Word Count Backtrack

Darn it, it's frustrating when something like this happens!

I finished Chapter 2 with an exciting development, which got me to 13,600 words for NaNoWriMo.  Then, over the next couple of days, I realized three things about it.

1. It was anticlimactic.
2. It was not quite the direction I wanted to take the story in, and might detract from the really big things coming up.
3. It didn't make sense for the person who did it to have done it.

I fixed it a bit yesterday, then a lot today.  The problem is, it cut down my word count!

For NaNoWriMo, sure, it's important that I write as much as I can.  But the story still needs to proceed correctly, or I'll end up back tracking.  I've done this a lot in the past, and it seems it's still a bit of an issue with me, even though I'm outlining beforehand.  However, I've gone back thousands of words before, so about 600 or so isn't bad!   I also saved the scene, in case it's something that can happen later.

Better get back to the writing now.  If you've read any of this blog, though, you know me.  There are certain things I just have to document!

The Writing Has Begun!

NaNoWriMo Progress

As the second day of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, comes to a close, my word count for Bodacious Creed is now 3,796!

NaNoWriMo has some handy widgets, so folks can keep an eye on a participants word count as it goes up.  Keep in mind that the goal is to write 50,000 words over the course of November.  Based on the pacing of this novel, I suspect the full, finished book will be well over 50,000 words, but I'm aiming to get at least that much of it written this month.

The widget:



Apparently, this icons on this bad boy change throughout the day.

You can visit my NaNo page here.  Ten points to your Hogwarts house if you can tell me what my NaNo username, zombiejon, is from.\

As for the Plot

I've written out the plot for the first two acts of the novel, and I have notes for the third, and final, act.  I just wasn't able to get every bit of it plotted out before the start of NaNo.  However, there's a very good side to this.  As I write the first two acts, I'll get a very strong sense of the characters and the arc of the story.  By the time I get through writing the second act, I should have a clear vision for the final part of the book.  I can then adjust my end game accordingly.

The story is also, quite naturally, expanding as I write.  New scenes are already coming into existence.  New characters are populating the Creedverse's version of Santa Cruz, California, in 1876.  Some of the prostitutes at The House of Amber Doves, who were previously just names and are mostly background characters, are developing personalities.

And no, I'm not sure that I have my 19th century American history completely right, but this is an alternate world.  In the Creedverse, it was Tesla who invented the light bulb as a teen, not Edison. New batteries are charged with steam power in hot springs.  The luminiferous aether, a real scientific theory from the late 19th century about a substance that might fill space, actually exists, similarly to the way that neutrinos do, and while it doesn't normally interact with the matter and energy we're used to, someone has discovered how to create engines that use it as a power source.

So no, this is not your great great grandfather's Wild West, or world, though it is close.

Before I get too far off topic, I'll close this post for now.

To everyone participating in NaNoWriMo, have a productive November!