Tag: camp nanowrimo

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Ready, Set . . .

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Camp NaNoWriMo starts in a day and I’m not exactly prepared. While I do know what I’m going to be working on next month, I might not be mentally prepared for this task.

Now, while I have participated in NaNoWriMo before, I don’t think I will ever be mentally prepared to write 50k words in one month. It doesn’t get any easier. It’s going to be a challenge.

I’m not nervous or anxious. Not really. It’s more like I’m already thinking of potential lack of motivation and hair pulling down the line. Granted, I’ve always finished NaNoWriMo and gotten through tough spots but even so, I can’t help but think of what’s in store. I guess this just means that I have to manage my time a bit more than I have been. (I might have to cut back on gaming. Yikes!)

As of right now, I haven’t downloaded Scrivener on to my desktop yet. I’m really hoping I can download the program to a flash drive so I can take it anywhere with me. Probably not but a girl can hope. If it doesn’t work, I’ll manage. It’ll work out in the end.

For those participating in Camp NaNoWriMo I wish you the best of luck. May the odds be forever in our favor.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Uncategorized, Writing

Preparation Complete

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Preparing for April has been very smooth. In part, it has to do with the fact that I’m rewriting a story I’ve already written. At this point, I have a good idea of where I want the story to go.

Even before the rewrite, I knew where the story was going. That was always present in my mind. The character development, background information, and subplots, on the other hand, need a bit more work. That is what I’m focusing on in rewriting the story.

Of course, preparing for Camp NaNoWriMo or just preparing to write a novel or even the other half of a story can be tough. You can prepare so many things but at the end of the day, you could scrape the entire thing. It’s happened to me more times than I can count.

While I can prepare for all situations of what might occur when I’m writing, I have a bit of confidence that I won’t loose my way, so to speak. IMHP (in my humble opinion), I believe that rewriting a novel might be easier than first starting out. Here are three of my reasons.

First, at least I have a basis of the story. I’ve put my thoughts and ideas down on paper. It doesn’t have to be great but at least I have something written down. I might not use everything or even anything at all but that’s okay.

Second, it’s something you can proofread/mark up. I like to print out the story and mark it up with a red pen. I write my comments on it and I have something visual to go back to whenever I need it. Personally, I’m not a big fan of editing on a screen. I have always found it more useful to me to write out corrections and comments.

Lastly, at least the story exists. It is out there and that just makes it all the better. This motivates me to work to make the story better. It’s the process that solidifies the main storyline and other aspects I want to include.

In essence, everyone has their own methods on how they do things. Finding what works for you is just another step in the process.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Fixing Details

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Spring Break has been, for all intents and purposes, very productive for me. During one of my rereads of Clan of Ash, I discovered a slight plot hole. It’s not really a plot hole. It’s more like the suspension of disbelief would have been stretched very far. And I like to avoid that.

Fixing this wasn’t too hard. I was able to make some dialogue changes. Some scenes had to be reworked but all in all, it went well. I still have to rewrite an entire scene though and make a few modifications down the road. Luckily, I printed out the manuscript and made some notes for me. I find easier to edit on paper as oppose to editing on my computer. I don’t have to scroll too much. Plus it’s easy for me to organize everything.

One thing I will say about organization is that I have yet to try Scrivener. As some might recall, I mentioned that as one of the winner of NaNoWriMo last November we got some goodies. One of those goodies involved a coupon of sorts for Scrivener. I plan to put this to use for Camp NaNoWriMo in April.

I’m looking forward to the experience and how it’ll effect my work from now. It should be interesting.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

The End is HERE!

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Camp-2017-Winner-Profile-Photo

Today is the last day of Camp NaNoWriMo and I have “won”!  I admit, for a couple of days, I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I persevered and completed my goal. It was such a wonderful and terrible journey. At this point, I’m exhausted but this story did make me realize that I have a long way to go before Blue Moon is ready to meet the world.

There’s no much more planning and tweaking I have to do. However, before that, I have to finish the story. 50,000 words was not enough for me to complete the novel. I’m going to need more than that. I haven’t decided if I want to use NaNoWriMo in November to do this. I might just end up working on another story. It’s up in the air. I’ll leave that for another day.

Right now, I’m celebrating.

I’m just glad it’s over.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Camp NaNoWriMo, Day 3

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

I’m happy to announce that both my collaboration and side story are progressing as planned. So far, I’m keeping up with the word count. Luckily, I know how my side story is going to end so that has helped me quite a bit.

My sister and I are working hard on the collaboration project. Since there are two of us, we’ve been making some progress. Plus, with the extra pair of eyes, we can help each other reach the word count for the way. Some of the story has been planned out so we haven’t hit any writer’s block or anything. Even if we do, I’m confident we’ll be able to push past it.

One of the biggest issues I had to deal with today was with my side story. I’ve called it Blue Moon. This morning, I  started typing up notes to myself on how the story should progress. As I typed, I realized that I started the story with a scene that could be used later in the story.

Because of this, I wrote the beginning again. I think it was a good idea because the scene before will be of use later. With this beginning, I could show more of my main character’s characteristics and basically, why she belonged in this story. Plus, it also helps put into light her motivation for doing what she does and living how she has been living. Despite being the first draft, I like to make everything as perfect as I can the first time.

I know it won’t always be perfect and sometimes I just have to push through the awkward scenes and get to the other parts. It’s fine to skip around in my opinion. If I’m having trouble with a scene, I leave a note and move on. I don’t like feeling stumped because I can’t get a scene perfect. There’s a reason revision and editing exist.

For now, everything is going well. I hope my good luck streak continues.