This week I have been working on a few projects. A few, very important, Writing Projects.
First and, I daresay, the most important is ‘The Shapeshifters’ #1. This is a third draft and has brought me a lot of challenges in itself. But you can read all about it on the article Hello NaNoWriMo and lots of ‘Shapeshifters’
thI have been writing for it during this year’s NaNoWriMo and I had already passed the 50K mark. YAY!!! Good for me!
It just seemed wrong for me to share my last achievement in all of my other social platforms and not here. After all this is my ‘Let’s talk about writing’ special place!
So this is the short video I made of the moment when I managed to write the 50K words.
It has been a source of great joy, even if it’s been quietly celebrated.
But I am aiming at 100k for this project, so that I have lots of wiggle room to edit later 😃
Blog Writing
Another of my writing projects are my two blogs. The present one and my Portuguese counterpart.
I have been writing about writing, about books, about productivity and about writer’s resources over there, and it has been fifteen years of research and content creation, that have helped me a lot on my writing efforts.
I still believe a blog is a wonderful way to share our writing. After all, we want to write and this is a mean that demands for it.
Here, on this virtual space, I have narrowed the scope a bit more. The resources I want to bring you are:
And I just got my channel’s handle, @vlooksarafarinha and I am happy to put my name on it.
But back to the transformative parts of having my own YouTube channel…
First, I get to write for it, and compose what I want to say. Second, I am able to practice my English in a more inventive way. Third, it had worked wonders on my introversion and general shyness (call it traumas! It was what they were!). Four, I have been learning so much about filming, and editing, and writing for it, that it has blown my mind.
Even if I’m trying to discover what I enjoy doing, and how to do it, this process is helping me grow in so many ways it astonishes me.
So, these have been my major writing projects for this week and I did enjoy working on all of them.
But, tell me…
Are you entering NaNoWriMo?
Have you got some special question about writing, blogging or vídeo making, that you think I could help you with?
And, please let me know how’s your project going.
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This is a writing update on my current writing project.
This Monday I managed to pass the 25 000 mark, of my 50 000 goal, for NaNoWriMo.
I’ll confess, I had set up my goal to the 100 000, but I hadn’t had the courage to make it public, or official, in the NaNoWriMo website.
So instead of 1 667 daily words needed, I’ve been aiming at 3 333,3 and managing to do it… to much of my astonishment.
Why am I astonished? After all, I’ve prepped a lot for this project… It’s just a me thing. I’m always expecting the worse.
But this means I can be happy in the meanwhile, while putting in the work to achieve my 3 333,3 words, and giving it all during those hours.
As you may know, if read any of my older posts, I’m writing a novel, a young adult, romance, urban fantasy novel. I named it, for project identification purposes only, ‘The Shapeshifters’.
I have been working on it for almost two years now and I’, writing the first English draft of what I planned to be a trilogy, on the same Fantasy Universe.
First week of NaNo was great!
I had my banner up, my reminders, my scene cards, my character’s cards, my plan of scenes rolled up in one perfect tube, my laptop and a schedule to work on this project.
I know this challenge can cause me some unwelcome stress, specially if a project isn’t ready to be drafted, or if I’m working on a first, or second, drafts. But this is not the situation.
2022 project is kind of a third draft, and I have been prepping for it for a while now, even if I changed the language I was writing it, I’m treating it like a third draft project… and I like it.
I hope this will continue to progress smoothly and that I keep managing to hit my goals without much fuss.
But will be checking in with you later about how this is going.
Hope you’re doing well and participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo. If so, how’s your project going?
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I guess as time passes, and we get to practice more and more of our writing, some things about ourselves are bound to change.
It’s not by chance that most writers start as pantsers and after a while evolve into plotters.
Why? I’ll tell you as much as I’ve lived it.
I don’t believe this was meant to be taken literally. But, yes. When we start to write our first novel we discover many different things about ourselves.
Not all of them are as deep as implied here. But most most of them are of the life changing variety.
The 4 Creative Paradigms
Picking up on the Creative Paradigms as explored on ‘Writing Fiction from Dummies’, meaning the methods we may use while writing the first and subsequent drafts, we have:
Seat-of-the-pants (write in one sitting, without planning or editing)
Edit-as-you-go (write without planning but edit thoroughly as you go)
Snowflake (write a general plan, adapting it as you go)
Outline (make a detailed plan, than stick to it regardless)
Our beliefs
When we start writing we want to be good immediately. We want to become the best. We learn how to do some tricks (those things that we read and thought them out of this world good) and pray they carry us into an organic, and not too troublesome, writing practice.
But, at that time, we hadn’t put in the how many?!?!?! working hours we need to have some proper insights on the work itself.
The pantser kind of is our first and most dearest friend. And he can stay that way if used for the parts where he does his best work, like imagining a plot.
