NaNoWriMo Finale!

Hi everyone! Has it been, like, a month since my last post? Yes. Am I sorry? Yes. Was I putting off writing because I was lazy? Yes. Will I be drafting the next blog post ahead of time? Yes

Mood:

Bonus! GIF:

Well, today you have been promised the finale to my NaNoWriMo epic tale. Let’s goo!

Did I win?

No, I did not. I clocked out at 14,283 words, which was 28% of my 50,000 word goal. I will report some helpful stats from my NaNo dashboard:

Challenge Dates: November 1 to November 30
Words Written: 14,283
Word Count Goal: 50,000
Target Average Per Day: 1,667
Current Average Per Day: 476.1
Words Left to Win: 35,717
Best Daily Word Count: 4,483
Longest Streak: Four days

Exactly halfway through November I stopped. I wasn’t getting anywhere near to accomplishing my daily average. I’d lag for a couple days and then try to cram all the words in on one day. Worse still? I was uninspired. For some reason the story wasn’t coming together, even though I had all the plot points mapped out and everything planned in my head.

Sister, however, got much closer to completing her goal. She was only 2,000 or so words away. She’s set it away to come back to it later, and she’s currently working on revising her Ronan story.

Anyway, back to me. I was bored with the story. It seemed to be going nowhere, and I was struggling to make it interesting. I couldn’t figure out how to get between plot points, and even when I did I was often champing at the bit to move ahead while being stuck in a part that I didn’t even want to write.

I know that stories are not all fun and games, but stories are also supposed to surprise or at least delight the author. I was NOWEHERE near delighted. I was just going through the motions of writing; I wasn’t really putting much heart into my work.

My conclusion? I am much more of a pantser than a plotter. I can’t really work off of a rigid story outline. It’s much better if I have a basic concept–e.g., family dies in a car accident and travels to a fantasy world–than a structure that I feel confined to–e.g., family dies in a car accident, lands in a special mountain, finds some dwarves who give them weapons, get approached by an evil dwarf to work with him…etc.

Do I plan on continuing the story?

Nah. For some reason I cannot imagine going back to it. Maybe one day I will, but for now I’m gonna stay away.

What’s next (writing-wise)?

I am currently co-writing two stories, and that’s already a lot. I am trying to prioritize those. My Google Docs page is also cluttered with ideas of projects to finish, but those are pretty much just for fun.

What’s next (blog-wise)?

I’m going to continue with the schedule of fanfiction and A Writerly Chat, alternating. When Sister and I finish our Writerly Chat series, however, I do have many other content ideas that I am really excited to work on!

So did you finish NaNoWriMo? What did you write about? Did you fail? Do tell! Please leave a comment. If you enjoyed this and/or other posts I’ve written, go ahead and subscribe. If you know people who’d enjoy it, share it! It really helps a lot as I struggle to get readers.

Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas, and be blessed!

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