Me: Oh, that’s too many syllables for this character!
Katie: What are you trying to replace?
Me: Sanctimonious.
By writing like a madman over the Thanksgiving weekend, I’ve managed to get ahead of the goal, and complete a 47,000-word novel. Unfortunately I need a 50,000-word novel, so I’m going back and looking for things that I glossed over the first time through. There are a couple of spots where I knew I needed more scenes to show character changes, so that’s where I’m going to be focusing.
Still, I’ve got three evenings to write 3,000 words and be done by the 28th, with Thursday as a safety valve. But given the occasional outages at the Nanowrimo website this weekend, I don’t want to take any chances.
Word Count: 47037
Good Luck!
Thanks! I managed to get another ~700 words last night. It’s harder now, because I have to get back into the earlier character dynamics. Plus with all the plot written, I’m trying to figure out what I can throw at them that will illustrate the changes without looking like padding.
Oh yes, I always find it easier to edit down than to extend.
Have you thought of simply writing a preface? You could go into what you liked about the characters and the struggles to write a particular character or plot point, without tinkering with the actual written text too much.
The other thought is an epilogue. Without having read your work, I have no idea if that would work. Sometimes the ending is killer as it is and you don’t want to get into it.
Hmm, a preface is a thought. I’ve actually got an epilogue already, but I might be able to expand it a little bit.
There are three sections where I felt like I rushed things a bit. Two during the first half, where I skimped on character development. The group dynamics changed, but it was mostly telling and not enough showing. Then one later on, in the downhill rush toward resolving the A plot. The falling action may actually have a higher word count than that sequence.
So there are places where I know it needs more — it’s just hard to figure out what to put in them.