So, a pantser writes his stories using the Seat-of-the-pants creative paradigm. A pantser writes fast, without planning much, making it up as he goes along.
A plotter write his stories using the Outline creative paradigm.
A plotter uses outlines to plan and write his story. He works out the kinks before getting himself into the trouble of writing a full draft.
My journey
Looking into my own writing practices, I have used all of the different creative paradigms.
Experimenting on what best fits my writing needs, seems to be my method, and I use them in different parts of the writing process also.
I believe it’s a good thing to respect each project and leave to it to dictate which method would serve him best. There are projects that ask for a quick plotting session and others that are best left to the heat of the moment inspiration.
But, one thing I had been noticing in my writing practice, other than it evolve regardless of should’s and shouldn’ts, is that each project seems to ask from me a different creative approach.
As I’ve been working on different lengths and types of stories, I understood that some require a bit more planning from the get going than others. As well as, some ask for more improvisation in order to flush out more creative ideas.
Also, there’s a creative paradigm more fit for a first draft of a story, and another quite different, for a second or third drafts. Why? Some give us more leverage to explore, while others are more suited for working out the things that aren’t good enough.
I had been using all of them, sometimes both pantser and plotter on the same writing project, just in different phases (drafts or composition materials) of it.
But I kind of figured out that, when we start writing, and have a practice for some years, we get to evolve naturally into using more wholesome writing methods.
We do not have the thrill of the major plot twist. I mean it in a sense of spilling everything onto the page with just that big goal in mind, not delivering on all the other requirements for a good story.
With practice we get to appreciate the composition of the story as a whole. Enjoying it best when we can work out all the details that will help us deliver that plot twist emotion seamlessly.
And it’s kind of easier to draft an entire novel if we have the guidelines previously written out.
Writing an extensive piece of literature is a tiring long run, a marathon, not a sprint. If we have the road clear, and all set up, we can walk it until the finish line, without many path corrections.
But I believe, the important thing to retain in this subject is: we show up to our work, we practice, we experiment, we write stories and we evolve as writers. Then, the creative paradigm will be our own, perfectly suited for our way of writing and being.
Hope you’re doing well and participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo. If so, how’s your project going?
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Let’s make a resume of this project during all of it’s existence.
A few years ago, I plotted, planned, and wrote a book in a Universe I called ‘The Shapeshifters’. It was 2012 and it was entitled ‘The Pariah’.
I devoted a lot of time thinking about this concept which, being far from a novelty, I wanted to work out in my particular way.
Fast forward a few years… in the beginning of 2021
Freshly out of writing a Vampire Story… I decided to enter The 100 Day Challenge.
During the development of some short texts, which were my #the100daychallenge object, and with some twenty days in, I started to write this story in the Shapeshifters Universe.
I began in it’s middle and then, worked my way through until the end, and then wrote the beginning.
The idea to write about a particular scene, in ‘The Shapeshifters’ Universe had been there for a while. I had a vivid snippet of events that kept coming back, and didn’t stop until I got it on a page.
Finishing the #the100daychallenge I kept going, until the first rough draft was finished.
Then I gave it a rest.
On November of 2021
I got back to it, writing the Portuguese second draft during NaNoWriMo. With 50 412 words, just in time to accomplished the word count.
And then, it went into the back burner again. There was something about this story which seemed to be incomplete. It just felt pale in comparison to what I wanted to convey.
I’ve kept thinking about it, and spending a lot of time trying to work it all out in my mind, after all it’s a project into which I had put a lot of my faith into.
June 2022
With the approaching of June, entering in my first Camp NaNo ever, getting back to ‘The Shapeshifters’ seemed the right thing to do. So I started to rewrite a third draft, but…
Suddenly I noticed I had been reimagining a new first scene in another language. Going with it, I thought ‘I’ll change this later…’
Then it got me thinking again. Maybe this was my opportunity to strike another milestone on my path: to write a book in the English language.
Why? Quite frankly, because it seemed exciting, adding several more complex layers to this task.
I know, it isn’t some big deal but, to me, it was a strange and almost providential turn on this life’s project.
Now I had a new draft to rewrite, in a new language, in his full right of existing separately from the previous drafts.
Camp NaNo didn’t saw my expectations of advancing on a third draft fulfilled. Instead I added more layers to the complexity of this task.
But, at the same time, it got me thinking in all that I wanted to do with it; All the backstory I missed including; All the characters which were appearing shallow and unidimensional; The entirety of a Universe that palled in its previous versions.
In September…
I got really focused on polishing my notes for this project. From polishing notes to expand on the things I thought were missing, was a short step.
And then, with the proximity of this year’s NaNoWriMo event, it grew exponentially. I went from having a sketch of a story, to plotting a trilogy with all it’s flair.
