Month: November 2018

NaNoWriMo – Day 30 – Just crossed the finish line

That’s it for another year.

67,941 words written, but if I sat down now to read the novel, the post-it notes would get in the way.

Oh, there is so much revision to do!

But, at least I managed to write a complete novel in a month which is what I managed to do each year, and then worry about editing and refining for the next eleven.

Not looking forward to that job, no sir.

Of course, the ending is nothing like what I envisioned thirty days ago in the plan, but where does it ever once the characters take over.

Until next year or something momentous, I bid you all a good night.

NaNoWriMo – Day 29 – The finish line is in sight

And everything is going to hell in a handbasket.

The end I had all formed in my mind and ready to put down, well, I don’t think I should have gone to bed last night.

I had a dream.

Sounds a bit like a familiar speech, doesn’t it.

My dream wasn’t quite as prophetic, it was a new ending.

Damn.

Had I stayed up and wrote the damn thing as it was, I wouldn’t be here now, trying to pull down walls and re-cement them back together a different way, two hours before the official opening.

I could just scream!!!

NaNoWriMo – Day 28 – The final two chapters are coming

That’s right.

Two chapters to go, before I get to type those two wonderful words. ‘The End’

Of writing that first draft, of course.

But not the end of the process.  A little rest time away from it and then the next laborious task begins.

Editing.

Perhaps we should have a NaNoWriMo, with the Ma standing for May, and setting a month aside to do the first edit.

Come to think of it, maybe I’ll do it just to see how it goes.

NaNoWriMo – Day 27 – All’s well if it ends well

Three days to go, so much to do.
Although I’ve reached the 50,000-word target I have not finished the novel, and the plot changes are causing a little consternation.
I know now how it is going to end, but it’s the getting there, in three days that’s the problem.
So, back and forth I go, laying the groundwork in the earlier chapters and I now have only one more piece to fix, the words on the document that set the series of events in motion.
Novel writing is exhausting.
The first draft is going to be a horrible mess and when I print it out it’s going to be covered in post-it notes, but after all is said and done it will be a novel written in 30 days, a remarkable achievement.

NaNoWriMo – Day 26 – Something had to change

And that, my friends, is the words on the document.

When I conceived the original story, the words were quite simple, a memo from one man to another, words that should not be committed to paper.

Ah, yes, the dreaded paper trail.

Those words were adequate at the time, but now, with developments in the story and a shift or two in the plotline, it’s time to change those words.

They need to be damaging enough to kill a lot of people in the line of making both the words and the document they appear on, disappear forever.

And here’s the thing…

No one ever counted on the fact deleting on a computer is not deleting.

NaNoWriMo – Day 25 – The end is nigh, for someone!

For all those people out there who think the end of the world is coming, it is not.

For all those people out there who think my story is getting the end, I really hope so.

I’m writing three separate chapters, each a little at a time, trying to dovetail the sequence of events that will lead to the unmasking of the murderer and find the whereabouts of 30 odd missing persons.

What had begun as a simple quest has turned into a convoluted tale of lies, distortions, and people whose propensity for being something other than who they appear, had muddied the waters,.

Yep, everything you’d expect in a completely unexpected ending.

I hope.

NaNoWriMo – Day 24 – Sanity, if nothing else, returns

Got the 50,000 words, 51,540 to be exact, but the story is not done yet.

Hasty revisions, adding more words, taking out some others, it’s a long and difficult day, with the yellow post-it note collection growing exponentially.

Where would we be without them, endless scraps of paper strewn over an already cluttered desk?

All it would take was one enthusiastic cleaning lady, and it would become an ‘oh-my-god’ moment.

The end, however, is becoming clearer, and I’m working towards it from three different angles.

NaNoWriMo – Day 23 – No, no, no, no, no

No.

You know how it is when a brilliant plot line comes to you in the middle of the night, when you’re half asleep, after a long day of writing.

A long day maybe, but not much writing, because the current plot line heading towards the end doesn’t gel.

I write a page or three, toss it.  Another page, toss it.  Another two pages, toss it.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

Another secondary character wants to come out and play a bigger part, except that to do this I have to go back and seed a few pointers so that the revelation doesn’t seem skewed, or worse, coming out of nowhere.

No sleep tonight, have to sow the seeds while it’s fresh in my mind.

Seriously, with only seven days to go and this pops into my head?

The cases of PI Walthenson – a story written page by page

How thrilled Harry had been to see

Harry Walthenson
Private Detective

painted on the translucent glass window in the door to his office.

Located in Gramercy Park, in an old building full of atmosphere, he had the small space renovated to resemble that of Spade and Archer in a scene right out of the Maltese Falcon.

His desk had an antique phone like those used in the 1930s, and a lamp that cast eerie shadows at night.

Along one wall was a couch, his bed for more nights than he cared to remember, and on the other a filing cabinet, waiting for the big case files.

Up till now it had been missing cats and dogs.  Then, everything changed…

 

The adventure begins with Episode 1
– The Wrong Place, The Wrong Time
http://bit.ly/2J4aEBP

The most recent, Episode 17
– Explanation
http://bit.ly/2Qk3500

 

 

 

NaNoWriMo – Day 23 – No, no, no, no, no

No.

You know how it is when a brilliant plot line comes to you in the middle of the night, when you’re half asleep, after a long day of writing.

A long day maybe, but not much writing, because the current plot line heading towards the end doesn’t gel.

I write a page or three, toss it.  Another page, toss it.  Another two pages, toss it.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

Another secondary character wants to come out and play a bigger part, except that to do this I have to go back and seed a few pointers so that the revelation doesn’t seem skewed, or worse, coming out of nowhere.

No sleep tonight, have to sow the seeds while it’s fresh in my mind.

Seriously, with only seven days to go and this pops into my head?