NaNoWriMo Day 12: The "My Writing World Got Turned Upside Down" Edition

Progress on FAST GIRLS has stalled. Indefinitely.

I know. I'm ashamed for me.

But something really tricky happened. Initially for NaNo, I was going to finish my other wip CHAOS THEORY, which needed about 30k more words and spend the other 20k on a free online novella. Well. About a week before NaNo, that wip broke. Shattered. Gave up on life. I had no idea how to fix it or go forward, so I speed outlined FAST GIRLS and said THIS IS THE ONE.

And then, I heard a song and it came to me. I figured out the problem and resumed work on CHAOS THEORY--the heavens parted and the world made sense again.  It's turning out better than I could've hoped, falling perfectly in line with my brand of books I plan to write and seek publication for.

NaNoWriMo Prayer Circle

NaNoWriMo is intense as hell--speed drafting at it's finest. You know what else it? A mirror. Every time I open the draft of FAST GIRLS, every writing insecurity I have comes out in full force. I need to get push them. I need to keep writing. I need to...

I need to make my peace with the fact that I do not know my book's target age demographic at this time.
I need to make my peace with the fact that this book is not a romance and so very far out of my comfort zone.
I need to make my peace with the fact that going back to edit, at this point in time, would not be a good idea.
I need to make my peace with the fact that this draft is going to blow to the high heavens.
I need to make my peace with the fact that while I will write 50k words, the book will not be finished.
I need to make my peace with the fact that this will probably be the longest book I have ever written.
I need to make my peace with the fact that I'm probably going to be working on this book for double the amount of time it would normally take me. The thing is, I don't know if I have the focus to do something like that. I hope I do. I would really love for FAST GIRLS to go... somewhere.
I need to make my peace with the fact that I have the ability and desire to make this magical idea of mine and shape it into a marvelous book worthy of publication.



Have you ever felt like this?
What do you need to acknowledge?
What will being you peace?

The Setup, The Jig is Up

After much trial and error, I have honed my writing process down to four not-so-easy steps:

1. Blueprints
2. Skeleton Draft
3. Muscle Draft
4. Skin Draft

In another life, my name was Frankenstein--building bodies from corpses and amniotic fluid up. Now, I'd like to think I've chilled the fuck out and only play God in my fantasy worlds. I find if I make a skeleton draft first (just get it out beginning to end regardless of how terrible it is) and revise chapter by chapter in layers, I have a higher chance of finishing a manuscript.  

This might not work for you but it is, what it is. On average, I'll go through three drafts so:

Blueprints - I am in between a pantser and plotter. I like the freedom of letting a story shape itself, but I absolutely must know how it ends and what are some key landmarks that will get me there. If I don't, I can guarantee that I will not finish that MS. Using a three act structure, I outline the basic arc for the external world (main plot) and the protagonists internal journey. I will also include subplots if I know them. I plan to make a blog post later to explain this step in detail.

Skeleton Draft – It will primarily consist of dialogue, some detailed scenes where I was in the moment, have lots of things skipped, etc but it’s complete. Usually a low word count of between 20k-30k and I have a separate word doc filled with half-formed ideas for later. After it's done, I read the whole thing and use track changes to make notes.

Muscle Draft – This is where I take that Skeleton and retype the whole thing. I'm not kidding. Usually, I do this by having to word doc windows open side by side. Everything I skipped is filled in, in order, characters are fleshed out (descriptions & backstories), I add in Five Senses Descriptions. The word count should double, if not triple during this process.

Cutaneous Draft – Now, its time to print this baby out, and give it some cool tattoos with a red pen. Sentence level edits; grammar, typos, making sure the language is doing what I want it to and is as effective as it could be. I pay particular attention to emotion – making sure the main character’s internal dialogue has well-rounded moments of reflection. If the word count is still low, I brainstorm ways to pad it (highly unlikely that it will be needed at this point)

Skin Draft – Only if I need it. For example, if I send out the MS and it’s not getting the response I hoped for, I’ll find a critique partner (or pay for someone to write an edit letter) then fix it. I usually only do this ONCE. Too many cooks, as they say.