On the 1st of November of 2022, I’ve started to write ‘The Shapeshifters #1’ which already has another title, but it will remain with this one until the trilogy is completed.
I am stoked by all of this process. I’m loving to bring to life the ideas I plotted for this story. I’m focusing on meeting my writing goals and in the task of building a good story… and trying to ‘never mind the rest’.
Are you entering NaNoWriMo? Let’s be buddies?
(I’m sara-farinha from Portugal)
And, please let me know how’s your project going.
Please leave a comment and subscribe for more content.
This is the month before NaNoWriMo. As some people call it it’s Prep October… and I am starting to feel the pressure.
I have been working on a manuscript, for a couple of years now, and in this year’s Camp Nano I saw myself setting its first two drafts in a limbo on uncertainty (more than usual) and started to test writing an english version instead.
I can tell you, it has been a wild emotional ride.
But first, some backstory. I’m writing a novel named ‘The Shapeshifters’ since 2021. You can read more about it the article: Drafts, writing plans and mind the gap
I have been imagining, and reimagining, and trying to create a story that has been with me for a long time. Mainly because I choose some difficult themes to work with… but this is personal, and it’s not for full disclosure at this point.
I was so happy when, in the beginning of 2021, I was able to put pen into paper and craft the major parts of this story.
Then I started working on a second draft, adding to the story, and getting my sub-plots aligned. Second draft completed and then…
I started writing the third draft in English.
It just came out that way!
This change gave me a pretty good amount of difficult feelings. I was supposed to continue this project, as planned, just trying to get it written in Portuguese, and polished to the best of my abilities.
But there I was… writing a new first scene, in another language.
It’s not that I want to translate what I have written. No, I want to write it anew, as if the first two drafts were totally exploratory.
And this added to the complexity of the writing process.
Very well, then!
What now?
One of my main goals/tasks for this Autumn was to finish my third-or-first draft of ‘The Shapeshifters’. Third draft because it’s the third time I’m rewriting this story. Or-First because it suddenly got rewritten in English.
It was reiterated in July’s Camp NaNo but I am still struggling with it.
As I wrote before…
“I need to go back to the drawing board and write a new plan for this story. There are some changes, that I want to make, regarding characters and story line. I’ve noticed that I designed a lot of backstory but failed to put it to good use.
Characters backstory, connections and past traumas are important and need to be carefully embedded in the story. How could I write a story with 79341 words and not put enough density is beyond me.
I’m always careful about not overdoing on what might be considered the boring stuff, an excess of whatever isn’t required. But it seems I trimmed it too much, leaving out even the important story details.“
As much as I see the need for all of this, the overthinking about the details, the decision making process, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the subject. I needed to get my real bearings and find a way to get back to ‘The Shapeshifters’.
And the Muse has to find me working, so…
Five days ago, in a fit of “I am really fed up with all of these thoughts that lead to nowhere, and mind as well stick with the program!“
I took a seat in the most improbable place of my apartment, (not the toilet, it must be the only place where I don’t find myself inspired to write) at the kitchen table. Accompanied by somme draft papers (basically A4 sheets, half used my my daughter’s scribbles, cut in A5 format) and a pen, and started chipping away at the work of putting all the scenes I had in those.
Oh, and it was after dinner, a writing schedule I usually don’t think very well of, since I’m more of an early bird, than a night owl.
It took me 4 blocks of about two hours to finish that work.
Looking ahead
Now, I’m on a crossroads… again. I need to have a visual of the whole project and need to make a better effort.
So on the fifth day I went back to the drawing table and started rereading and adding and adjusting.
I do not know how this will turn out. I know I’m prepping this project to be properly written during this year’s NaNoWriMo, next month.
But let’s see how all of this goes.
So this is the situation at this point… and you? Are you doing the NaNo challenge? How’s your writing process going?
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How does it feel to achieve a most desired milestone? Awesome!
But how many times we can boast about achieving one? Not as many as we should.
If we could just stick to the writing plan!!!
Nevertheless, I believe writing must be thought in increments, different phases, almost all of them composed by long and arduous stretches of work, that culminate in a finished piece.
First, the idea. Then working out all the most relevant aspects of this idea (plot, subplot, characters...). Research and first draft. Then first/second draft... and all that are needed. Then multiple revisions... and so on... until beta reading... alfa reading... submitting...
At least, that’s how I’ve been working all this stuff in my head. Some milestones to get me properly focused on minor parts that contribute to the major work.
For those who follow my other blog – in portuguese, my vlog – VLook, or my social media presence – Instagram, there is no secret about my last writing milestone achievement:
I have finished the second draft of my currently-working-on novel.
