las Vegas!!

So I'm at that point in my novel where everything's starting to feel like drivel. The plot is transparent, the twists are painfully obvious, and everything about it feels so fake that you can't believe it ever felt original.

And then the questions pop up: is this really okay? Do these two plot elements really compliment each other? Are my characters active and dynamic enough?

The only thing that's keeping me sane right now is knowing that I've read/rewritten/edited this manuscript so much that it can't be all that bad. I'd have noticed if it was really terrible by now...wouldn't I?

Anyways.

Sigh. Back to the edits.

dios4vida wrote:So I'm at that point in my novel where everything's starting to feel like drivel. The plot is transparent, the twists are painfully obvious, and everything about it feels so fake that you can't believe it ever felt original.

And then the questions pop up: is this really okay? Do these two plot elements really compliment each other? Are my characters active and dynamic enough?

The only thing that's keeping me sane right now is knowing that I've read/rewritten/edited this manuscript so much that it can't be all that bad. I'd have noticed if it was really terrible by now...wouldn't I?

Anyways.

Sigh. Back to the edits.

We've all been there. I think Stephen King was the one that said by the time he was done editing a book he was always tired of the smelly, stinky thing. Even his best stuff looked like crap to him by the end of the process.

And yeah, I think you'd have noticed by now if it was terrible. So hang in there! I usually read a book and force myself away from the writing for a day or two when it happens to me. That, or I consume mass quantities of chocolate. Just about everything looks better after Ben and Jerry's NY Super Fudge Chunk.

What a great idea for a thread! A check in about how we're doing. Great idea, Sommer!

I'll be back.

*grabs an extra tall skinny latte from the barista and hurries to grab the primo location by the window and electrical outlet*

Hello, friends!

So, about May. In a nutshell, it wasn't very good to me. Computer broke, I wallowed in despair, was picked up by superheros, to then have a flood and need a new water heater. I've decided nothing makes me feel more helpless and Bella-Swan-I-can't-do-this-alone than not being able to do something because I'm not strong enough. Apparently, my house is sexist. Who knew?

All of that to say I didn't meet my May goals.

But June goals? I haz 'em. My 2011 NaNo CreateSpace code expires at the end of the month. If I want the 5 free paperback proof copies of my book, I have until June 25th (self imposed deadline) to pull the story together*, design a front/back cover, and format the text. Piece of cake! HA!

(*= It sounds so easy until I realize I have a new outline, too many scenes to move around, and need to ax some characters. Great.)

So dear Bransforum Coffeeshop, please continue to pay the electricity bill and keep the strong coffee coming. And if you can whip up some cinnamon rolls, I'm sure I could help eat them. Just sayin'.

Oh my gosh yes! Coffee shop. I do agree the wordcount format doesn't help with the chatting. and I love the chatting! So far the month's been slow. I wrote the last scene I had lined up and planned, but changed so much during Part 1 that I need to rewrite half of Part 2. If not all of it. Go me! It's like I accidentally lined myself up for another full rewrite (I know already I'm redoing Part 4 and substantial chunks of Part 3. So.. what's left not to rewrite? YEAH). Lots of work ahead, especially since I'd love to be done with it all by the end of summer.

But yeah! I didn't have all I needed to fully launch into Part 2 these last days, so instead I work on a critique and outlined the next scenes. Also, celebrated very good news on the personal life front (for the BransforumsFesters: Sidekick is moving to Qc City!!!!) And I'm not sure how the next days will be, as I have to prepare for moving and find a new job. But fear not! I'll find some time to write.

And Sommer, that coffee shop? EPIC!

Hey, Claudie! That's great to hear the sidekick is headed your direction! Good luck with the upcoming move, too!

I re-wrote my outline, adding some complications and smoothing out some sticky areas. It's exactly two pages and I was rather pleased to see that it does line up fairly well with the Hero's Journey cycle, so I guess I'm doing something right.

I spent some time yesterday fooling around with both InDesign and PhotoShop in an attempt to make a cover. It's pretty clear that I don't have the necessary knowledge base to pull this together, but I might keep it as a side project for when I need to walk away from my novel.

Next steps: go through the new outline and make a running bulleted list of scenes I need to either re-write or add. Once I have them listed in front of me, I should be able to tackle it better. Right now, it's just a massive brain bubble of panic in my head. No good. Must instill order.