Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
nicksgal:
lmao! Now I understand why you were laughing so hard, the dissonance and also Broken memories.
Done! 45 minutes to spare, lol. I ended up writing 3,200 words today, which is more than I expected to write. So much for my quick chapters, lol. That second one I was finishing was close to 5,000 words and the first one ended up being close to 4,000 words.
Now we follow today's Camp Care Package:
1. Celebrate! Take a deep breath! Toast yourself! Eat cake! You did it!!!!
RokofAges75:
YAY, you finished! 3,200 words, wow! Good for you!
Yes, I think we both deserve some wine or cake or both! Sadly, I have neither wine nor cake, but I will at least go eat a snack before I go to bed.
nicksgal:
It was like an entire chapter, lol! I didn't expect to write that much either. I really thought it would be closer to 1,000 words between the two chapters. As usual, I just had a vague plan for the scenes and wrote until they made sense to end.
I like how we both finished with 45 minutes to spare, we really are just about even in our mannerisms these days. I did not enjoy wine or cake, but I should have; I went straight to bed, I was exhausted! But I enjoyed my coffee this morning while rereading through it.
I enjoyed Camp NaNo even though I overestimated my goal and I think I may have enjoyed it more than regular NaNo, other than the "fresh excitement of a new novel" aspect. I loved having someone cheering me on from a writing aspect, rather than just hubs being like, "You've got this, wife. At least you're doing something productive with your time instead of watching sitcoms you've already seen for the hundredth time." Even though I had a lot more "low count" days than in November, I think I would have given up more back then when I was writing alone if it had gone less well. It was good to be able to come here and chat writing, even if writing itself was kind of lack luster. So thanks for that, Julie and everyone else who popped in along the way. :)
I think I'm going to add a personal goal for this month and try to finish out this novel. But I think I would do Camp NaNo in July again if anyone else wanted to participate with us (assuming you'd do it again, Julie), just not sure if I'll still be writing PNecklace then or something else.
I looked over what I wrote last night and was pretty happy with it overall, so no great urges to hack and slash it yet. And I think you were right, Nick really didn't want to disappear from the narrative for four chapters. Clearly, because once I let him come back, I wrote a bajillion words without meaning to and three chapters in a week, plus the previous week with a whole other chapter and finishing the two I spent the first two weeks meandering in the week before. He must feel bad about being a spotlight hog because he wasn't loudly shouting that he was bored, lol. But this isn't news to me; I know he's the one breathing life and energy into this story. I hope the group that doesn't have him in it during this next arc goes well.
I did make me think on my character dynamics. AJ, Howie, and Nick isn't something I usually add in. ARok and AJ and Kevin is kind of lacking, and Howie and Kevin is virtually nonexistent. Part of me feels like I should add more of these and part of me feels like, eh. Anyone else feel this way? That they ignore certain groupings of the Boys?
Anyway, this has been my post-Camp NaNo introspection. I'm now back to fifteen chapters ahead of myself and have things to post through the middle of August! :party: Time to finish out these last fourteen chapters! Think I can do it in a month or should I go through June just to be safe? lol
RokofAges75:
We really have been on the same wavelength lately! Thank you for your encouragement as well! I'd like to think I would have at least continued my daily writing streak through the month of April, but without a word count goal, I wouldn't have pushed myself to write more than a sentence on days when the words weren't flowing or I didn't really feel like it.
I liked tracking my word count and seeing that line slowly climb, so I just went in and set a new goal to write 50,000 words between now and the end of June. I wanted to set a little higher goal, but May is a busy month, so I figure if I'm under 20,000 words this month, I'll be able to make up for it in June when I have more time to write. I'm planning to participate in the next camp in July too. I assume I will still be writing MBK then, but hopefully it will have doubled in length! It's currently sitting at 49,868 words.
I wish I had been able to start a new chapter this morning because that would have made it so much easier to track my total word count on this goal. With the last one, I started Chapter 11 on April 1, so I usually updated my word count by checking the word count from Chapter 11 on. That way if I added anything while editing, it would still count. But today I started in the middle of a paragraph in Chapter 15 LOL. I did put a little red asterisk at my starting point so I can still track it that way if I want to, but I'm gonna try to track my word count per session this time so I can get a more accurate picture of the stats it shows on the site. I only got 124 words written so far today, so it currently says I'm averaging one word per minute. At this rate, I will reach my goal on June 7, 2022 LMAO. So... starting strong! Ha!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 01, 2021, 01:48:49 PM ---I'm now back to fifteen chapters ahead of myself and have things to post through the middle of August! :party: Time to finish out these last fourteen chapters! Think I can do it in a month or should I go through June just to be safe? lol
--- End quote ---
Wow, so you're good through most of the summer! That's awesome!
You wrote way more than me in one month, so go with your gut, but 14 chapters sounds like a lot for one month. If it were me, I would make it a two-month goal. Even if you go through June, that's still averaging more than one chapter a week.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on May 01, 2021, 01:48:49 PM ---I did make me think on my character dynamics. AJ, Howie, and Nick isn't something I usually add in. ARok and AJ and Kevin is kind of lacking, and Howie and Kevin is virtually nonexistent. Part of me feels like I should add more of these and part of me feels like, eh. Anyone else feel this way? That they ignore certain groupings of the Boys?
--- End quote ---
I definitely feel this way sometimes. I am used to focusing mostly on Nick and/or Brian, and the other three just kinda appear as needed. Do you consider PNecklace to be a group story or a Nick story with the others in supporting roles? Because I think that makes a difference. If I'm writing a true group story, I make more of an effort to give them all moments to shine, but most of my storylines are only meant to focus on one or two of them as main characters. When that's the case, I don't worry about it.
