50,000 Words in One Month

Well, here we are in the second week of December. I’m should be winding down from National Novel Writing Month, but, honestly, I’m still riding that wave.

My novel idea this year came courtesy of a shelved short story. I thought that would be direction enough. It wasn’t. Throughout November, I found myself changing nearly everything about the story—the setting, the PoV, the inciting incident. Writing two thousand words a day quickly turned into writing none, and then scrambling to write three thousand, five thousand, even ten thousand words in a single day. I will say this: I did it, and I’m glad I did it, but the results were…not pretty.

Still, I came into December with a lot of clarity about the project that I’m excited to share with you.

After that frantic, final dash to 50,000 words, here’s what’s next:

• Outline story beats according to “Save the Cat” method (I highly recommend the book, but you can find plenty of information on this through a quick Google search as well)

• Create outline in Scrivener (SO helpful when working with long-form content

• Create reference sheets for settings and characters

• Read a few books to distance myself from existing material

• Start writing (again)!

In closing, November was a mess. It was stressful and draining. But by the end of it, I’d cobbled together something that seems to have potential. Perhaps there’s something to be learned in that, or perhaps not.

If you participated in National Novel Writing Month, I’d love to hear about your project. Whether you met your goal or not—good job. It’s a mad sprint to get to 50,000 words. You should be proud of the words you wrote, regardless.

I hope to share more about my own project soon. Until then, pop on over to the News page to see what’s coming up. Blessed be!