2015 Flash Fiction Word
Count = 39588
2015 CampNaNo Word
Count = 21106
2015 TOTAL WORD
COUNT = 60694
Notice anything different about
the above banner?
That’s right, I’m a winner (in
more ways than one, but more on that later). Yesterday I crossed the finish
line for my CampNaNo 2015 project. Admittedly the word count is shorter than
the one I’ll attempt in November, but I see CampNaNo as the smaller brother,
warm-up project.
There’s still two more days of
writing to go, and I’m determined to keep going, instead of dropping of early
like I normally do.
Let’s take a quick look at the
last seven days.
Day Twenty-Three – 1167 words.
The story became a sort of chase
movie at this point. Escaping the clutches of Dr Gellibrand (damn, just
remembered that I meant to add a moment of ‘villains dead body is missing’. Do’h!)
I got Chris, Mike and the old man, Jonas, onto a train heading south. It was
another exposition scene (and one that will get chopped up in edits) so I threw
another bout of action at our heroes. I ended the chapter with a vague location
and some running, but I’ll fill things like that in later on. I then got everyone back into a car (I can’t
stop myself putting people into cars) and carried on the journey.
Day Twenty-Four – 1604 words
This was a fun scene to write as
Chris returns to a place from his younger years. I didn’t have time to build up
the tension required in the scene (one more thing to do later), but it was good
to explore his past a little and get to the thing our characters have been
trying to find for a while.
With only an hour lunch to write,
if ideas come to me, I just need to get them down. When this is the case, my
draft can have the feel that it was written by a child who’s spent all afternoon
at a party and had all the e-numbers he or she could get their grubby little
hands on. But this is a first draft; no one should see it. It’s the first
rewrite where things get a little cleaner, a little more coherent. So, for now,
it’s okay to vomit ideas onto the page. This part is just emptying the box of
all the puzzle pieces.
Day Twenty-Five – 0 words
You may start to stop a pattern
here. Weekend equals no writing. I didn’t even have time to enter Angry
Hourglass. I spent the morning playing toy cars with my son, an afternoon of
dealing with ‘angry son’, and an evening of Formula 1 qualifying and dinner.
But at this stage I was nearly 2000 words ahead of my necessary target, so I
didn’t beat myself up about it. However, if this had been November . . .
Day Twenty-Six – 0 words
Oops, I did it again. This takes
my total of non-writing days up to six, but I’m hoping that that’s where it
will stay. Today’s excuses were sponsored by, shopping, dinner at my mother’s
(hello mum – thank you for a great roast dinner), and of course, the best
Formula 1 race of the season so far. I went to bed with 1288 words profit, so
things were still good.
Day Twenty-Seven – 932 words
If you don’t count my zero days,
this was the lowest amount produced since July 16th. I was a little
annoyed that I didn’t hit four figures, but better 68 short, than 680.
I finished off the scene where
Chris and Mike retrieve the journal of Chris’ father. Next I moved onto what
should be the final confrontation with Dr Gellibrand. That’s right, dropping
her out of a window wasn’t enough, and neither was leaving her on that train.
Who is this woman? Hopefully we’ll find out later.
Or will we? I decided to use an
ability that, in the Flash version of the Chris and Mike vs stories, doesn’t come
in for quite some time (see adventure 26 – vs SCUM AND VILLAINY). I’d kept Chris’ ability to control two tattoo’s
on his arms in the back of my mind, but hadn’t decided if he would gain within
the stories or already have them.
When the fight came up, and I realised
that Chris and Mike were easily out matched, it seemed like the only way to
victory. Of course, things don’t go well for our evil psychiatrist and her
bodyguard, but hey, they were evil, right?
I wasn’t sure if it was too much
until I went onto the next chapter . . .
Day Twenty-Eight – 1070 words
Chris and Mike had finally come
to an agreement and were on the same page. But buddy movies don’t work like
that, right? When the friendship looks like it’s at its most solid, something
has to come along and spoil it.
The overpowering use of Chris’s tattoos
did just that, as Mike outright disagrees with how Chris handled the situation,
totally not agreeing with the violent method that Dr Gellibrand was dealt with.
A wedge has been drawn between the two now, a line representing justice. Chris stands
on one side, willing to do what it takes. Mike stands on the other, firm in the
belief that murder shouldn’t even be a last resort (I’m guessing he wouldn’t
have like the neck snap at the end of
Man of Steel).
I ended with a short chapter
where Mike realises that Chris is holding onto the memory of his childhood when
they were best friends, and he understands now that Chris’ childhood was stolen
from him.
Sadness all around.
Day Twenty-Nine – 1020 words
I was over the moon yesterday
with crossing the finish line but, as with all of my NaNoWriMo projects, just because
I’ve hit my word target, it doesn’t mean that the story’s over.
I thought it funny that, the day
after I hit my word target, I started on the scene that is based on the
original Chris and Mike story from back in January. That’s right, the boys are
finally at the church and, as my i-phone game sometimes says, “zombies are
coming”.
It was a little strange building
on top of what was a 100 word story / scene. The stuff about Chris’ medication
is out (having been much of the first half of the novella this time round) but
the gravestones, the baseball bat club, and the hand grabbing Mike’s foot are
all there.
Brilliant!
So, as I said, there’s still two
days of writing to go, and I am planning to use them (as well as writing the latest
Chris and Mike adventure tomorrow). After that I’ll take a little break before
diving into this projects edit phase and seeing what I can do with the mess.
More on that next week.
Before I go, there is just one
more thing I wanted to talk about.
If you’ve been reading this blog
for a while, then you’ll know that the main thing I write is Flash Fiction. Since
switching to this format as my primary writing method, I’ve had some fantastic
accomplishments.
I have a few weeks of contest judging
under my belt thanks to
Rebecca
Allred.
I had a story picked for June’s
NFFD Flash Flood.
And of course, I’ve had eight stories
published in print thanks to those amazing folks at FDHQ.
Through it all though, there has
been one goal, one trophy, one flaming badge of honour, which I’ve hunted with
a passion. I came close on a couple of occasions, but I’m tremendously excited
to announce that this Friday just gone . . . I got my first ever
Flash!
Friday win!!!!!!!!!
It was an odd Friday, one where I
went into work two and a half hours early to get some writing done. I managed
1604 words for CampNaNo and even found time to get my Flash! Friday entry done.
I thought I could relax for the rest of the day, even so far as taking a book
into read over lunch.
But something kept nagging me all
afternoon, something at the back of my mind wanted out, so that evening I wrote
it down. It was a mess in that early form but I moulded it, taking influence
from where I could. I thought about the Arabian Tales I’d read when I was
younger, and how I couldn’t wait to see the same excitement for reading in my
son’s eyes when he was old enough. I looked to the work of fantastic director
Guillermo del Toro, as well as
fellow Flash writer
Voima Oy. And
when it all came together, I felt it was the best I could have done.
I posted it up and thought
nothing more of it.
When the results went up on
Monday night I couldn’t believe it. It reminded me of my third driving trust
when my brain heard the word ‘fail’ despite the driving instructor saying ‘pass’.
I scrolled up the page and back down again, making sure I’d seen my name in the
correct place on the page. I refreshed the page. I closed down my browser and
pressed the twitter link again.
And then it sunk in. I had finally
accomplished the goal that I’d set myself.
14
months.
61 Flash!
Friday contests.
89
stories.
1st
Flash! Friday winners badge.
See you in seven.
