Tag: 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

Camp NaNoWriMo -April

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

As March beings, I came to realize that Camp NaNoWriMo in April is only now 29 days away. After giving it some thought, I decided to participate. However, I’m going to be doing something different this time around. Instead of starting a new novel, I’m going to continue a novel.

The novel I’m specifically talking about is Crimson Queen. I mentioned before that finishing that novel was a goal I have for this year. With NaNoWriMo in April, I think it’s the perfect opportunity to work on one of my goals.

Luckily for me, continuing to work on the novel is going to be a bit easier than starting from scratch. This is due to the fact that I already know what’s going to happen. The outline has already been set. While I might change up some things here and there, for the most part, everything is set in stone. I know I mentioned about letting creativity and the characters move the story, but for this one, the story is already set. All that matters is writing is now. I’ve taken everything that I needed to from the original story of Crimson Queen and implemented it into the revision. I’ve got all my notes and all that’s left is to write.

While April is still some time away, I’m not going to stop working on Crimson Queen. I’m going to keep writing. When April comes around, I’ll be, basically, adding 50k more words to what I already have. Now, I don’t think doing this will be difficult. For one, Crimson Queen is a fantasy novel.

In the original story, I had only written about 30k words for the novel. At the moment, I have around 13k words and I’m just in the beginning. In the months since I finished the original story for Crimson Queen, I have added so much content that wasn’t there originally and there is still so much more to add. While 50k words are a lot, I doubt I will complete the full revision in April. This is the reason why I’m still going to work on the story in March. I want to get a lot of work done so, when April comes around, I can focus on the last 50k words.

In truth, even I can’t exactly gauge how many words it’s going to take me to complete finish the revision before going back in there and proofreading and all that good stuff. However, it’s a start and I think it’s going to go well. But, with all things, only time can tell.

Posted in Writing

The next Step

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s been a week since NaNoWriMo has ended and life for me is starting to return to its normality. I am no longer pressed for time to write the daily word goal for the day. While it’s a nice break from that hectic tine, part of me misses it. I still write everyday but not the same amount. That’ll be something to work on.

However, it is time to look at what comes next. Clan of Blood needs to be rewritten but I won’t jump into that just yet. Writing that story made me realise that the first book lacked some characterization of a particular character and world building as well. Now, this doesn’t mean that I’ll have to rework the entire book. No, I figured I can go into the story and add a few more stuff to it. Luckily, I still have the 8k word edit I can use so Sarah from LoptandCropt can take a look at my manuscript. Who knows, I might have her take a look at the entire story, not just those 8k words.

Even as I beef up Clan of Ash (the first book), I plan on working on my wattpad story and rewriting Crimson Queen. That story is also on wattpad but it was finished. There are even a couple of short stories I want to write so, I’ll be doing that. While college taught me that short stories weren’t my forte, I’ll write them anyways. They’re stories and stories are meant to be written.

Now, thanks to “winning” NaNoWriMo, I get a couple of goodies. One of those prizes happens to be half off Scrivener, a program used to organise novels for instance. I’ve been eyeing this program for a while but haven’t tried it out. I think now would be the perfect time to get it and take it for a spin. From what I read, I think it will be a good investment. I’m also thinking of getting their own program called Scapple. It basically a brain storming program that works like a spider web. The ideas can connect to each other or not at all.

While I usually brain storm on paper, I feel like trying something new and who knows, this way might just work for me.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, updates, Writing

The End is Coming.

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

The end is near.

45k words down,

5,000 words to go.

Writing while fighting a cold is terrible.

Powering through the last few days.

It’s almost over.

I can do this.

You can too.

We got this!