Sitrep: I've hit 50k, which is grand, except that my piece is slated for ~160k. I'm a plotster to the core, and I didn't have enough time to prep this piece, Orders of Magnitude, to the level I was comfortable with. I muscled through up till now, but now that I've hit 50k, I feel like I can let off the gas and take a moment to look around.

When I started prep this year, I had two ideas, Orders, and another one called The Darkness Cannot Touch Her, a story I've got slightly more emotional investment in. I've got a fair amount of detail about the world already, and I have at least a semblance of a rough outline for it.

I'm honestly considering bailing on Orders for the time being, spinning up my outline for DCTH, and working that for the rest of Nano. At the moment I'm torn, I feel like Orders is finally getting somewhere, but because I don't have as much investment in the characters, I don't feel like I'm doing it justice. On the other hand, spinning up DCTH would cost me some valuable time, but more importantly, I like to work one story at a time as much as I can. But the end of Orders is not in sight.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I know it's my story, but I'm curious to see what others have experienced when confronted with these sort of decisions.

I would suggest writing some short stories or scenes where you can developyour characters. Or doing some character info sheets and then going back to the novel.

NaNoWriMo works best when you can finish your novel in November. For me it is deathly difficult to write anything outside of November (edit too, but that's another story ;-) ).

Losing your emotional attachment to your novel is difficult. Some people can spend some thinking time to reconnect to their story and characters and then power through to the end. Note that even though the eventual novel you are shooting for will have 160K words, it doesn't mean that you can't wrap it up in 100K and then expand it later.

I did the abandon a novel and jump over to a new novel thing one year (started off with a story I had done a lot of worldbuilding in, but rapidly lost my way because the characters just weren't there in my head; then went to plan B that had much less worldbuilding but perhaps more relatable characters). Because I made that call earlier in the month, I was able to get to a reasonable completion (passed 50K but didn't get to the end of the novel :-/ ). I sometimes wonder if I should have found some plot whispering help and tried harder with my first novel.

In terms of advice, you know what you need to do. Trust your intuition (which, in re-reading your post, I think is telling you to go with the DCTH novel). Emotional connection is everything. Without it the writing can very easily fall flat.

Hope that helps!

--Tim

You have been neck and neck with TRRDEDEAN for days, are you really going to let him get ahead while you think things over? Harrumph, I'm pretty sure if it was me you were that close to on the graph, you wouldn't be even thinking of slowing down. :)

"At the moment I'm torn, I feel like Orders is finally getting somewhere"

So keep going. Get a first draft done. Then, if you still have time, start the next project.

It's really hard to tell if you're doing something justice while in the first draft stage. Just keep writing. There must be some reason why you started with that one.

My two cents.

My biggest problem with novel writing is writing the end. So, if you are the type that is able to do that, then I suggest you do that. Otherwise, if you're like me, you will hop from one interesting thing to the other, and leave all your other stories dangling, no matter how emotionally invested in them you are. Actually, the more invested I am in something, the less likely I am to finish it. Kind of a weird paradox, but it's because it's so much fun to write, I don't actually want it to end. But if you can end one story, I suggest you end it. Even if you have another screen open on your laptop so you can write foranother story at the same time.

On his Terrible Minds blog Chuck Wendig recommended no porking another manuscript behind the wordshed during Nano.

All very good advice, on both sides of the coin, lol. For now, what I'm doing is trying to get Orders kicked into serious gear, reestablish my conflicts, and see where I can go with it, and working on an outline for DCTH when my brain finally gives out on Orders. Hopefully, I don't have to switch, but at least this way I can keep making progress, and I can have a backup plan ready by the time I put Orders down.

I don't know though, man. I really haven't ever encountered this much apathy (thought that's probably too strong a word) towards a story since I started writing. Usually, I'm much more invested in my stories. This one's really just giving me a lot of lip.

Anyway, thanks again, everyone. Much to think about.

Oh! I have some advice!

Instead of writing for a day, take your writing time and assemble a youtube playlist full of musicvideos and music that you think fits your novel. Just spend the time shopping, watching, and listening. Then go take a shower.

Somehow this always works for me :)

Spellguns wrote:Usually, I'm much more invested in my stories. This one's really just giving me a lot of lip.

Who's in charge here? It's your story, you have created the world, the characters, and the conflict. Don't let them give you grief. Whip them into shape! Show them who's boss! If you don't care about your characters, then metaphorically punch them in the face (or have another character actually do it) until you start to feel sorry for them.