awfully early for that "this is shit" feeling...

[rivendellrose]

I can't seem to find the right tone for my NaNo project. Usually this sort of thing sorts itself out by about 4,000 words in, but I'm still struggling this year. I just can't seem to get comfortable in how I'm telling the story - nothing sounds right. ARGH.

Comments

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

If you just keep going maybe you'll be inspired further into it and be able to change it up some?
That must be so frustrating for you, I hope you get what you need soon.

[bradhanon.livejournal.com]

Man, have I been there. I still have half a chapter of what started as a NaNo, but half a chapter in I realized I didn't have the faintest idea of who any of these characters were, and showed so signs of figuring it out.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Dunno if this helps, but I'll just say "Remember--NNWM doesn't care how good the words are, it just wants you to put them on paper. 'Good' is for the next pass."

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

I'm just a tad bit further than you, but I'm having that feeling too. The peptalk I gave myself this morning was that this is OK - With a 50,000 word minimum, you could still be in the introduction at this point. Lots of exposition, introducing of characters and you don't really have to jump into rising action for a bit yet. Relax. It'll be fine!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

With a 50,000 word minimum, you could still be in the introduction at this point.

Heheheheh. That's exactly where I'm at, yes - I know this thing is going to be longer than the minimum, and I definitely know the piece I'm working on right now is the intro. I really do need to just relax and get used to the idea that I'm not going to know what I'm doing yet, this is just a first draft, and it doesn't matter yet.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Eh, it's a first draft. I think it's too much to try to worry about tone and theme and things like that when you're concentrating on getting your characters and your story down on character for the first time. You may write your way into the right tone for you, or you may not. Just don't let it get you stuck, fussing over just the right words or anything like that.

(I was doing this the other day, when I couldn't get rid of a widow, and I spent ten minutes screwing around before I finally told myself that it was a first draft and it didn't matter. It was hard, though.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Just don't let it get you stuck, fussing over just the right words or anything like that.

Yup, that's exactly what I'm struggling with right now. I'm usually pretty good at shutting off during NaNo and just blathering through, but this year it's a lot of niggling little 'oh, but maybe I should change the POV in this scene,' and 'wouldn't this work better in third person?' and all that. Which means that so far I've written the same scene twice trying to find the right way to go about it, and still feel unsure about it. Not bad for the word count, but not great for my confidence.

The other problem is that normally when I write, I edit as I go. My process is usually reread what I wrote yesterday (or a bit that I think needs work), edit through, then keep going from there. I'm constantly going back, changing things, rewriting bits, etc. I'm usually good at not doing that during NaNo, but it's always hard.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

The other problem is that normally when I write, I edit as I go. My process is usually reread what I wrote yesterday (or a bit that I think needs work), edit through, then keep going from there. I'm constantly going back, changing things, rewriting bits, etc.

This is one of the many, many reasons I handwrite. Because it is a pain in the ass to go back and edit, so it keeps me moving forward. But, when I type pages up, I get a bit of an editorial pass over the material. Sometimes it's just a polish, sometimes I end up revising quite a bit; it depends. Plus, for me, handwriting makes me really think about what I'm writing before I start - how the scene starts, how it ends, how I'm dramatizing the conflict - so I feel like I eliminate the actual first draft before I even start writing.

Of course, I'm not writing as many actual words as you folks, so I don't know how well it would work for prosy-things.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

This is one of the many, many reasons I handwrite. Because it is a pain in the ass to go back and edit, so it keeps me moving forward.

That's one of the reasons hand-writing works really well for me as a... de-sticking exercise, when I feel too panicky to write at the computer. I can go away, leave the computer, pick up one of my notebooks, and write a bunch of pages without feeling at all freaked out, when, if I was sitting at the computer, I'd just be staring at a blank page.

Alas, if I did the majority of my writing by hand it would just plain never get onto the computer because it'd take too long to transcribe. And my hand would probably be a claw by the time I finished anyway. *Sighs*

But yeah, I might have to do some writing by hand to see if that doesn't free a few things up.

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

I had exactly that feeling last night. I'm about a day behind in wordcount and I just had that horrible feeling like the characters were all flat and possibly insipid. This morning it seems likely that they are a little on the flat side because I'm under 5,000 words and I haven't yet captured their voices.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, looking back at it with a night's sleep in me, I'm pretty sure this is just the usual paranoia that hits around 5,000 when I just haven't got it yet.

Not to be confused with the paranoia at 15,000 when I generally realize my plot is more tenuous than I'd thought, or at 35,000 when I start to think of a bunch of other great ideas I should've done instead. :P

Just have to keep repeating "it's a draft, it's a draft, it's a draft..."

[diea.livejournal.com]

Is it encouraging if I say that I got my copy of the magazine today, and I read the one I think it yours, and I liked it? I wish there was more to it though, because it's just long enough to make me want to know more without actually having anything happen yet. Not that I'm trying to distract you from Nano, but I really want to know what happens! :p Good luck with Nano.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awwww, you're so sweet to say that! ♥ Mine is the first chapter of a serial, so there shall be more - we've already had a few planning sessions about upcoming chapters, and I anticipate more in the future.

(Also, I've decided there's little point in being coy about my connection to the specific story since, hell, I've already link to the mag in an open entry, so I should mention that mine is "The Prince of Ashaltan." Just in case I'm accidentally getting someone else's kudos. ;) )

[diea.livejournal.com]

Haha, I thought so! :)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Very glad to hear you liked it, then! XD