2015 WORD COUNT= 71507
2015 NaNo WORD COUNT= 17995
2015 TOTAL WORD COUNT = 89502
This week has been a lot more of
a roller-coaster than the smooth sailing of last week’s post. Recurring illness
gave me my first non-writing day of this year’s contest (losing me the chance to
obtain one of this year’s new NaNo’ badges), and a struggle with the plot has
caused me to go from racing downhill on roller-skates to trudging waist deep through
golden syrup.
But there is a solution to hand,
a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ button to press. And I’m close to hitting
it.
But first, a look back.
DAY FIVE – 1441 words
When I originally wrote the flash
stories, and even while planning this expanded version, the characters of Chris
and Mike had their adventure while hiking through the woods. Just the two of
them, walking through random woods.
So I was surprised as I got to
work on the trip to find myself creating a sort of Centre Parks style camp site
that had more modern amenities and a lot of civilians.
But I went with it and had some
fun, a particular highlight being the creation of random character Pete Sugar; that
guy you meet when you go away who forces himself into your holiday, who knows
more about the place your staying than the staff, and who just annoys you but doesn’t
seem to ever realise it. I don’t know where he came from, but it sure was fun
writing him. He could end up being the series Sheriff Pepper.
DAY SIX – 1670 words
Once again I experienced a Friday
calamity with my laptop after an error with yesterday’s PC update caused the
device to loop. I used a bit of IT know-how and rolled the update back but had
to redownload programs. With no Wi-Fi at work and 11% battery, getting a Flash!
Friday entry and my NaNo word target done became a challenge. So, instead of
writing in my lunch break, I got a good chunk done at home instead.
I began the main plot, the hike through
the forest. After a discussion over breakfast, and the addition of two girls
from the tent next door, the guy’s head off on a planned activity hike.
Originally I wanted Chris to be
aware of the supernatural goings on from the prologue, but at this point I
changed things so that he wasn’t lying to his friend. I didn’t want their trip
to have ulterior motives.
Hence the creation of the two
girls who join them on the trip. I wanted another victim and, more importantly,
I wanted the disappearance to happen directly to Chris and Mike. So one of the
girls goes missing as the heroes fight about being lost.
And the mystery continues.
DAY SEVEN – 1779 words
This weekend saw a relapse in my
recent illness and I cursed whatever force clearly didn’t want me to participate
in NaNo. I struggled to focus most of the day but suddenly found a drug aided
window of inspiration late after dinner and managed to get some writing done.
Continuing the theme of not
writing what I planned to write, I scrapped the heroes starting to search, and
instead brought the surviving girl and our heroes back to the camp site. Where
the police had been called in.
I liked how this turned out, the
tension of the police keeping an eye on Chris and Mike, and it emphasised that
what he does isn’t public knowledge. Dialogue between Chris and Mike shines light
on what can and can’t be said in front of the general population. Obviously
Chris was released from an institution at the beginning of the previous story,
so he knows where the truth can lead you if you’re not careful.
DAY EIGHT – 0 words
This is the day a lot of NaNo
writers fear. That first day where you can’t find the time, or that motivation
has left you, or your brain just goes ‘stuck!’. After two days of punching
threw a relapse in the flu that I thought I was over, I just didn’t have
anything left in the tank.
It hurt to see my word count
spreadsheet get its first ‘red’ as I went negative for word count, but these
things happen and are easily fixed.
DAY NINE – 3178 words
Today was a glorious day. I had
word count to make up and I was feeling feisty.
After getting into work a little
earlier than normal, I took advantage of an extra half an hour writing time and
somehow managed to get down 1050 words before starting my shift. Add another
1600 for lunch, and rounding out the day with 500 more after dinner, and I hit an
awesomely high word count. Hope I can match it or beat it a couple more times
before the month is out.
So what did I do with those
words? Well, a lot of it was dialogue, as Mike fought to stay out of the
supernatural world that Chris was part of. But his friend talks him round, and
lets him know that fighting evil and their friendship are important together.
After that it was all about
getting the pair from out under the police at the camp site and off into the
woods so that they could begin tracking whatever was haunting the forest. I
could have kept it simple and had them keep to the shadows and take the main
path. But I remembered that I mentioned the camp site having a lake in an
earlier session. I pictured all the different boats these activity centre
places let people use and thought they could cross the lake and sneak into the
woods that way. Of course things are never that simple for Chris and Mike, so I
couldn’t let them just get any old boat. Swan peddle boats seemed in keeping
with the spirit of the stories.
DAY TEN – 1417 words
The search of the forest begins
with Chris showing a little bit more of his magical knowledge, as well as
making Mike feel comfortable with a hand axe for company.
I got them back to the site of
the disappearance before hitting a slight wall that I had feared since I’d
started; walking in the woods can get boring and repetitive.
So I did the only thing I could
think of as I struggled to hit the days word count; I dropped a mysterious haunted
cottage right into their path.
DAY ELEVEN – 1342 words
Another struggle today as I
played around with the purpose behind the cottage. Just throwing it down at the
end of the previous day meant it didn’t come in with any history, so I spent
the start of today’s session building it as the characters moved through it
(thank you google for some spooky images). However, I hit that thick treacle.
My fingers began to itch towards the emergency plan I’d set up for just such an
occasion.
Still, I got home and gave it
another stab; bringing in a mysterious creature and trapping Chris and Mike in
the basement. The output slowed again and I cursed myself for writing my characters
into a damned corner. How could they escape? Secret passage. What else could I do?
I moved my hand away from the big
red emergency button, giving myself another day to see if I can write myself
out of this rut.
I am hoping to lay down some high
word counts this week end. Wish me luck.
And that’s it. I got close to
that dreaded wall, close to coming to a full stop, though I still have that safety
net of just moving onto the next Chris and Mike story. But I’m hoping I don’t
use it. I managed to plan out a nice 2000 word scene which should not only see
me through tomorrow, but get me back out of the red.
And while I’m struggling a little
(it’s nowhere near disaster yet), it’s great to see my FlashDog writing buddies
all speeding off, full steam ahead. There are some fantastic milestones being
hit by my fellow short form experts.
One last thing; yesterday saw the
release of Fallout 4. If you play video games, if you enjoy RPG’s, and if
you’ve had any experience with the previous Fallout games, then you’ll know
that there’s no other time sink like it. And while I lift myself out of several
holes this week (illness, lack of time, writers block,) the biggest challenge I
face now between here and December 1st, is balancing the work/reward
system of writing and then gaming.
Because as any addict will tell you; it’s one thing to say you don’t need
something, but something else entirely to turn away from it.
And this blog post is almost the
length of my daily word count target.
See you in seven.
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