Day 5 JaNo – 2037 words today, 11054 total
Even closer to hitting quota dead-on today than I was yesterday. I’m becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the plot that I’ve outlined for myself, but maybe that’s a good thing, as it might be a sign that my characters are asserting themselves. However, while they seem to be unhappy with the things *I’ve* outlined for them to do, they aren’t exactly coming up with alternatives. Lazy characters. In any case, I’ve made it most of the way through chapter 5 at this point, and I have a couple of story-lines going. Now off to outline something to write tomorrow.
I’m trying to write a prologue to my novel. It’s currently 954 words. I’ve restarted it four times.
Yeah, okay, this doesn’t relate much, but I figured one of the points of NANO was to whine, why not JANO too? :)
Sam Chang recommends outlining and then re-outlining at several different points during the novel writing process. So it sounds like you’re on track, hey? :-P
Ha! Whining is very much appropriate, that’s half the point of me posting updates on my blog :) Maybe that fourth time will be the charm for your prologue…good luck!
Having to outline and re-outline makes a lot of sense, since it’s so hard to know at the beginning how things are going to work themselves out once you actually start writing. Something that looks like a great idea plotwise in the outline may well turn out to make no sense whatsoever once you get there. Given that I’m determined to plow through this novel (thereby learning not just about beginnings but also middles and endings), I probably won’t have time to re-outline as thoroughly as I’d like, but I am making adjustments as I go.