scrape_r_rational/data/cache/5d31mc.md

[WIP][D][BS] National Novel Writing Month: Week 3

Post:

This is a general purpose thread for anything you'd like to talk about for National Novel Writing Month, which starts November 1st; we'll have four or five of these posts throughout the month.

• Want to check in your some progress?
• Want to talk about what you're writing?
• Out of ideas and want some help?

Feel free to make posts to the subreddit if you crank out a chapter you want to share, have a meaty question you want some help with, or something like that; this is more a place for things that aren't quite substantial enough to warrant their own posts.

(This thread will be pinned after a day or so.)

Week 1 Thread

Week 2 Thread

Comments:

• u/brandalizing:

  As of the start of this week, I've officially crossed the 100K-mark for total words written for my current book , 'Mapmaker, Mapbreaker' (27K since Nov 1st). This makes the whole concept of finishing my book so much more believable for me, given that my current goal is 200K words pre-revisions and editing. I can actually do this. It's going to happen. I just need to stick to writing every day, keep up the consistency. But it's going to happen.
  

  • u/PeridexisErrant:

    Congratulations!
    

• u/DataPacRat:

  Still going on [Extracts](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jPU6QKEohcrw6l6O3SxorIxf2Tnq54h36LtQO6Qv86w/edit). I've finally started having my protagonist interact with more fully-realized characters, who I'm trying to stuff as much characterization and Yudkowskyian [advice](http://yudkowsky.tumblr.com/writing) as I can, though it's still too early to see the results.
  
  I pulled my planned "[Suddenly, Ninjas!](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChandlersLaw)" on schedule. :)
  
  For at least some of the characters, I'm trying an old writer's cheat: drawing up a list of characters I know well from other stories, rolling some dice to pick one, filing the serial numbers off, and writing, say, "Dan Fielding from Night Court if he lived in this setting". (Not that I've used that particular fellow, yet.)
  
  Around a week ago, I planned to take a day off writing, because of anticipated wooziness from a blood donation. I think I'm taking an unanticipated day off today, due to headache and stomach upset from watching a 3D movie. Maybe I'll try some eyes-closed typing later.
  

  • u/traverseda:

    I'm enjoying it. Hit on some new neat concepts. I think it would be interesting to see a story of yours with a standard beginning-middle-end format, instead of just an exploration of a world.
    

    • u/DataPacRat:

      > I'm enjoying it.
      
      Good to hear.
      
      > Hit on some new neat concepts.
      
      And even better. :)
      
      > I think it would be interesting to see a story of yours with a standard beginning-middle-end format, instead of just an exploration of a world.
      
      That's a bit trickier. I do have one story idea plotted out for such a format - but I just haven't actually gotten around to writing it. I'm trying to use NaNoWriMo to get back into the habit of daily writing, so that once I finish Extracts, I can keep on keeping on with more writing.
      
      (Unfortunately, what I expect actually will happen is that yet another bout of anhedonia and depression will lead to me trailing off on that attempted habit-building in a month or three; I haven't yet found the right combination of tricks to deal with my traitorous brain chemistry, but I keep plugging away on it.)
      

• u/alexanderwales:

  I'm ahead by about 5,000 words at this point, or as a percent, 60% complete.
  
  Two days of thinking haven't really helped me decide what I want to do about my ending. It's either "heroes meet the villain, have a confrontation, get their butts kicked, and regroup for battle" or "heroes meet the villain, have a confrontation, then immediately proceed to the final battle". It's all variations on a theme, so I'm not too worried either way, but I am rapidly approaching the point where I need to make a decision.
  
  I also have a minor problem involving travel time. It's supposed to be two full months from Marurbo to the Citadel on foot, with Leshampur being the halfway point. But I don't think this is really the place for "and the two months pass", especially not since the plan was to have a pursuit by someone who can make the trip in less than two weeks. There are three established methods of fast travel (dark magic travel through the space between realms, carried on the back of an oathkeeper, spirit-back travel) but I'm not sure which of them I want to use - they all have their established limitations and drawbacks from a narrative perspective.
  
  From a plot/character perspective, **(spoilers if you're reading along or ever intend to read this book once it's polished)**:
  
  * V will do as commanded; his commands are to bring H to the capital with all due haste, and to bring S to the capital with extreme prejudice (might have to retroactively reword that a bit). He cannot be convinced otherwise, since disobeying his orders would violate his oaths and lose him all his accumulated power.
  
  * Once S has the crown, she knows that her father has died and presumes that her brother has too. That makes going to the capital dangerous, since foul play can be assumed, putting her at odds with V.
  
  * H ... wants to make amends with S, wants to protect S, has at least some reason to suspect that the capital is not safe, beyond just the prophecy (which should worry anyone). He's also by-default at odds with V given their positions/professions.
  
  This was *supposed* to be the miniboss encounter, but I am not sure how precisely to set this conflict in motion for both maximal impact and best connection to the ending portion. I am specifically concerned with this because it's the least firm thing right now and needs to connect to the firm parts at the end of the story (all the stuff in the buildup to the climax, the climax itself, and the denouement, which I think are pretty solid).
  
  I think I need to make a list of all of the neatest scenes I had in my head, then figure out the shortest path through them. Plus it has to fit this portion of the prophecy:
  
  > *A princess with hair of flame lays beneath the throne,    
  > Vengeful spirits cloak her fragile form.    
  > Blood-soaked clothes and shattered bone,    
  > The dark wizard wrapped in brewing storm.*    
  
  But in keeping with what I view as good storytelling practice, this can't do overly much to drive the plot. Which, now that I think about it, probably means that I'm better off doing the "lose a conflict, retreat, win a conflict", since after "lose a conflict" we're past the point of prophecy and go into the ending with it being unknowable. In fact, I'm practically locked into that unless I want to have a black ending, which I don't think I do. Though a triumph of utilitarianism over deontology was foreshadowed ...
  

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