Writing rambling

[oloriel]

So.

This is likely not of much interest to most of you, but I still have to tell someone.

Last week that fanfic, mostly known as The Plotbunny That Crawled Out Of Angband (or, since I should get used to using the sucky but finally extant title, The Tempered Steel), that's been keeping me occupied for ages has crossed the magical NaNo winner mark of 50,000 words. (Yes, those of you who write regularly and prolifically are allowed to laugh now.)

It's never been a NaNo, and it's taken me over half a year to get there, but I got there after all. That's a first; normally my stories die somewhere along chapter 3. I once managed to get one up to 40,000 words before I got stuck, but actually crossing the magic 80-page mark (without cheating and using any of the stupid tips they give you at NaNo to push your word-count up, too) is new.

I actually meant to stop working on it once I was done with the current chapter (which is chapter 19). Not forever, as it's not a proper ending, but it would have been a good place to pause: Some things wrapped up and some things ahead for those familiar with the canon but not yet begun (except in allusions). So I had planned to stop there and turn my attention to the NaNovels of 2005 and 2006, which got stuck after 40,000 words in one case and just as chapter 3 ended in the other. Last autumn I suddenly knew how the first went on, but didn't manage to write it because there was work and the house and the other plotbunny. The second I edited, which showed me various inconsistencies that may have been put in intentionally but no longer make sense to me, and if even the writer no longer knows why something happens, it should probably be changed. Which would mean a lot of re-writing, which would take a lot of time, etc etc. So all my original characters are in a rather unpleasant kind of limbo, and some are stuck in the middle of a cliffhanger. Not a nice thing to do, I suppose (ever since reading The Well of Lost Plots I feel vaguely guilty for all the stuff I make my characters go through, but then we all know we're just in it for the angst), but I couldn't help it.

So I'd meant to make amends once I'd finished chapter 19 of the current obsession.
I probably won't be able to. There are at least two more chapters of that bunny that want to get written, and in one of them I might actually be able to explain the title. By current planning (which of course doesn't mean much as the story changes to much in the writing to stick to any kind of outline) chapter 22 or so might offer me a good chance to pause again, but as I don't yet know how to end that chapter, I can't be sure of that. For all I know it can drag out for another 50,000 words.

Alas.

Still, it's crossed a magic line, and it's still alive and kicking, so I'm hopeful I might actually get some other stories dragged across that line as well. I'd really like to get those two NaNos somewhere; while the stories are major pains in the rear end, I actually think they could potentially be good, and it's rare enough that I think that of my own stuff. So, yeah.

Yay.

Comments

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

*applauds wildly* 50,000 ist schon irgendwo ein tolles Gefühl, oder? Jedenfalls... super! Ich sehe ja ein, dass das für deine originals nicht ganz so super ist (geht mir selbst auch nicht anders, und ich glaube besonders Thay und Keryeh hassen mich mittlerweile - der eine hat schon seit Jahren ne dicke Grippe, die andere ist tot und so kurz davor, den Weg aus der Unterwelt zu finden >_> )...dragging them across the finish line will probably be easier, though... people will want to know some background that fanfiction doesn't need to include, so that's an automatic wordcount boost. And then there's writing itself. And rewriting will probably boost things yet again, especially if you have to rediscover connections like you described. :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Problem is that at least for the 2005 NaNo (the one with Darron and the dragons and the courtly intrigue), 50,000 isn't the finish line. Even when I gave up on the story at 40,000+ words back then I knew that I was at best halfway through. So while 50,000 words would be a late triumph (and, as such, rather frustrating as in "so couldn't you have done that two years ago?"), they're far from the end.
The evil thing about background is that I find it so hard to include that in a subtle way, and I am never sure I'm not dumping to much backstory on my poor unexpecting imaginary readers. >_> I am not sure I even can rediscover those connections - perhaps it just doesn't make sense and I actually just wrote it to drive the story on?

The beautiful thing about these 50,000 is that it's the first time, and that it was reached without fillers - 14 of those 19 chapters have been edited and trimmed several times already, and in the other five I never wrote with "Oh let's use this construction instead, it's awkward but it's three more words" like I would (and did) in the NaNos. ;)

Does Maeglin cooperate? Is there a chance of catching up with you this weekend? *hopeful look*

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

But then 50,000 hardly ever is the finish line. As far as I'm concerned, NaNo is a great tool for getting started, the story does the rest - whether it stops before 50,000 or way later. Frustrating? Yes, but also fascinating.
As for background info, I do have that same problem. There's five notebooks full of background story, and while knowing that helps a lot, I never know how to include that into the text coherently - there is, of course, the opportunity to keep readers glued to the text by alluding to past events, or using culture-specific sayings in dialogue, things like that. Of course those will want explaining sometime. If I ever get back to Armandû, I'll probably string in relevant backstory chapters at some places, so I can do the info-dump there and things gradually become more clear until the storylines converge.

If it doesn't make sense - that's for the editing process. *hugs* Good luck.

Not doing "The Tempered Steel" as NaNo of course took away some of the pressure - I never once got the impression that you wrote this with a specific wordcount in mind, so using awkward wordcount-boosters simply wasn't necessary. Of course that doesn't make it any less beautiful. :)

Maeglin is cooperating - I just had the essay writing exam (die inoffizielle ZP - *wibbel*) yesterday, and missed the last train to Brhv, so just got back this morning. I hope we'll manage to meet up once or twice! *hugs*