NaNo 2014 Update Three

NaNoWriMoParticipant-2014-Twitter-ProfileFirst Update | Second Update

Though my hands continue to be an issue, I am cautiously optimistic. I have been able to type with breaks and have Dragon as a fallback if/when I need it. While my average of 3000 words a day is shot, I have been achieving the 2000 and change pretty consistently with only two exceptions, each with a different explanation as you can see in my NaNo journal below.

As far as the story is concerned, I hit the point in the outline where the tale splits as my hero and heroine are brutally separated after a heartrending argument with no hope of reconciliation…well, of course there is hope, but they just don’t see it at first.

This poses its own timeline issues while moving me past the crossover with A Country Masquerade into brand new territory.

A male reader commented that I didn’t give my male characters as much screen time as I could, having them put the pieces together largely off screen. I believe I resolved this concern with A Country Masquerade, but I know Freddie would say I’ve given him a sizeable presence in this novel.

I’m enjoying his outlook as he tries to balance family obligations, proper respect for his mother, and his own plans for his, and Georgie’s, future. However, with the two of them separate, it means I have to sort the timeline of his attempt to discover where she has gone so it logically interlaces with what Georgie is doing.

My outline in this area proved quite inadequate.

One planning step I undertook this week was to note which day the scene took place on and what time of day. This involved some resorting of the scenes as logic overcame what I’d put together and an error in this process made me break chronology by accident. I didn’t realize until later why the scene had fought me so much.

I outline out of order, jotting down scenes as they occur to me, then go through a complicated sorting process to get them in order. By the time I write, though, I need to stick to chronology or tend to get stuck in the writing. This is because while my outline tells me what happens to whom, it does not reveal the emotional and mental changes the characters undergo as part of the experience. When writing out of order, characters can be at the wrong stage of development, which means the scene turns out wrong for whom the character has become once they get there.

In this case, it was a matter of the parallel timeline, so character issues were not in play, but when I thought the scene occurred was jarring with where I thought Georgie would be (it was a Freddie scene). Probably the biggest block came in the timeline originally being tied so tightly that the scenes were occurring almost simultaneously. When I wrote Freddie’s scene, though, he ended up in the evening and I’d left Georgie eating breakfast before heading off to Aubrey’s house to meet Isabella. Poor Georgie had a very long meal until I went back and filled in her scenes to bring her to late afternoon.

Not all writers have these issues, but I classify myself an organized organic. Yes, I have an extensive outline, often weighing in at 10,000 to 20,0000 words. But it shows mainly the plot aspect of the book while the characters develop organically in the writing. It’s a blessing and a curse, but it’s not something I can change, so I try not to fight it. As you can see, I sometimes slip up.

So now that you have some insight into my process, here are my stats and a little snippet for your reading pleasure.

Date: 11/11 Total: 26156 Today: 2270

Dragon in the morning because my hands slipped, but my brain wasn’t engaging with the method so I switched back to typing for the second scene and got a sweet one for a dark moment.

Date: 11/12 Total: 28689 Today: 2533

Hard to classify today because I didn’t start writing for real until after 10pm, but I’d been trying since 1pm. I just couldn’t get my mind to focus, but then I did, and got two good scenes out of it. I will, however, have to fix the second one in the edit because the beginning is out of sync with A Country Masquerade. It’s the first time Georgie was supposed to be present when she didn’t feel like it (odd because I didn’t know about this book when I wrote that one), but it’s an easy enough fix that makes more sense than what I wrote.

Date: 11/13 Total: 30633 Today: 1944

Georgie decided to hone in on the book review of a Regency Era non-fiction I was reading and refused to settle into her scene until late, but once I got writing it went well.

Date: 11/14 Total: 33166 Today: 2533

I had other responsibilities and distractions, but the writing went well. Spent a little time tidying the outline and putting the day count on it.

Date: 11/15 Total: 35483 Today: 2317

Georgie is such fun to write with her optimistic but down to earth attitude. She carried this writing session longer than I needed to go just to see the scene to its concluding moment.

Date: 11/16 Total: 37222 Today: 1739

Bad day. No focus and took forever to find my way into the scene so only managed one. Luckily it was a long one.

Date: 11/17 Total: 40376 Today: 3154

Took a bit to find my way back into the story because I had committed the serious error of writing out of order by accident (two threads connected only by time) which tends to cause me some troubles, but then it went wonderfully and I couldn’t stop.

The snippet this week is Georgiana’s introduction to Aubrey’s little sister Isabella who has a part to play in A Country Masquerade as well. As with all these snippets, they are rough draft ran through a quick spellcheck so don’t expect polish. That comes later.
blogscenehnfHead spinning, Georgie wondered what she could possibly do to make a young woman who grew up among such finery comfortable in the presence of society. She’d been so proud of how she’d carried off the poetry reading, but what if her success had been either reflected glory from Barbara or simple kindness when the truth would show her a bumbling fool.Laughter escaped from the room at the end, a solarium unless she missed her guess between the bright light streaming out the door and the scent of blooming flowers. At least here she’d feel more comfortable, though she doubted the flowers on display were the same as those she’d collected in the forest, nor even, perhaps, the like of those Freddie had once stolen from his mother’s garden as an apology in one of their many rows.The memory eased her tension enough so when they stepped through the door, Georgie was able to smile.“Aubrey, there you are. We’ve been waiting to hear of your adventures in the country. Imagine our surprise to hear you’d begged an early breakfast and escaped while we were still abed.”“Isabella—”Georgie pulled her hand free as she took in the smiling young woman clearly at her ease with two other women and two young men. She opened her mouth to cry foul at his description, her estimation of his honesty dropping, when the young woman caught sight of her where previously Aubrey must have blocked her view.All the animation drained from her expression and her gaze dropped to the embroidery in her lap.Georgie saw as much as heard the soft sigh from Aubrey before he straightened his shoulders.“Georgiana, let me introduce to you my family. Here are my sisters Adelaide and Susan with their husbands Charles and Philip. And finally, Isabella.”Even before he turned back to his youngest sister, ignoring the surprise on his sisters’ faces at the familiarity in the introduction, Georgie understood what had happened. Isabella had been safely ensconced with her family and so enjoying herself, as animated as Aubrey had claimed her, when Georgie had intruded, taking all that away.A wash of sympathy raced through Georgie. She’d felt much the same when introduced to this house with all its finery, self-consciousness stealing away her normal confidence.“And this is Miss Georgiana Ferrier, lately from the country.”“Really, Aubrey,” Susan said, but Adelaide hushed her before she could say anything more.In the awkward silence that followed, Aubrey gestured for Georgie to take the chair on Isabella’s open side.“I’ll call for more tea.”With that, Aubrey strode from the room, leaving the six of them to seek some topic of conversation they might all enjoy.

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2 Responses to NaNo 2014 Update Three

  1. David McGaffey says:

    Mar love: The opening sentence doesn’t scan. Maybe the preceeding explained it adequately, but it looks like there is a lot of hidden knowledge hidden in the sentence.

    • Margaret McGaffey Fisk says:

      That’s what the disclaimer is for. This is not the beginning of the section. It’s an excerpt. I had a very hard time choosing where to snip. The whole scene would have been too long, and too distracting to spell check without editing. Honestly, none of these snippets may end up in the final. I do try to choose something that makes sense in isolation though. Apparently I failed this time :).

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