I have zero free time. I have negative free time. But I did it in 2009. I did it in 2011. So I've had my year off and it's time to do it again. And you?

Maybe. I am too lacking in free time and have failed every time I've tried to do this.

I'd like to get some more writing in, but yeah, microscopic free time.

I have free time and an idea that I've been wanting to do and it should be short enough.

But...

I keep saying I need structure.

That comes out to about 6 pages a day, James? I don't think I can do that.

Yes, you can. First of all, forget pages. Between font sizes and margin setting, pages is a meaningless measure. If you take the whole 30 days it's 1666.67 words a day. Every year I have won (two of them) I have done it in 25ish days in order to enjoy Thanksgiving. That's 2000 words a day. The first time around I did that in about two to three hours a day. The next time I did it in less time. How much less I don't know. All I know is that I didn't spend three hours a day any day.

The keys are this:

• Throw perfection out the window. You are grinding out words. Do that. Rewrite as little as humanly possible. Perfect it after it's done.
• Start with premises and characters you have a burning desire to say something about.
• Don't be locked in to a precise destination. If your characters are well-formed, they'll take you places you hadn't planned.
• About halfway through, introduce a new character into the mix and see how he or she reacts to the other characters and vice versa. Repeat this trick at the three quarters pole if needed.
• Do it every day. If you turn it into a habit, by the end you'll be pumping out pages.

You can do it, Rick. I know you can.

Well, as I said, I have an idea. And after some thought the past few days, that's about all I have. Now I agree that one should let the characters steer you but I need at least a bare outline to go by. Past experience teaches me that even a detailed outline will become that which I deviate from, but still I need something. And right now, I got pretty much nuthin'. So as far as a "burning desire" goes, I would say this is not it.

I do wish I had thought about this sooner.

So right now, it looks like I may have to wait until next year.

I did check your numbers against what I have typed in PageMaker before and it comes out to more or less 3 pages a day which is doable.

If I knew where I was going.

I started this morning. Only got about four hundred words in before work, but I'm going to hit it hard this weekend and then try to get in a groove. I only have the vaguest idea of where I am trying to go and I am sure that where I will end up will be somewhere completely different, but it's kind of fun in a masochistic way. And like with most things I write, I will like it better after I have forgotten what I wanted it to be and just take it for what it is.

Good luck on your respective NaNoWriMo projects!

The month sneaked up on me. I've spent part of the year working on a sequel to my own NaNoWriMo project of a couple of years back. It's a rather ambitious work, and after completing several chapters I decided to shelve it for a while.

This has been an awfully busy year. I've been doing more work-related writing lately, which has left me with less desire to write for pleasure.

All right. I'm going to try this. I don't have much of an outline and I'm (most likely) going to need a Second Act but I can get started, anyway.

I don't know if I'll be following through on this, but even if I don't I will be writing this month. I might just do it at a slower and more manageable pace. If I get to the goal by the end of the month woohoo, if not I'll keep working on it.

Honestly I'm not sure if I even want the entire story to be 50,000 words.

Novels of around 50,000 word length.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (46,333 words)
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (52,000 words)
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (50,776 words)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (50,061 words)
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Cool info, Rick.

Words today 2007. Total words 2007.

Charles Portis' novels tend to be about that length as well, I believe.

Actually that IS a pretty good length. It's enough room to put in quite a bit of story and characterization, but not enough to make things drag. I've heard that writers for young adults are also encouraged to bring their books in at about that length--unless it's a fantasy series; those can run on for hundreds and hundreds of pages, evidently.

The novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago came in around 50,000 words. That seemed to be just about write for that story.

Ah, well. I know myself and i knew I would need more to go on then what I had. So, I'm out already. I will need to do much more research and have a more detailed outline.

I wrote a page but even within that I was floundering around.

So provided i can finish the comic I'm working on and have time to have a proper roadmap after that, maybe next year.



Good luck, James

It's funny, Rick. I cannot write a screenplay without an outline, but the second novel I just wrote until it was done. (The first novel was a synthesis of four short stories and doesn't really count in my mind.) I started with three characters and an idea and everything just sort of appeared, including the very important villain of the piece.

Already with the current book, what little plan I had originally has mostly gone by the wayside. I spent almost the entire first chapter on a character that was supposed to be a one note throwaway and will now play a much more central role in things. By the decision of what I was having the protagonist do in the second chapter (today's writing) I brought back a character from the first book I had no intention of using and he, too, will now play a larger role than I intended (which was none).

By the time this is over, I have a feeling this novel is going to be something completely different than I ever thought about.

You guys are making me want to write…

Okay. An hour later and I have almost 500 words.

Words today 2012. Total words 4019.

Well, you're on track for a short novel/ larger novella. Great job, James.

The thing is, on my Fantasy-Novel-That-I-Will-Never-Finish i have an outline but new chapters and new characters still pop up. One of the best so far (I think) was not even in the outline at all. So having a plan is no detriment to that part of the process.

But I still need one.

I would post that chapter in here somewhere but I don't think anybody reads this stuff so there wouldn't be much feedback.