Nanowrimo: Progress on Gypsy Moon

This pic (courtesy of Jorbasa, flickr creative commons) captures the mood of my latest novel in progress, Gypsy Moon

Well, I’m one week into Nanowrimo, and I must confess it’s going better than I could have anticipated. Despite the lateness of my planning compounded by the surprise wedding of my daughter (I really think I was certifiable on Tuesday), my word count is on track, 14,238 as of this morning, and my novel currently titled Gypsy Moon is unfolding nicely.

Things I have learned in my first week of self-imposed compulsory writing:

1.       When I really, really want to, I can write much faster than I thought I could. Of course, deadlines, self-imposed or not, have always been motivating to me.

2.       In the past, I would reread and edit my previous few pages prior to starting writing. This is a time killer and actually does little to get me in the zone. I’d thought it helped immerse me in my story world, and if I’ve had a week-long lapse in writing, maybe such a review would be necessary. But with regular writing, I only reread a sentence or two to see where I need to pick up.

3.       While it is fun treat to read over pages written on previous days, I’m forcing myself to refrain from any serious editing, which is very time consuming. Instead, my focus is digging my little pearl from my brain. When that’s complete, the true polishing will begin.

4.       Since my plotting got off to a late start, I’ve taken a different approach than I have at other times. We’ll see by the end if this helps or if I end up with a winding mess. I’ve plotted the Inciting Event (the incident that sets the novel in motion), the first turning point, the second turning point, the end and a few key scenes in between. As I’ve written with those things in mind, I’ve discovered that other key scenes and plot twists come to mind as I go and I’ve added these to my outline. This is easier for me than staring at a blank screen and willing the creative juices to flow into my plot plan. When I combine it with writing, I think both my plotting and writing are more effective.

5.       At this point, I’m focusing on writing only each necessary scene, with no transitional connections between them. This forces me to jump around, highlighting only the most important events, which is what the writer is supposed to do anyway. In the past, I’ve gotten bogged down on how the principal characters got from here to there when it really doesn’t matter. This time around, I may need to add a little connective ideas between scenes, but that is much easier than cutting pages of transitions that contribute little to the plot.

At this point in Nanowrimo and Gypsy Moon, I am hopeful, excited and ready to write.

What motivates you to finish projects? What helps you keep on track?