Many people say that editing as you go is a complete no-no.

It’s often said that when you’re doing NaNo, the best approach is to just keep adding words. But I have been going back and changing things as I go, adding and removing sentences from earlier chapters, changing character names, rewriting bits slightly. I’ve even added whole paragraphs, more detailed physical descriptions, and mini-scenes.

But 6,780 words in, I still like what I’m writing, so maybe this is the approach I have to take. I wrote on day one about the shitty first draft that I hated. The more I think about it, the more I see that my goal is to produce a first draft that isn’t shitty, something I’m proud of and believe I can work with.

Today:

I wrote 1,319 words. I’m still not hitting the magic 1,667 target per day. I’m still behind.

But I don’t really care. I’m still excited about this project. I can make up the words later. Every day so far I’ve worried that I’m going to lose my enthusiasm, and regardless the words have kept coming, and for me, that’s the most important part – carrying on, even if it’s not at full speed.

 

I wrote before about leaving ideas for later.

Sometimes, what I leave behind for the next day aren’t instructions, but clues. Holly Lisle calls them “muse bombs” – things our brain puts into our stories for us to find and exploit later, all without our realising at the time.

I had a minor character, who didn’t really do anything in version one, walk into the scene I’m writing yesterday, and I wasn’t sure why.

But as I thought about it today, it all became clear. A throwaway comment he makes becomes the catalyst for an argument between two major characters – and I have plans for him to come back later on in the story and take a more active role.

Today:

Unfortunately, it took all day for me to come up with this idea, so I only managed to write 1,301 words. Better than yesterday, but I really need to start writing more so I don’t fall too dramatically behind!

To manage that, I’ll need to start reading more. For some reason, my brain requires I put words in for words to come out. I was totally stuck today until I listened to two chapters of A Tale of Two Cities and read a novel sampler and a short story! At least I did a lot of laundry, so hopefully I won’t have to do any more for the rest of the week.