In a perfect world, we learn from our mistakes and do not repeat them.
This isn’t that world.
We make minor adjustments, or even worse, make no adjustments, and hope for a better outcome.
We’re shocked when that doesn’t happen.
Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.
But sometimes, we stumble across something that while it may not change the world, it makes our world a little brighter and easier to navigate.
In relation to July 2018 Camp NaNoWriMo, those things are:
Alexandra Sokoloff’s NaNoWriMo Prep. As I mentioned yesterday, it made a world of difference in my prep and planning, and is no doubt, a major factor in my completing my story during the challenge,
Blogging every day. This was more difficult than writing the story but it kept me focused and accountable to myself,
Reaching out to new people. This is never easy and not something I do regularly because honestly, people are strange. (And I do not exclude myself from that.) Not every connection made will be positive or lasting, but kissing a few frogs is worth it when you end up with people who become a regular part of your day, and even better, understand and share your writer’s journey.
I’m adding these items to the plus column and even if I don’t use them every day, November NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!
And while I’ve always roped the calf, this is the first time I’ve done it in record time!
HA!
Okay, no more rodeo references.
I validated my Camp NaNo word count on July 20th—which means I met my goal—but the book wasn’t done.
Guess what?
July 2018 Camp NaNoWriMo is the first time I’ve COMPLETED THE BOOK DURING THE CHALLENGE!
Check out the scene board!
Very jazzed about this.
As a pantser, it hasn’t been easy finding an outline/planning method that worked for me. I’ve tried several, and while they all had their good points, I disconnected with some aspect of each of them which hindered the process.
At first glance, the method looked involved and like more work than I wanted to be bothered with.
I was wrong. Once I knew my early scenes, the method actually helped me map out the rest.
I started out with index cards but soon realized before I finished with the set-up; it was labor-intensive.
I prefer using Post-It Notes because it’s faster and… this is very important…. You can move scenes around! This was a time-saver. Making adjustments on the board to get the right flow meant less time spent writing and re-writing.
Sokoloff’s method also helps with chronology and continuity.
Like many writers, I don’t write chronologically, but seeing the story in-sequence while writing helps me not lose focus and or be redundant. Or lose entire scenes altogether because… it’s happened.
If you’re searching for a prep method, give this one a try. You’ve got nothing to lose and you may even score a win like me. Twice.
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist. His influence on Western theater, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Writers often joke about being introverts or having social anxiety. We squirrel ourselves away in writing caves and libraries, or our favorite coffee shops. We keep our heads down, avoiding eye contact.
Some do experience anxiety and avoid interaction with other living breathing humans, but most of us are focused on the stream of consciousness in our heads—collaborating… and compromising with fictional characters. We fine tune plots and build worlds; consider book covers and promotional teasers and are usually fighting off the urge to begin that next book.
However, no matter how deep we dig in, it is necessary we raise our heads and invite the real world in.
Earlier this month I mentioned building a support network—finding your tribe, and the best thing about Camp NaNoWriMo/NaNoWriMo is it comes with a tribe built in ready to help make your writing challenge a success.
From the websites to every social media site/app, NaNo is there with writing sprints, virtual write-ins, and pep talks from counselors. There are videos on YouTube and Instagram. You’ll find a calendar of events for the month prominently posted on the website, as well as the mighty NaNo forums. You can stop by Facebook for updates and current news, Twitter to participate in a writing sprint or follow NaNo on Pinterest.
With resources and support like this, it’s obvious NaNo wants writers to succeed, especially with it all being free of charge!
Before 2018 ends, NaNoWriMo will launch its new website to provide their amazing writer support year-round.
So, as writers build personal networks, NaNoWriMo will be there to give support and let us know while writing is a solitary endeavor, we’re never alone.
Alexandre Dumas 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (French for ‘father’), was a French writer. His works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published as serials, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century for nearly 200 films
What are acceptable book lengths? Answers can vary depending on who you ask, but in general:
Flash fiction: 500 words or less.
Short Story: 5,000–10,000 words.
Novella: 10,000–40,000 words.
Novel: Anything over 40,000 words,
Some writers only write one length, meaning everything they write is always over 40K, or less than 10K, etc. It can also depend on genre and content.
But, that’s if you’re planning a certain type of book.
What if you set out to write 75, 000 words but only get to 36,000, did you fail?
Not necessarily.
Perhaps you were overzealous in estimating book length, or, you haven’t gone deep to flesh out and develop characters or plot.
I have a Camp NaNo buddy who’s having a meltdown as we begin counting down the last week of Camp NaNoWriMo.
She pledged to write a book 65K in length, but she’s written all of her planned twenty-six scenes/chapters and has only reached 48K.
The beauty of Camp NaNo is you can adjust your words/pages/hours. When I suggested she do this, her meltdown intensified. So, I took the opposite approach and told her to get busy writing because the missing 17K wasn’t going to write itself.
She insists she’s told the story she intended to tell.
So. What’s the problem here?
Focus.
Books are the products of imagination and research but they’re not rocket science.
We’ve all read the book we wished was longer, just as we’ve read that book which went on and on and because laborious.
Editing can solve most of these problems if writers allow it. If an editor advises cutting out characters/scenes/chapters and the writer balks, there isn’t much the editor can do. There is no literary death match between writers and editors.
