November is a hard month because for thirty days I’m vomiting out a novel. It kind of hurts a little, you know?
NaNo, of course, isn’t all like that: It’s an eb and flow of happy moments, sad moments, pits of despair and utter terror… It’s press and worry and online social interactions and word wars and forgetting how to type.
(But mostly forgetting how to type.)
On day one I was greatly concerned because I went to type and found that I was having great trouble doing so. (that was day one) Even now I’m stumbling and leaving letters out as I go. Believe, this blog post will have been spellchecked the heck out of by the time you get to read it. 😉 I spelled November “Novemeber” twice in this post. *dies*
Originally I’d planned this post to be a look at each day, and the tweets that I tweeted… but Cait posted her Beautiful Books thing yesterday. (or was it Friday? ITS NOVEMBER I CAN’T THINK OR SPELL OR ANYTHING AND IM TRYING TO WRITE A BOOK OKAY?!) So that’s happening now.
Cait *ahem* has already FINISHED NaNo. We won’t be talking about her. (actually congratulations, Cait, because that is something I cannot and do not want to do. ever… XD)
I’ll be hoping around because I’ve already answered a few of these questions above. 😉
What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?
I’m very happy with my line:
I always knew pizza would be my downfall— I just didn’t expect it to work out the way it did.
What do you love about your novel so far?
To be honest, my feelings are pretty stagnant right now. There have been moments of “YES” quickly followed by moments of:
Okay… and now it’s writing time. Now we go and write… right after I get my music on… okay… writing. yes… its writing time now…
— Jeneca Z. (@jenecawrites) November 2, 2016
And then:
hahahahahah this story is totally not a wreck already what are you talking about??
— Jeneca Z. (@jenecawrites) November 3, 2016
But it hasn’t all been bad. I just haven’t gotten to writing all the “YES YES YES FEEEELSSS” Parts. I’ll check back with you in a week after I reach my midtwis-point thing. 😉
What is your favorite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?
Oh goodness. It’s all hard. I like writing the pinch point scenes in all of these places: the inciting incident, the moment where an old character meets another old character the dark night of the soul, the plot twist.
It’s just all the other parts that are hard. Hah. I like writing the parts I’ve already had ideas for…?
Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes?
Best typo of the day:
“The guard smacked me with the back of her hand before I could even doge it.” pic.twitter.com/A4gkG9Pbr4— Jeneca Z. (@jenecawrites) November 5, 2016
What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!
My writing space is a WRECK. But I have been typing under a blanket on my favorite chair. And at my desk. And in the library.
Chocolate (70% cacaco with peanut butter on top) and some kind of warm drink. Like tea or chai or a good mocha.
Who’s your current favorite character in your novel?
Currently I’ve been writing about one character: Ember. It’s in her POV and sure there’s a few other people. But right now it’s all her. I’ve just started to introduce a few others, but it’s mainly been her for the pass 13k words. 😅
Dilema: My MC keeps trying cuss but I’ve never written language in one of my novels and this is a YA Christian book. pic.twitter.com/WNNdsyYoWK
— Jeneca Z. (@jenecawrites) November 1, 2016
Also my contagonist Dai. He’s annoyingly wonderful.
How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)?
I’m somewhere between that. I appreciate a cheer squad but then I become an airhead. I haven’t share many detail switch my story to anyone (except my cursing dilemma with Ember. I shared that with my mom) so I’m not sure where I fall on this one.
What keeps you writing even when it’s hard?
I have a story and I want to tell it. this is book three, I’m so close to having all three books in my reach and then being able to go back and edit them all to seamlessness. ❤
What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice?
–Don’t give up! If it’s getting hard, get up, take a break, take a walk. Come back to your story with fresh eyes.
–Don’t be afraid to ask for help or suggestions. Or research stuff. Just don’t spend a lot of time worrying about everything being perfect. This is NaNoWriMo after all lol.
–ABSOLUTELY NO SPELL CHECKING. Okay, on occasion this is allowable. but I’ve turned off all forms of spell check this year and it’s wonderful not having it distracting me any more.
Ugh! I’ve reavched a bad place suddenly, too!!! What’s with that??? It’s the first time I’ve had any real trouble…
It’s like… I just can’t stop second-guessing myself??? Like why am I even doing this???? My novel is awful!!!
Also that is so funny that one of your characters want to curse but Christian novel = no-go. 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Yep. Second guessing is basically another word for NaNoWriMo. Just stick to your plan, don’t doubt yourself (this is a rough draft, after all. There will always be those opportunists to edit) and go for it! 😀
I’ve thankfully found some workarounds for my MC’s habits. haha.
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I got a little less than halfway in NaNo a few days ago, but I haven’t written anything in a couple days because of some stuff. Plus my novel decided it wanted to pants, and not plot. :b
Good luck to you, and may the words be in your favor.
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May the words be ever in your favor as well, Soleil!
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Oooh cool!! I wish I could do NaNo except (like I probably said before) school+music+drama=too much. (I’m kind of a repeating parrot). Go you for managing all of this! And also knowing how to drive. That is impressive. (I think you mentioned this in another post and it just occurred to me now). My advice on the cursing thing: you are not your character. If the cursing represents who they are, ( and not who you are as a writer who doesn’t curse) then I say, go for it. You could also try using like stars or something to represent what he’s saying? Or just say something like ‘a long stream of colourful words emanated from [characters name]’s direction.’ I don’t know, these things are complicated. But honestly there are worse things than a bad word out there. *shrugs* up to you, I guess. (also, I just spelled that shurgs so).
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Thank you for the reminder that I’m not my character… it’s easy to not see that. Thankfully this timea round my MC is very different from me, unlike past MC that were basically me to an extreme. XD And you’re definitely right about there being worse things than language in a book.
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