Hello there! I’ve decided to take a couple of minutes away from the Nano WIP to update you all on my progress. In a word: slow.
The NaNoWriMo dashboard has very helpfully just told me that I am currently 4830 words behind where my target should be to hit the deadline. Eeep! I am taking solace in the fact that when I attended a NaNo event it seemed like only half the people who had taken part before would ‘win’ in a year and complete the word count. However, they came back year after year. Although I blame a nasty virus that has been knocking me for six (which conveniently appeared on November 1st…conspiracy much…) for not writing more, I have written every day which, if you don’t include twitter prompt stories (which I do these days :), I haven’t done in a very long time. So whether I reach my target, I’m happy with the fact I’ve been writing more than I have in a long while. I haven’t been letting my day job take over evening so much that I cannot do even a few hundred words.
It has also allowed me to step out of my genre comfort zone and dive into steampunk which I have been wanting to do for a very long time. This has given my the push to do it and the kick to stop writing the series I know and do different!!!
I have learnt a valuable lesson doing this project though. Research is important. If you ae going to use real historical people, events and places, you need to check out the details. I have spent a good chunk of writing time each evening fact checking and trying to make things fit. If this WIP goes anywhere, I will be having to apologise to several famous Victorian scientists who I have mercilessly used and taken rather large liberties with their lives. However, if you want to know who really invented time travel, look no further than Michael Faraday! 🙂
So steampunk, I really will write a separate post about this soon, but anyone wanting to venture into this area of creating a new world (this goes for any world building really) make notes as you go. That name for an organisation you create, you won’t remember it and then you’ll have to go back and find it. That effect you decided upon that would happen when time travel occurred.. you got it, you’ll forget.
In conclusion, after all this NanoBabble please take these important things away with you:
- Make notes!!!
- Research!
- Hitting the goal doesn’t count.
- And I know I haven’t mentioned this but, find other people who are doing the same thing you are. It does not need to be in person, I have met some amazing writer buddies on twitter who have been checking in and chatting about stories. They will help!
Til next time!!!
Lexikon 