Behind and Panicking

...well, a little.

Currently, I've written 6,520 words for my novel.  I've maneuvered my way past the Inciting Incident (an excerpt of which can be seen in my last post), and now I'm trying hard not sprint toward the First Act Turn too quickly (leaving the bits in between riddled with plot holes and lack of storytelling).  Luckily, I've gotten most of my structure for the first half planned out decently well...or at least enough that I basically know what's coming next.  I decided to use the three act structure to plan out my story, and it's working so far.

I'm starting to get a little nervous because of how behind I am on my word count.  To stay on the right track, my graph says I should be at about 13,300 words.  I'm barely reaching the halfway point, and I have no idea how much I'll write today.  I like to think I'll get at least a thousand words done, but with a history of jazz quiz and Quidditch practice (not the mention the distractions of my friends and the internet), there's just no telling.

Luckily, I've finally reached a part that I'm excited to write.  I get to tell a bit of history and backstory, and I'm very excited.  The bad thing about getting to this part I've been looking forward to is that now I don't know how to write it in the way that I would like.  Since it's something I like, I want to write it well, so it's been difficult for me to start.  I tried to write it in class yesterday, but I just kept scratching out and rewriting because the words just wouldn't come out right.

Shannon and I went to our first NaNoWriMo wWrite-In on Tuesday night, which was awesome!  We met some really cool people and had a fun time discussing the oddest things while all trying to give our word counts a little boost.  It was also kinda cool because we were writing and hanging out while watching the presidential election results roll in, though that surprisingly took up little of our conversation.  We had a great time, and I hope to attend as many of the others as I can.

Well, I suppose I should stop procrastination and get back to either writing or homework.  I can't tell anymore if I'm procrastinating homework by writing or procrastinating writing by doing homework...or perhaps I'm procrastinating both of them by spending way too much time surfing the web.  Such is life.

Happy writing!

Victoria

Excerpt

"Okay, Ms. Maryanne, what seems to be-" She broke off.  Ms. Maryanne was not in the room.  Louise set the tray down and checked the few other rooms on the first floor, calling her name.  Then she opened the front door and stepped outside to see if the lady had gone back home.  Stepping back inside the house, she heard a thump and a screech coming from above.  She rushed up the stairs as fast as she could to the attic.  The door was shut and locked from the inside.  Louise tried to force the door open to no avail.  She stood helplessly on the landing trying to figure out what to do when she heard a deafening crash from the other side of the door.

"Lily?" she called, frantic.  "Lily!  Open the door!  Ms. Maryanne, are you in there?  Someone open this door now!"

The only response from the room was another floor-shaking crash.  Louise finally stepped back, squared her shoulders, and kicked at the door as hard as she could.  The door smashed open, and as she hurried into the room, she was met with a shocking sight.

Ms. Maryanne was standing in front of the Looking Glass; her expression was dark, and her eyes held a glint of madness.  Louise's eyes were drawn in horror to the Looking Glass where someone had smashed  it right in the center.  She looked back at Maryanne to see her gripping the smoothing tool in both hands. 

"Ms. Maryanne?" Louise asked, confused.  "What are you doing?"  She took a step forward just as the woman, with surprising strength, slammed the tool into the already-cracking mirror.  Since the Portal was still on low, the tool stuck a little in the transfer field.  Louise ran forward to stop the woman, but before she could take more than a few steps, there was a crackling and a giant flash of light from the crack in the mirror.  By this strange light, Louise for a moment thought she saw  the laughing form of Ms. Maryanne change into a smaller, straighter form in her reflection in the mirror.

