Wednesday, December 2, 2009

NaNo comparisons

I just opened the novel I was working on before I began NaNo.
  • In twenty months writing Warrior Pledge I've written just over 50000 words.
  • In thirty days of writing No Evil Star, I've written just over 50000 words.
Of course Warrior Pledge is a much better story so far because I've been editing and plotting story arcs and character arcs and all those sorts of things along the way but it doesn't change the fact that it's taken me nearly two years to write the same amount I wrote in a month.

And I have exactly the same problems with both of them, even with all the preparation and editing that's gone into Warrior Pledge. Apparently all my characters sound the same. I can't see it which is why it's a problem. In my head they all come across as totally different people but I'm obviously having a problem getting that across on the page.

I'm not going to worry about it tonight. I've given myself the rest of this week to just fudge around, writing a word here, a paragraph there and thinking about the research I need to do and reading an article here and there. Next week I'll begin a program of mimimum standards:
  • Minimum one hour writing
  • Minimum one article read
  • EVERY night

4 comments:

Danielle Birch said...

I think we need to organise a characterisation workshop early next year (like the old plotting workshops we used to do) and aim at writing three dimensional characters. What do you think.

glediar said...

What a lovely way of saying all my characters sound the same! ;)

It would be a fun workshop. Count me in.

I still can't work out how to fix my characters. In my head they're all very different and when I read their thoughts and dialogue they sound different to me.

I read a book the other day where I had to keep going back to see whose head we were in. I kept trying to look for reasons why I couldn't tell them apart but couldn't work it out there either.

Danielle Birch said...

Very diplomatic :)

Don't worry, you're not alone. And I totally understand about the characters being completely different in your head and then converging into one as they hit the paper. Tis a mystery how it happens during the journey.

glediar said...

I had a brilliant idea for constructing a characterisation/dialogue workshop last night after dinner. It's going to require some sound files and activities. I'll think about it some more and see what I can come up with before the last meeting in January.