Tag: preparing for NaNoWriMo

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Final Preparations

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

There’s only a week left before the start of NaNoWriMo but I’m not freaking out. Not yet at least. For the next few days, I’ll be outlining and making notes on important scenes that need to happen in the story. The only issue that I see coming up is the fact that the current story is about 74 chapters long but those chapters aren’t that long. They’re about 1k -1.2k words in length. Not much to work with.

With this story (TVPGTHS), I need to have almost everything planned out. There’s not going to be much room for flexibility. It’s troubling because normally, I do leave room for the story to change but this time, I can’t. This mainly has to do with the fact that I am rewriting this story. I guess that means that I’m not exactly ‘participating’ in NaNoWriMo, I just happen to have the same deadline. However, personally, I still think it can work. I’m starting the story from scratch. I’m not using any of what I have already written. I’ll be rewriting every single word.

As of right now, I’m not sure if I’ll be using any writing software. Google Docs has been really good to me so far and I can take it anywhere. I think I’ll stick with that for now until a better option comes along.

I haven’t decided how many posts I’ll be able to publish during November. If anything, they won’t be very long but I’ll keep everyone updated on progress.

Posted in Resources, Writing

Sweek and Contests

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

As November draws closer, I’ve been busy and productive lately. Not only have I started rewriting a certain story from wattpad that I don’t like, I’ve also entered a screenplay contest on Sweek. I’ve only recently discovered the website and I have yet to draw any conclusions from it. I also haven’t invested a lot of time on there but that might change.

For this screenplay contest, you can follow the link here, I decided to write up one of my little writing exercises I’ve posted on here. Can you guess which one it is? Not to leave anyone in suspense and because it is October, I decided to write ‘Summons‘ as a screenplay. I extended the ending and I changed a few things up. You can find my entry here.

I’ve also decided to enter in a few more contests as well. Thanks to Freelance Writing, I was able to find most of these contests. Some of those include #MicroBlue, ServiceScape Short Story Award 2018, and Beartooth Anthony’s Halloween Campfire Story Contest. I’ll probably not enter in all of them but, for the most part, I’ll enter in a few.

My focus is still preparing for NaNoWriMo. The next step is to write an outline of the story I’ll be working on. I’ve decided that I’m not going to use any of the original work if I can help it. It’s going to be a brand new story with the same characters and story but just told differently. It does help that I have certain scenes and events planned out already so outlining isn’t going to be too bad.

Honestly, I think my outline is more of a synopsis without calling it a synopsis. Outline is more loosely based on what’s going to happen. A synopsis details what does happen. I’ll be writing a mixture of the two so I can stay focused. I’m not really trying to experiment on the story or characters this time around. Everything is set in stone. The story just has to be rewritten.

 

 

Posted in Methods, Writing

Plot and Structure & NaNoWriMo

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

We’ve reached the first week of October and you know what that means? There’s only about 30 days left until the start of National Novel Writing Month in November. This is a very exciting month for me. Unlike during the summer, I will attempt to write the complete 50,000 words in November.

I don’t consider myself an experience participant of NaNoWriMo because surprises hide behind every corner and I can’t say that I will accomplish the goal. However, I will work really hard to meet that goal despite all the other responsibilities that I have.

Although I don’t call myself  an expert, I do have some wisdom to share – if you can call it that. Whether this is your first time participating or not, I feel like there’s a lingering fear (or maybe it’s just me) that I will come across a wall and have nothing to write about or that my muse packed her bags and left me in the middle of the month. So, in order to avoid that, I have a few tricks that have gotten me through tough writing situations.

A. Who is the story about?

B.What do they want?

C. How are they going to get it?

This is all about the main character. What does s/he want in life? Is it to win a basketball game? Is it to date a friend? Having an idea of what your character wants can lead the writing for quite a while. Plus, knowing what they want and forming an idea of how the character can achieve that goal is a great place to start.

Once these questions are answered – and they might not be answered at the beginning. Sometimes it takes a few chapters – then take a look at what obstacles the character has to face in order to accomplish this goal.

D. What are the obstacles?

E. Who is their rival towards accomplishing this goal?

I use these questions to get me started and then I write it down on a timeline of sorts. This helps me know where the story is headed and how to get there. Even having an idea of how it is going to end helps a lot. If I know that much then, I can work backwards and figure out how the character is going to get there.

Of course, I’m not saying that you need to know what your character likes for breakfast on most days. All I’m saying is that knowing what your character wants is a good lead to figuring out how the story is going to unfold.

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.