That’s what the “official” NaNoWriMo book says. I’m not good at “just writing.” (I NEED TO TWEAK!!!!) But I’m getting better…
I had a great writing day yesterday. I actually got caught up on my word count and forged ahead. That “secret” that popped up in the story over the weekend has been a tremendous help. So now I’m finally at the part where T.J. and Sam meet (which was the very last scene in Do You Know the Monkey Man). I backed up at the beginning of T.J.’s Story to establish what’s going on in T.J.’s life before I bring her and Sam together again. When I think about pacing/structure of this book, I’m thinking I need to bring those two together at about page 50. I’m on page 68. So either this book is going to be longer than I think it is, or I’m going to have to do some major revising in the first 68 pages.
Well, I KNOW I’m going to have to do some major revising in the first 68 pages…because I really did turn that inner critic off. I’ve gone back and marked things I need to go back and address, but I haven’t actually done any revising. I haven’t even reread any of those 68 pages at this point (which is a first for me!). Each day, I only read enough of the previous day’s work to remind myself where I left off.
I know the emotional structure of the story is going to need a lot of attention in the next draft. I should try and work my way through Peter Dunne’s Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot this month. My dear friend darcypattison recommended it quite a while ago…I bought it and started it, but never finished it. There’s some good stuff in there. It’s actually a book for screenwriters, but much of the info in there applies to all writers. Maybe reading that book should be my NaNoWriMo goal part 2?
The sooner I finish a draft of T.J.’s Story, the sooner I’ll be able to go back and start tweaking…