And that's my process! 

What about you? How do you ensure you will finish your manuscripts? What methods do you use when writing?

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 3!

Current Word Count: 4471

My habit of waking up in the dead of night to write/get my words in has continued. Yesterday, I couldn't tell if my introvert batteries were low or if I was just being lazy. I felt extremely down about things and my writing and was like "Hey, random towel, come here so I can throw you."

I decided it was my batteries and went to bed at like 6 pm. When I woke up at 1 am, I wrote my NaNo words and had some rather fantastic urges to pullout another story and write some words for it. Not sure what I'm going to do with this second book, or how much time I can devote to it on any given week. For right now, I'm going to ride the creativity train for as long as I can get away with it (because I damn for sure do not have a ticket).

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 2!

Current Word Count: 2599

Yeah. So I woke up at 11:30 pm on the first and spit out some words because Daylight Savings Time had me all kinds of messed up (Thanks, America). But! I am on track to catch up. However! I have stumbled into my first roadblock in this next chapter.

I need some good music to help me through it! Right now I'm listening to this: Madoka Playlist because I am an absolute anime nerd.

My Writing History

This isn't my first rodeo, son.

(Side note: I am really into cliched and antiquated phrases. Bear with me)

I decided I wanted to be a writer while in community college a few years ago. I had tinkered around with fiction here and there growing up, but I wasn't one of those child prodigies we the people hear so much about. During a creative writing class, I had a story titled DADDY'S LITTLE MONSTER (subtle, right?) workshopped.

My class loved it. My professor loved it and made copies for other members of the faculty (I kid you not, my friend). I loved it (even though I nearly threw up writing it--that's a story for another day). Of those three things, the last one was the most important. No, not the throwing up, but me, creating something I was proud of for other people to enjoy.

Fast forward to January 2014. I am now a college graduate with a BA in English and no clue what to do with it. I had a day job, an apartment, a cat, and no substantial social life to speak of (because hello, obvious cat lady here). One day, I woke up and said, I'm going to write a book. So I did and kept going. That year, I completed five novels at 55k+ words and a novella. Some of those works have seen and are currently seeing the light of day. I also queried one of those novels, received my first R&R with a lengthy edit letter from a fantastic agent, completed my revisions and then received a crushing rejection. But really, the point of that year was I learned to hone my craft and what the word DISCIPLINE meant. 

Now, it's October 2015. So far this year, I have revised three novels from 2014, completed two new novels, and have a half-finished draft I'm tinkering with. Quite the dramatic slowdown from my prolific first year, eh? This year, I've been studying the publishing industry and let me tell you, she is one cutthroat bitch. I've learned how to write a proper query, a synopsis, editing and plotting techniques, marketing, becoming acquainted with my primary demographic's industry expectations,  etc. This has been a year of learning for me--finding my voice, further honing my style, and becoming a PLOTTER (which is still wild as hell to me).

My goal for January 2016 is to begin the steps toward querying FAST GIRLS. I write and edit hot, meaning I draft and go straight into two rounds of revisions with no breaks. For me, distance from my MS is a bad, bad thing. This process usually takes me two months. During NaNo, I plan to have daily check-ins and will blog more about my writing process at least once per week.

I hereby solemnly swear (I am up to no good).

Anagram Nation Lives

Hello! This is a thing that is happening! And I'm not sure why? But it is...

So, officially my name is Annie and unofficially, it's an anagram of Annie, but I like to keep my identities separate on the internet. Well, I suppose I have now discovered why this here thing, is, in fact, a thing.

So (again), like most of the populous seems to be, I am a writer, and this identity (Annie, please do keep up) is embarking on completing a novel for NaNoWriMo 2015. I hope to complete, revise, revise, revise, and query the book I will be working on titled, FAST GIRLS. I wanted one place to document the impending struggle I'm embarking upon (because Anagram Annie is already out and about and writing in the internet ether) that will hopefully take me from NaNo newbie to agented and traditionally published author.

So (last time, I swear), I welcome you to Anagram Nation.