5.1 KiB
[D] [WIP] Rational Novel Writing Month - Week 3
-
Author: u/brandalizing Reserve Pigeon Army*
-
URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/2mgtt2/d_wip_rational_novel_writing_month_week_3/
-
Score: 12
-
Created: 2014-11-16T14:37:06
Post:
Checking in - who's still going?
I'm barely staying at par each day, but barely 50,000 words will still be 50,000 words.
The Story so far: Earth just suffered a major setback in that the head of the FTL project has worked himself into a coma. Meanwhile, the Deities on the outside are trying to get agents on Earth, circumventing the treaty that states they cannot interfere with a planet until it has developed FTL capabilities.
One of the Galactic Deities has bought the loyalty, or at least obedience, of a minor Earth Deity. Another, the god of untruth, Ies, has sent a pseudo-Deity to Earth; a Deity turned mortal. Which isn't supposed to be possible, because Deities are just manifestations of the collective Belief of the people who worship/follow them.
Right. So. What are other people up to?
Comments:
u/alexanderwales [+11] Time flies like an arrow (2 hours later)
35,120. I am ahead of the curve, but still woefully behind on actually getting anywhere with the main plot. The actual chapters are divided into scenes of one or two thousand words each. When NaNo is over, I'll have to go through the current novel with a knife and just cut at things until I'm left with only the most interesting, forward-moving stuff. Hopefully the fact that I'm using Scrivener will make that process a lot easier.
The work in progress - at a slight delay - can be read here. If you're not interested in a rough cut, just wait a few months until it's properly edited.
u/brandalizing [+2] Reserve Pigeon Army (4 hours later)
I'd be eagerly reading along with the rough draft updates if I didn't have so much on my plate. I look forward to seeing it in its polished state!
u/alexanderwales [+1] Time flies like an arrow (6 hours later)
I probably wouldn't be reading it - there are so many great, polished-to-a-shine things out there that reading a work in progress is very rarely worth it. Mostly I'm just posting to keep my honest.
Edit: Oh, and I also generally cease reading for pleasure when National Novel Writing Month comes around, for a variety of fairly obvious reasons.
u/brandalizing [+2] Reserve Pigeon Army (6 hours later)
I understand where you're coming from, but I want to clarify that I was not just saying that to be nice. I genuinely want to see your writing process, and what stays in/gets the knife treatment, along with all the rest of the editing touches.
Take the recent anthology Shadows Beneath (done by the Writing Excuses team), for example. They include multiple drafts for the express purpose of providing the readers, who are probably writers as well, with a view of their editing process throughout.
So while, as a reader, I would want to abstain from reading any of your excellent material before it is buffed and shining, as a writer I want to see it every step of the way.
Will you be taking down the rough drafts as you edit them, or posting the edited version separately?
u/alexanderwales [+2] Time flies like an arrow (7 hours later)
Not sure what's going to become of it - I think that the first draft will get sorted away as a file somewhere. If I can figure out a way to do it without it getting too messy, I might put it in git or some other form of source control so that I can more closely track the changes.
Current plan is to just take the entire story down once the rough draft is done, and either post it again when the editing is done, or if it turns out good enough, try to get it published.
u/None [+2] (46 minutes later)
I guess it's too late to start? :(
I just have so many ideas, and so little time …
u/brandalizing [+4] Reserve Pigeon Army (49 minutes later)
You can always start! Any writing that you get done is that much more than if you hadn't started at all.
u/Nepene [+1] (11 hours later)
It's good to see which ideas work well and which suck.
u/andor3333 [+1] (4 days later)
Don't feel bad if you can't make the whole 50k goal! I set myself a 10k goal since I have law school exams and some patent stuff to write this month. Do what you can do and celebrate that if you make it! If you let me know your goal and I'll celebrate with you if you make it hmm?
u/andor3333 [+1] (4 days later)
I am writing a Rational version of Supernatural, but I won't get 50k words with the other things I have going on. I am aiming for getting the first arc done and publishing it at the end of November. We'll see how that goes. I guess I don't count since I don't make the goal, but I figured I would chime in anyway since this did inspire me to finally write this out.
I could use an editor if anyone has the time. Good luck to everybody with your projects!