Louise's attention was pulled from Ms. Maryanne to the crack in the Portal, which was powering up again.  The Glass smoothed itself, but instead of a view of Mirora, the image of the most extraordinary creature Louise had ever seen appeared in the Glass.  The monstrous creature straightened itself from its crouched position where it appeared to have been sleeping.  It began to writhe as it worked its way out of the Glass, and finally, a large, clawed foot emerged from the split, followed by the rest of its body.  The beast was long, rather skinny, and it walked on three legs.  It had a long, curving tail that ended in a tuft of hair.  Its skin was scaly and black and covered in many places with thin feathers of every color.  Ten-fingered hands curled out from long, thin arms.  It had long curving nails stretching from each finger, and its wrists were covered in fur.  Its face was thin and gaunt with a long snout; it had two rows of razor sharp teeth and a small beard.  Its eyes were almond-shaped and widely spaced.  Louise thought she detected a hint of madness in those blank and sinister eyes.  On its back, the creature had four giant, leather wings with edges rimmed in multicolored feathers.

Her fear and horror kept Louise rooted to the spot.  She'd never seen anything like this creature before.  It roared, rattling the walls and the ceiling, then whipped its tail around the room, smashing everything in its wake.  It clipped Louise on the shoulder, sending her flying across the room and onto an overturned chair.  Louise heard the creature give a bone-chilling laugh, and it spoke in a voice like nails on a chalkboard.

"I am the Ssssnark…" the creature hissed, "and at lasssst, I...am...FREE!"  It roared the last word and smashed a hole in the wall.  It then launched itself through the hole and into the air, twisting and turning in the sky until it disappeared amidst the billowy clouds, laughing manically.

The Challenge

I've always wanted to write a novel.  I absolutely adore reading, and that has naturally led me to try my hand at writing as well, though so far I've met with little success.  I've started one or two stories, but I always wind up getting severe writer's block.  Next thing I know, I'm on Pinterest or watching Ponies on Netflix.

I've discovered what I hope will be a solution to my problem: NaNoWriMo.  I've just recently learned that November is National Novel Writing Month and that there is an entire organization out there devoted to helping writers (like myself) write that novel they've been dreaming of.  How?  By challenging writers to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  30 days, 50,000 words, one novel in one month.  The website (nanowrimo.org) sets up a word counter and everything for authors to keep track of their progress towards the 50,000 word goal.  People from all over the world participate in this every year, and this year, I am too!

There are several rules involved:
1.) You cannot use any prose you've written before November.  November 1st should be the actual start of your writing.  You can use any notes and planning from before, but the writing part has to start on November 1st at the earliest.
2.) You also have to reach 50,000 words by midnight on November 30th.  It doesn't need to be edited or anything, it just needs to be actually written.  Submit your novel to the word-counting judges, and you can be a NaNoWriMo winner!
It's basically as simple as that!  I mean, it can't be one word repeated 50,000 times or anything like that, but I figure that sort of thing is glaringly obvious.  There's no judgement on quality or anything more than the word count, which leaves the author free to do whatever they want with their novel!

I started late on Day 3, so I'm rather behind on my word count right now, but I'm confident I can catch up.  I've never been so excited and confident about writing!  The different areas even hold write-ins for local Wrimos to all hang out and write together!  They'll be holding a few at my university, and I certainly plan on attending!  I've even got my best friend involved, and we're sort of having a word war between ourselves :).

I started writing just yesterday, and NaNoWriMo says we authors should be aiming for about 6,667 words by midnight tonight.  So far, in two days, I have 3,468 words, which I like to think is pretty good.  I wouldn't allow myself to stop until I reached the halfway mark for where I'm supposed to be.

My story is a unique take on certain aspects of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland that I'm calling (for now) Curious Nonsense.  That's definitely just a working title, since I don't think it fits my story at all.  I might post a couple excerpts every now and then, though I don't want to spoil anything ;).

I'll start off by giving the logline (a 10-second summary) of my story:
"When a disastrous accident threatens the imminent collapse of two worlds, the woman responsible must race a power-hungry maniac to recapture the only creature that can restore balance."

I've got most of the story arc planned out as I would like it, which is more than I can say for most of my other attempts at writing.  I think I rather like the pressure that comes with this challenge :).  I guess that's not surprising since I'm definitely a write-a-paper-the-night-before kinda girl.

Well, I suppose that's it for introductions!  My next post will probably be an excerpt from my 3,468 words so far.  I sure hope I can complete this thing and win!

Good luck to all the other Wrimos out there!

~Victoria