Writers must be ready to kill their darlings to publish the best book possible, and sometimes that also means adjusting our mindsets… and word counts.
Because everyone knows the first draft is crap anyway.
Raymond Thornton Chandler July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, Blackmailers Don’t Shoot, was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 26, 1959, in La Jolla, California.
I’m okay with plot twists breezing in from nowhere.
I’m even okay with rewriting a scene several times.
But I hate when I get to the I don’t even know what I’m writing about stage.
And I’m there… big-time.
Here’s a brief excerpt—while I go figure this thing out!
~~~
Startled and disoriented, Sally bolted upright. She looked around the dark room, trying to get her bearings.
She laughed at herself after glancing toward the hallway.
Real good, Bennett. What kind of caregiver are you falling asleep on the job?
A swipe of her e-reader provided light and the time.
12:50 am.
My word! Has it been almost four hours since I gave Graciela her meds? I’d better see if she’s sleeping or needs them again.
Sally held the reader over the edge of the chair, looking for her overnight bag. She reached for it, but froze when she thought she heard a large thump.
What was that noise?
She sat motionless on the edge of the chair listening for the sound again. Hearing nothing, Sally grabbed the bag and tossed it onto the foot of the bed. Reaching for the table-side lamp, she heard the noise again, louder and closer.
No, no! I hope Graciela isn’t up trying to get her own meds. Why didn’t she call out for me? Damn it! Maybe she did and I was asleep.
Feeling her back pocket for her cell, Sally raced the few steps down the hall to her client’s room.
She froze in the doorway.
A dark figure was on top of Graciela.
Without thinking, Sally charged the bed, launching herself at the assailant. She heard a sharp intake of air as the intruder fell toward the foot of the bed.
Sally took the few precious seconds to drag the small woman from the bed. Not able to tell if Graciela was wounded and too terror-stricken to speak, Sally pushed her toward the bedroom door, screaming one word, “Run!”
With her arms out in front of her, the spry senior bolted for the door, feeling her way down the hall.
Before Sally could follow, she felt a hand grab her arm, pulling her back to the bed. She whirled around, swinging blindly with her free hand. Her punch connected with the intruder, but he didn’t let go. As he pulled her closer, Sally bit the hand clutching her arm. Muttering a curse, he let go and Sally flipped onto her back, kicking her legs wildly.
Her attacker leaned down, grabbing the front of her shirt and flung her from the bed. She crashed into the dresser, slumping to floor.
Praying Graciela had found her way out, Sally knew her time was growing short. Her heart raced as she looked up at the shadowy figure approaching, blocking her path to the door.
His breathing was hard and labored.
Sally froze. Something about him was familiar.
She could see him raising his arm and the hallway light behind him allowed Sally to see he wore a ski mask… and the glint of his knife.
Adrenalin barreled through her body. Sally Bennett would not hand this killer her life.
The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “speak.”
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When we speak, we’re talking, so I went with that variation of the theme so I could post Bonnie Raitt’s Something to Talk About. 😀
The song is about small-town gossip and the effect it has on the singer and the guy she’s secretly in love with. It turns out that they’re rumored to be having an affair, and since the rumor-spreaders already think that the two people are involved, the song asks, why not have an affair anyway, thus giving them “something to talk about.”
Something to Talk About was written by the Canadian singer Shirley Eikhard, who had recorded in the Jazz and Country genres, but has had her most success as a songwriter, with songs recorded by Chet Atkins, Cher, Anne Murray and Rita Coolidge.
The song won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, beating out Oleta Adams, Mariah Carey, Amy Grant and Whitney Houston. The song was also nominated for Record of the Year, but lost to Unforgettable.
According to Anne Murray’s 2009 book All of Me, Anne wanted to record this song in 1986, but her producers didn’t think it would be a hit. She called her 1986 album Something to Talk About even though it did not include this song. Anne said she was happy that Bonnie Raitt made it a big hit five years later.
For Raitt, it was by far her biggest chart hit in the United States.
This is a very popular Karaoke song, and is often performed by American Idol contestants. Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino performed the song on the show, as did Idol notables Kellie Pickler and Sanjaya Malakar.
Enjoy!
See my Song Lyric Sunday selection on Nesie’s Place.
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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.
Something to Talk About
by Bonnie Raitt
Written by Shirley Eikhard
People are talking, talking ’bout people
I hear them whisper, you won’t believe it
They think we’re lovers kept under cover
I just ignore it but they keep saying
We laugh just a little too loud
Stand just a little too close
We stare just a little too long
Maybe they’re seein’ something we don’t, darling
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
How about love?
I feel so foolish, I never noticed
You’d act so nervous, could you be falling for me?
It took the rumor to make me wonder
Now I’m convinced I’m going under
Thinkin’ ’bout you every day
Dream ’bout you every night
I’m hoping that you feel the same way
Now that we know it, let’s really show it, darling
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
A little mystery to figure out, babe
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
How about love?
Let’s give ’em something to talk about, babe
A little mystery to figure out
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
How about love?
Ooh, listen to ’em baby
A little mystery won’t hurt ’em
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
How about our love, love, love, love
Compiled from SongFacts.com, Genius Lyrics, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Google.
Felicia Denise, Author 