NaNoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo talk

[jade_sabre]

First of all, my stats, as they currently stand:

1/11/08, 02:00:  3K
1/11/08, 14:00:  5.5K
1/11/08, 22:47:  7.8K
2/11/08, 14:16:  9,769
2/11/08, 22:31: 12,551

Oh, sorry, what is that, over 10K in the first two days?  Why yes, yes I think that's me.

I just gave my novel the title Se Reveiller, which, uh, just means "to wake [oneself] up" in French, but it's one of the novel's themes (personal awakening, anyway), and it's in French so everything sounds better.  Mostly it's because my profile page looked very sad without any sort of title on it.

Let's see, what else have I noticed...my inner editor is being surprisingly quiet right now, partially because I have yet to actually reread anything I've written, and partially because...I don't know where she's gone, which scares me.  I'm actually kind of struggling with myself right now, because my first NaNo, my inner editor was in full gear, but that meant for the most part I could post what I had written without having to edit it too much, whereas right now, I have no idea what kind of condition my writing is in.

So would it be better to take a little more time, and have something I'm more satisfied with, straight-off-the-bat, or is it better to just go and worry about it all when I'm done?

I mean, since NaNo last year, I have finished Not Yet by Lightning AND edited it, and finished Falling Slowly and begun the long, somewhat arduous process of editing it as well.

I should explain here that I infinitely INFINITELY prefer the term "edit" to the term "rewrite," even if often what I'm doing involves rewriting sentences...or paragraphs...you know.  To me, "rewriting" comes with this image of sitting down with a blank piece of paper and starting over completely--I mean, not completely, but without all the things you've already written, because they weren't good enough so you have to rewrite them.  I find the image/idea of "rewriting" singularly exhausting.

Editing, on the other hand--whee!  Editing is going back to those sentences and saying "ugh, you're crap, GOODBYE" and "oh, you'd be so much better if I would just switch those around, look, that's lovely," as well as occasionally giving yourself the opportunity to say "you know, that was very well-done the first time around, bravo me" and "holy crap, what did I mean by this?  Why did I write this?  Why does it feel so important?  HOW DO I MAKE THIS BETTER HELP."*

*this is the step where Quark shows up and graciously lends her assistance

Anyway, the point is...what else have I written since last year?  A little bit of Zutara fanfic.  The Most Perfect Enchanted Fanfic Ever If I Do Say So Myself.  Quark's birthday present.  Three pieces to go into the Unrequited collection.  But somewhere in all this, I have apparently learned how to make myself write?  How to just sit down and start writing and pick up steam as I go?

I kind of miss those moments of inspiration, though, when I'd suddenly have an idea and a conversation and bam I would produce something kinda cool and there it would be, all complete and pretty, with minimal need for editing!

and somewhere between starting this post and and finishing it, I got totally sidetracked by things like LEGOFIC and GENERAL INSANITY, and so I have lost my train of thought.

I've already killed off two parents!  And I have at least two more to kill!

I'm really enjoying what I've written so far, and I think I'll probably go back and edit it and add more scenes--I appear to be exploring the theme of friendship, and it's turning out to be a really fun theme to explore.  Who knew?

The whole atmosphere of writing in France--I spent Saturday afternoon walking around the center of town, up and down cobblestone streets near houses that have been there for, oh, several hundred years, you know, walking by that castle that's been around since, say, 1300-something--is really invigorating.  As is the fact that I cannot get distracted by the internet.  Finally, it's turning into a blessing!

Anyway, good luck, everyone!

Comments

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Yay you!

I think "rewrite" comes into it more if you're working on a novel-length piece and you actually have to do things like, say, cut a character or a plot line or completely rethink one of your original assumptions. Maybe some people are so perfect to begin with that this never happens, but it happens to me all the time, as well as to the people I write with. I mean, I threw away about 100 pages of my last novel , because I realized that, though they were fun to read and nicely put-together, they ended up taking the plot in a circle and not moving it forward. So yes, that was rewriting.

I usually go with "revision." Some writers get all cutesy with calling it "re-VISION" but there is truth to this despite the cutesy.

....Um, I'm babbling on way too much about stuff you don't even want to hear, right?

Better to go forward and worry about it later! Isn't that the whole point of Nano (says she who has never done it and doesn't get the appeal)?

[startracer.livejournal.com]

Woo! You can write as fast as you want - yay bonus to our home region! (So happy to see you still call the ND region home, haha.)

But honestly, this was something I had to consider this year, after two years of not-the-greatest-quality NaNos. But they are first drafts. NaNo drafts are perfect for editing. And my novel so far is a touch meandering, but I'm finding things out. I'm learning about characters and folding them into the mix gradually, instead of being all "oh, hi, here are seven people." And I'm letting conversations happen even if it slows the plot down to a crawl. That's what editing is for, once the novel is written: to make it snappier and better when I have a clearer idea of who people are and where they are going.

Glad you're kicking ass as of day two! That's awesome.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha. I was looking today going SCORE I'M BEATING JOSH.

I'm like in the realm where I'd rather just write about what's happening than have actual conversations. And yet the plot is moving at a nice pace, not too fast not too slow, and there's character development, and I have 12K, and basically something must be going to go horribly wrong later this month, because NaNo should NOT be this easy.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I can;t tell you how much I envy your getting to live in France, and write!

[ascii-encore.livejournal.com]

ugh, what? 02:00 AM? What kind of people even say that.* I don't even know who you are any more.

*Please don't tell me that's actually how people do in France. I'd feel silly.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

it was more for my sake; I apologize, but I'm not always sure what time it is, so I have to double-and-triple-check myself.

oh,

[ascii-encore.livejournal.com]

i thought you might like this: http://overcompensating.com/posts/20081023.html

Re: oh,

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I fixed the time thing (time thing? what time thing?)

also, tee-hee hee. Thanks.

[kayefierch.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking I should do NaNo but alas, no time. Also, no ideas, because I don't want to cheat and finish something I started and uh, I always start and never finish things. But go you! And good luck.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

see this is why you shouldn't party on the weekends. I don't party, and NaNo is a breeze!

[kayefierch.livejournal.com]

Butbutbut. That would require me not partying. Can't I just bring a notebook to these parties? Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like alcohol!...?

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

or you could be like me, and bring a notebook to the bar/party and then write while everyone else ins partying and drinking...

[kayefierch.livejournal.com]

Or that! Oh my God, we should write a collaborative novel where we just go bar-hopping all the time and claim it's for our art.

Also, I more meant that if anything, I should be working on finishing the stuff I already have. Like the werewolf novel. I love my poor crappy pink werewolf novel.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

YES this sounds like a plan. Except we'll have to get a grant to go barhopping in Europe, or something, because I feel like barhopping in South Bend would not be as exciting as it should be.

Oh yes. I should finish last year's NaNo before I start on anything new. But oh well.