BITEABLE CHUNKS....
One of my goals for this year is to finish the YA novel that I began last year. I blithely stated - to my writing group- TO FINISH YA NOVEL.
That was it. No word limit to hit, no date when to finish - nothing. Hmm perhaps you see the problem? With nothing definite I could write 10,000 words (is that really called a novel) and have it finished- first draft- by the 31st December.
So, with the help of a writing buddy, we sat down and managed to cut this goal into biteable chunks.
It was decided that because I write 'other stuff' as well as work on the novel- that a goal of between 700 - 1000 words a week was do-able. And at first I thought, wow that's a lot of words. I mean I'm not solely focusing on the novel.
I also write- Poetry - short story- spoken word - book reviews (for work) - reinvent nursery rhymes and songs (for work) - non-fiction - not to mention editing, re-editing, final editing in the preparation for sending stuff out into the ether - and other stuff (proposals and comments and other stuffs that I find intriguing along the way)
But two months in- and this way of slicing the goal into biteable chunks is working- I'm writing between 4,000 to 4,500 a month (on the novel). And interestingly enough my writing is very organic. I don't really have a set plan, I'm in one way writing by the 'seat of my pants'. Which is liberating yet scary at the same time.
What happens if I run out of oomph because I have no clearly defined chapter outline?
What happens if new characters pop up out of nowhere?
Does it matter if characters change along the way?
At the moment I'm going with it. I try to finish each writing day in the middle of something strong- so when I go back to it - re-read what has become before I can throw myself back into it.
And for now it's working. What more do I need?
That was it. No word limit to hit, no date when to finish - nothing. Hmm perhaps you see the problem? With nothing definite I could write 10,000 words (is that really called a novel) and have it finished- first draft- by the 31st December.
So, with the help of a writing buddy, we sat down and managed to cut this goal into biteable chunks.
It was decided that because I write 'other stuff' as well as work on the novel- that a goal of between 700 - 1000 words a week was do-able. And at first I thought, wow that's a lot of words. I mean I'm not solely focusing on the novel.
I also write- Poetry - short story- spoken word - book reviews (for work) - reinvent nursery rhymes and songs (for work) - non-fiction - not to mention editing, re-editing, final editing in the preparation for sending stuff out into the ether - and other stuff (proposals and comments and other stuffs that I find intriguing along the way)
But two months in- and this way of slicing the goal into biteable chunks is working- I'm writing between 4,000 to 4,500 a month (on the novel). And interestingly enough my writing is very organic. I don't really have a set plan, I'm in one way writing by the 'seat of my pants'. Which is liberating yet scary at the same time.
What happens if I run out of oomph because I have no clearly defined chapter outline?
What happens if new characters pop up out of nowhere?
Does it matter if characters change along the way?
At the moment I'm going with it. I try to finish each writing day in the middle of something strong- so when I go back to it - re-read what has become before I can throw myself back into it.
And for now it's working. What more do I need?
Writing without an outline is scary...this is the way I write (mostly) and all of the things you mentioned happen along the way but I always manage to move forward (or at the very least jump ahead & come back to that difficult bit). I guess what I'm saying is, as long as you keep writing that's all that really matters. Goals help a lot - it's where the sense of accomplishment comes from which feeds back in to the writing, keeping you moving towards those words 'The End'.
ReplyDeleteit is scary isn't it? and i agree- as long as you keep going it should work out- when something 'strange' happens - i leave it for now but wonder if subconsciously I've thought about it- and that there is a reason why this new character has emerged et.
ReplyDeleteThis writing business is definitely an interesting one :)
I admire your perseverance and I hope it works for you. Writing without an outline is scary and when you finally get to the end after x months then have to decide how to fix it up, you feel as if you've wasted months going in the wrong direction. As this is my prefered method I speak from experience. I've had 3 YAF in a row knocked back and my confidence is lower than a flatworm's. All I am managing is 3 pages a week...then I wonder why I even bother. I'm working on developing a different method that won't waste as much time.
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