Camp Nanowrimo Update

Week two of nanowrimo, here’s how I did. I also have a few more tips for you at the end.

 

Day 8:

Emma:

Word count -1033

Total – 12 839

Emotional state – grrrr

Writing the whole time today has been an up hill struggle. I didn’t manage to get much writing done. It was the first day of my holidays and

 

Day 9:

Emma:

Word count – 657

Total – 13 496

Emotional state – dead

I got even less writing done today. I think I am breaking through this difficult patch though, and I would have written more but I was exhausted. Lucky I have a writing day planned tomorrow with some of my writing buddies.

 

Day 10:

Emma:

Word count – 2564

Total – 16 060

Emotional state – revitalized and determined

I spent around five hours with my writing buddies and even thought we got basically no writing done it was time well spent. I did a lot of character building and plotting and it was great for getting me excited about my story again (thanks guys).

I also wrote a bit before we met up and a whole lot afterwards. Well maybe not as much as I could have, I did get distracted by pinterest for quite a while. But I have managed to find what I like about the story again and I am ready to smash the word count. I’m still a bit behind because of the past few days but I’ll catch up soon – trust me.

 

Day 11:

Emma:

Word count – 2462

Total – 18 522

Emotional state – uhh gosh

I am getting frustrated by writing. The words are coming a bit more easily but I am in a bit of self doubt right now and it seems like my story is going no where. I am back up to date though, and I am determined to keep going.

 

Day 12:

Emma:

Word count – 1548

Total – 20 070

Emotional state – Rushed

I felt like I could have done more writing today but I am just so busy. There is so much school stuff going on.

 

Day 13:

Emma:

Word count – 1904

Total – 21 974

Emotional state – Ooh yeah

I have basically just been writing the mythology of the world as stories and arguments between my characters as to what to do next. It’s been fun.

 

Day 14:

Emma:

Word count – 0

Total – 21 974

Emotional state – tired

I aimed to write today… I totally did… only I got a bit sidetracked by homework and then I was so tired I went to bed at like 9pm. I will make up for it though, I can totally do it.

Writing Tips

As we’re reaching the point of nanowrimo where the writing gets tough (or tougher) because you’ve written most of the scenes that you really want to read that were clear in your head. We’re reaching the point where you don’t really know what is going on in your story, so here are some tips on how to figure out what to write.

 

Character Arguments

This is forever be one of my go to methods when I don’t know what to write. Firstly by having your characters argue over what to do you are figuring out what you want to do and why you feel like it isn’t a good option. This method helps you to think about the perspectives of characters other than your main character and helps you get to know your characters better. If you want to know more about this then read my Standing out from the Crowd post.

 

Back Story

If you don’t know where your characters are going then maybe you know where they’ve come from. You could write a flash back, or a scene heavily influenced by your character’s past where they have to make a difficult decision or reveal something to another character.

 

World Building

So currently I am enjoying writing the mythological stories for my world. They’re told to my main character by her grandmother and I don’t know if they’re going to end up in the story but I was just really feeling like writing it. I wanted to know how dragons would fit into my world, so I wrote a mythological story about it. I still don’t know whether there will actually be dragons in my world but now if they do turn up I’ll know how they’ll fit in. I also have no ideas whether my other mythological stories will be true, but they’re a part of the culture and could make for some interesting additions later in the book.

 

How is camp nanowrimo going for you? Do you have any writing tips to share?

let me know in the comments below