Writing a New Novel

[David DeLee]

I've always been a big fan of NaNoWriMo and admired those who took to the challenge. I never did because November never seemed like a good time to embark on something like--the holidays and shopping and family trips and all that. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

Anyway, I'm starting work on a new novel and since tomorrow is Aug 1st I thought let's see if I can give this a go. I've got all my preliminary planning done--outlines, lists, character sketches, what have you --

So starting tomorrow I'm challenging myself to write 90k words over the next 30 day so that by Aug. 31st I will have a complete first draft done. That's an average of 3000 words per day. I will post my daily word count here at the end of the day for anyone who's interested in following and maybe I'll write a word or two about what I face as far as challenges go in trying to get this done.

Anyway, the title of the book is FATAL DECEPTION and it's the next novel in my Grace deHaviland Bounty Hunter series.

For inspiration, here's a picture of the cover I've already created.

Anyway, wish me luck and please don't laugh too hard if (when) I fall on my face.

David DeLee

[CJ Forrest]

That’s great David.  I look forward in watching your progress.  Writing 3k words a day is ambitious.  Don’t worry about falling on your face.  It will only make you prettier. ;-p

[David DeLee]

So, you've seen my publicity photo, have you? :)

Yes it is ambitious. I've managed it before and more, and even in spurts, but never sustained for the length of a novel before. For me that's the challenge; to do it every day until the project is done.

Thanks for your support. I hope I can find something along the way to say that you and others find useful.

[Jed Power]

I like the cover a lot, David.

Boy, 3,000 a day is a big number; I'm happy doing my 1,000.  But I'd be surprised if you didn't succeed and I bet the results are great.

Good luck,

Jed

[David DeLee]

Jed,

Thank you for the cover comment. I've been working on them and trying to get them better and also to brand my work. I hope I'm succeeding.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm fortunate that I can dedicate full days to my writing and make it my job. Not everyone can do that.

[Stephen Seitz]

Good luck with that. Just remember the first draft always sucks, and make sure to get a good copy editor for the final result.

By all means, please keep us posted. You may be setting a great example for the rest of us.

[David DeLee]

Absolutely Stephen.

I've been at this long enough to know my process. The first draft is only that. Nothing leaves my laptop until I've been through it a minimum of four times and then it goes to a professional editor, and of course a full run through again after that to look over their recommendations. Never less than that. More if I've effed his up, of course. :)

For me the point of this is to get the first draft done in 30 days, If I can do that, that'll be a huge leap forward to me getting more things published in a more timely manner.

Thanks for your support in this.

[David DeLee]

Okay, so Day One is done.

The plan when I started out this morning was to write two scenes, because my scenes tend to run between 1500 and 2000 words on average so that would give me my 3k+ goal. I wrote all of one scene and about 95% of the other one, making my total word count 4200 for today.

Here's how it played out.

I started working at 10:00 this morning and worked through until 6pm tonight.

The first scene was a breeze because I knew exactly in my mind what I wanted to happen and what needed to be written and so I blasted through it in three hours writing 2500 words by 1:00 pm.

I stopped for lunch and to run some errands.

I returned to work at 2pm and worked straight through until 6.

My second scene didn't go nearly as smoothly. In those four hours I only wrote 1700 words. The reason was because the scene was not fully imagined in my head. I spent a good two hours searching/researching for the right character-situation that I needed for the scene, for someone to go up against Grace. This was not a major character but a one-shot, yet he needed to be fleshed out and a worthy opponent for Grace. In the end I found it and I'm happy with it.

So that was it 4200 words on day one. That's a seven hour day, plus a one hour lunch break, with three doggie walks so my little guy got exercise and potty breaks.

Comments and encouraging words welcome. I'll be back tomorrow.

David

[David DeLee]

Okay, so its day 2.

Again my writing day was 10am to 6pm. I wrote in three long stretches.

10-12 I wrote 1200 words.

1-3:30 I wrote 1800 words

4:30 - 6:00 I wrote 1500 words

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

[David DeLee]

Day 3

It's Saturday, so a short post. A slow start this morning but then I started picking up speed.

Wrote 4600 words all in over 7 hours. Took only a 20 minute lunch break and only two short dog walks.

[David DeLee]

Day 4

I wrote 3000 words. Brings my four day total up to 16,300. Well above where I wanted to be at this time which was 12000.

Feel really good about where I am but I think I'll soon need to review my outline material and make sure I'm on track with my story points. That is not all that unusual for me. I tend to outline the whole book pretty heavily then not look at any of it until I'm a 1/4 or a 1/3 of the way through, then I go back and touch base and make sure I'm dropping the right clues, red-herring, etc.

Anyway, great fun. Hope everyone else is having a great weekend, too.

[David DeLee]

Day 5

I started this morning like I do every morning with a little cardio workout. Today it was a 2 mile jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I find the workout really gets the blood flowing and the brain in gear in the morning.

I wrote from about 10:30 to 5:30 with the standard hour for lunch and to walk the dog, and two other short pee-pee breaks for the dog and me, and completed 3500 words.

My running total for the month is 19,800 in 5 days.

I cleared the month to do this, but I do see a couple of unexpected interruptions coming up. I'll post what they are and how they'll affect what I'm doing, but luckily I've built up a little buffer of words so far, just in case.

[David DeLee]

Thanks Gin,

I can understand writing during the quiet of night would be good, I'm just too much of a morning person. Up at like 5 am every day.I love the period of time in the quiet before everyone else gets up and the day gets started.

Thanks for the support and good luck with your own writing.