This is the final time you’ll be blogging for us before it’s all over. How are you feeling?
Aw, shucks. A bit like I’m swimming uphill, but, oh no, I forgot to get in the water. And where are my trousers?
‘Behind on word count but ahead on social life’ seemed to be an issue last week. Are you back on track?
I guess I’m behind on both counts now. I haven’t got out much this week and I’m still behind. Although I do have a couple of regular commitments I still attempted to fulfil. I am coming to the end of a ten week illustration evening class, which means finishing a project by the 4th of December for marking. And I usually volunteer at the office of the Refugee Survival Trust for an afternoon a week, but barely managed to get in an hour this week. I also have to learn at least nine poems by Siegfried Sassoon by Saturday, as I’m taking part in a Dead Poets Slam (like Stars in Their Eyes, but with poets and lower production values). October was quite dull. That’s why I volunteered to do lots of stuff during November. I thought it would make a nice change.
Word count:
28,659. Still not found that missing 10k.
What have The Order of Hephaestus (a shady cult for posh boys who exploit women, the working class, and eat lemon meringue pies) been up to?
The lemon meringue pie got a mention. I’d actually only written that in the blog before, not my novel.
The Order has turned out to be major to the plot. When I started out, I was going to have corporations as the villains. The Order of Hephaestus is in fact the power behind everything: manipulative yet unaccountable. They even erased record of themselves from history.
I turned in the Hallucinogenic Drugs Trip lifeline. There wasn’t much in the way of hallucinations actually. I just used the lowering of inhibitions to make Ana reveal that she was once involved in a way with The Order herself.
Any more characters introduced, or has your narrative settled down?
I described another group of people, known as “grease-monkeys,” who are aficionados of takeaway food.
Then there’s Carruther who is a major player in The Order of Hephaestus. There’s some internal politics going on with these guys. And what’s politics for them is politics for the whole of the city. They are the power behind this society. They think meritocracy is a type of fish salad.
Oh, Francis’s boss at the auction house got a few words in:
“When has a book ever made anyone rich? A bit of sop and paper. The past is in furniture, Francis. Tables and dressers and bloody great bits of oak!”
Your biggest triumph this week:
Getting some plot out there.
And the bit that has made words harder to come by:
My writing is no longer linear. I’m adding to whatever section comes to mind. I think this has made me more productive. However, the flaw is that I have to scroll around the document a lot, hoping I’ll remember an unusual keyword to search for in the section I want.
I haven’t been drinking enough tea. I think this is the secret to good writing. And, indeed, a happy life. Trouble is, I get home from work in the week at 9.30pm, then make and have dinner and it’s suddenly 11pm. At which point, I feel drinking caffeine is an irresponsible and guilty thing. Regardless of the fact that in my own personal time zone it is only 7pm.
Talk to us about your ending. Are you excited to be writing it? What’s the biggest challenge you think you’re going to need to overcome to get there?
I’m not sure what the ending is going to be. I know one big thing that has to happen, but I’m not sure it will be climactic enough. That’s my challenge.
Hopes for next week:
Do as much as I can. Even if the word count isn’t up to scratch, I hope I’ll have completed the bare bones of a story. I don’t really want to come out of this having written yet another half-finished novel. If there is an ending, even a weak one, that’ll be something.
NaNo in a nutshell (week three):
I didn’t even have time to scribble a cartoon. In the cause of illustration though, I have provided the above unflattering selfie. It sums up the week quite well.
(Even my computer is saying “Tosh” at me. Everyone’s a critic.)
[See picture]
For more on NaNoWriMo and to follow our other writers, please take a look here.
Next year, tell everyone that November is fully booked. There will be no deliveries :)
I also want to say that, with a few tweaks, the Order of Hephaestus could describe something in my story I've been sitting on all month but haven't wanted to think about or discuss because it's part of the big finale.
Also, remember that the word-count is all about ego and boasting rights - if you don't hit it, don't abandon the story. Last year I barely made 20k but the novel is now finished and has passed a few beta-reads. All I have to do now for last year's attempt is master writing decent synopses and covering letters - it is as ready for reading as I'll ever get it. Oh, and networking. I'm told I need to do more of that, which is hard because I'm much happier when the world leaves me alone :)