Originally named ‘Os Metamorfos’ and a straightforward translation as ‘The Shapeshifters’.
I do love to design covers for my writing projects.
By the time I’ll hit Publish on this post, another milestone has been achieved…
As you may have read in the previous article, and even though it wasn’t what I planned to do, it was a most welcome change.
Building this story is a roller-coaster of emotions. Mainly because, I have been trying to formulate it, without seeming to find the right way to make it work.
I’ve tried some former iterations without any result to show for. 20K and I would abandon the manuscript and would go sulk in a nearby sofa… I’ve tried this approach for three times.
It has been a not so joyous procedure.
What changed? What got me from Idea to Writing things down?
Last year, in 2021, I decided to enroll in a challenge called the 100 day challenge.
It was my second time participating, so I chose to do a writing related project. For one hundred days straight, I would write approximately for one hour, and this time around – because I had enrolled twice before with some mixed media projects – I chose some short quotes from other authors as a starting point, or a theme for each day, and would allow for a short text, in whatever form or genre, to evolve from that.
Another cover design for the 100 day project, named Impromptuarium.
I wasn’t planning to come back to this story concept but it kind of materialised itself that way.
In my the 100 day challenge I’ve written a few poems, short-stories, snippets of texts, sorts of diary entries and, right about the 47th day of the challenge, I started writing about these characters, and this story, that have been trying to get out of my head, and into the page, without much success.
It’s been years since I first thought about this story for the first time.
In the middle of Impromptuarium this story started to emerge. And right in the middle of itself. The long, dull, big bulk of the middle… and I had to work my way to the end. After that, I resumed to the starting point and wrote the beginning. It took me an extra twenty days of this challenge to complete the first big chunk of the work.
The 100 day challenge ended for me at 120 days straight of writing, one hour a day, of whatever fit my fancy. Which helped me getting the writing flow going. And I ended up with a very unpolished first draft (can I call it a first draft?)
What now?
After finishing this first round, I got a bit lost. I let it stew for a few months without looking at it, in pains that it would show me another big chunk of wasted time.
This is what imposter syndrome feels like. Exposed, broken, cold, water in a bedroom kind of feel and a bed calling for our bones to hide from the world…
In the meantime, I felt like crap. All of it felt like absolute sh**… and then I started to remind myself of that speech of shitty first drafts and all (from a very wise writer called Anne Lamott). I couldn’t fix what didn’t exist, but I could work with a shitty first draft.
And then came September… and October… I felt November approaching and knew I should give this story a go… again.
It was my tenth year on NaNoWriMo and I couldn’t forget that I had a pretty successful run in 2020, producing another novel (which, until today, I haven’t reviewed… yet).
And, it was NaNoWriMo that got me going into a second rewrite.
Mind the gap…
I finished November with a little bit more than the 50k needed to complete this challenge, but Oh, I definitely went through a hard time.
The story was born crooked, missing big chunks of information. In a very confusing manner by being thought out from the middle to the end, to the beginning, to the middle again.
I got really confused with myself.
I had a huge gap somewhere in there, that I fondly named ‘mind the gap’ in tribute to my love of London and its tube. And was just trying to smooth out a part that was driving me crazy.
November comes to an end…
The end of November approached and I was not even near finished my second draft.
So, I put it on a new goal. I would finish my second draft until the end of 2021. How’s that saying ‘man plans, god laughs’, or something like that.
December came, and went, and ‘The Shapeshifters’ kept being slowly written. Then I got kind of lazy… or had an impostor’s syndrome attack.
Dealing with the imposter in me…
I started feeling a huge amount of fears, and doubts, regarding the quality of this story, and a lot of shame associated with the high fantasy concept that I BELIEVED ISHOULD be writing.
I had to convince myself, all over again, that I didn’t need to come up with some high whatever concept, difficult to craft, boring, unsellable, gender and cultural dominated, and just NOT ME, to finish this story. And let all that nonsense go.
All I care about is giving it all I have, do my best, and keep crafting stories.
I had to remind myself, again and again, that I know my soft spots and strengths in my writing. That I could finish the draft and then make it better. I ended up with 79341 words on this draft.
As for making it better, I will leave it to the following efforts to prove or disprove me. But I am carving the will to start my third draft, to put in the work I think it needs, and make it one of my stories, full of those nuggets that turn a simple tale in something to think about.
Still working on it…
I am not near completion with this story but I am focused and willing to give it my best… and to edit like a maniac, cutting all darlings out of there.
Meanwhile, this isn’t my only ongoing project, so I’m trying to be organised here, and juggle a lot of projects all around… including all of life’s projects.
But, about these other writing projects, I will tell you all about it in another post.
How are your writing projects going? Do you find it hard to finish a second draft? And if you use NaNoWriMo as an added motivation to write your stories?
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