It's weird for me to be writing a story where almost all the focus is on Kevin. That's a first for me. Even though Nick is also a main character, the storyline really revolves around Kevin. AJ and Brian have both gotten some good moments, but Howie is the one who's just kind of... there. Poor Howie LOL. But I have written a Howie novel before, so I don't feel as bad about that anymore. Howie had plenty of time to suffer shine in SAMS. It's Kevin's turn now.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 01, 2021, 09:16:52 PM ---We really have been on the same wavelength lately! Thank you for your encouragement as well! I'd like to think I would have at least continued my daily writing streak through the month of April, but without a word count goal, I wouldn't have pushed myself to write more than a sentence on days when the words weren't flowing or I didn't really feel like it.
I liked tracking my word count and seeing that line slowly climb, so I just went in and set a new goal to write 50,000 words between now and the end of June. I wanted to set a little higher goal, but May is a busy month, so I figure if I'm under 20,000 words this month, I'll be able to make up for it in June when I have more time to write. I'm planning to participate in the next camp in July too. I assume I will still be writing MBK then, but hopefully it will have doubled in length! It's currently sitting at 49,868 words.
--- End quote ---
Same. Having a goal and not just "keeping track to keep track" did push me to try a little better, though not quite to the extent of the beginning of the novel. I'm here to keep encouraging you! Hopefully we continue the streak.
The line is definitely what I missed when I was just keeping track on my own. There's something really satisfying about watching it ebb close to the par and then pass it. I missed it this past month; I think I aimed way to high, lol.
I have an idea of what I might write, but we'll see when the time comes. I think Snail is at the top of my list post-PNecklace since I kind of pushed it aside for a bit. I hope you double MBK by that time too! I'd be excited for you if you were able to finish it by the end of summer! :biggrin:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 01, 2021, 09:16:52 PM ---I wish I had been able to start a new chapter this morning because that would have made it so much easier to track my total word count on this goal. With the last one, I started Chapter 11 on April 1, so I usually updated my word count by checking the word count from Chapter 11 on. That way if I added anything while editing, it would still count. But today I started in the middle of a paragraph in Chapter 15 LOL. I did put a little red asterisk at my starting point so I can still track it that way if I want to, but I'm gonna try to track my word count per session this time so I can get a more accurate picture of the stats it shows on the site. I only got 124 words written so far today, so it currently says I'm averaging one word per minute. At this rate, I will reach my goal on June 7, 2022 LMAO. So... starting strong! Ha!
--- End quote ---
That's why I have my little document where I copy and paste it over every day. I hand counted in November when I started and it was excruciating. Copy/pasting and then hitting the word count button was much easier.
I was also thinking of tracking my word count per session to see just how much I really get done rather than guessing the number of hours I wrote. I updated my writing for today and I'm at 576 so far and it says I'll be done in July. Not too bad, but a little later than anticipated, lol. You're starting very strong! I believe in you getting to 50,000, which is only 25,000 per month/a little more than you wrote this month and, like you said, you can make up in June if you need to. You've got this!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 01, 2021, 09:16:52 PM ---Wow, so you're good through most of the summer! That's awesome!
You wrote way more than me in one month, so go with your gut, but 14 chapters sounds like a lot for one month. If it were me, I would make it a two-month goal. Even if you go through June, that's still averaging more than one chapter a week.
--- End quote ---
I'm very excited about that. Now I can dilly dally for a couple months if I need to, lol. I don't want to, but it's good knowing the option is there.
I did set it for this month, but then I remembered that I have some stuff to do tomorrow and only wrote for an hour so far today, so... Unless I churn out the rest of this chapter and another one today, I don't see it happening. I did some math and I would have to spend two days on each chapter and that just seems like too short of a turn around time, to be honest (especially knowing how long I usually let a non-Nick focused chapter sit and sit). I probably will switch it to June and then if I finish early, I finish early. There's no harm in that.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on May 01, 2021, 09:16:52 PM ---I definitely feel this way sometimes. I am used to focusing mostly on Nick and/or Brian, and the other three just kinda appear as needed. Do you consider PNecklace to be a group story or a Nick story with the others in supporting roles? Because I think that makes a difference. If I'm writing a true group story, I make more of an effort to give them all moments to shine, but most of my storylines are only meant to focus on one or two of them as main characters. When that's the case, I don't worry about it.
It's weird for me to be writing a story where almost all the focus is on Kevin. That's a first for me. Even though Nick is also a main character, the storyline really revolves around Kevin. AJ and Brian have both gotten some good moments, but Howie is the one who's just kind of... there. Poor Howie LOL. But I have written a Howie novel before, so I don't feel as bad about that anymore. Howie had plenty of time to suffer shine in SAMS. It's Kevin's turn now.
--- End quote ---
I think PBox Nick considers it a Nick story, lol. I'd call it a "group story with Nick as the most frequent POV character." Or Minako, they switch off most of the time. But PNecklace has definitely shifted more to Nick because he's got more going on to react to or angst about. Couple that with the fact that he's a spotlight hog and a clear author favorite and... well, let's call it a toss up. I do try to switch it up, but Nick has the most to say and do all the time being the doer without regard for consequences that he is, lol.
lol Poor Howie. I still feel for Howie, but like you said, he does end up being "just kind of there" more often than not. I am glad that you're giving Kevin time to suf... (ahem) shine in this new novel. It's good to test that out at some point in your fanfic career. ;) And, as always, I'm delighted it's going well when Kevin's usually not the focus of your storylines.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version