by syaffolee

It’s Done, Sort Of

Well, I got a bit past 50k. Yay!

The story itself, however, isn’t done. Obvious since I left a cliffhanger. At the moment, I’m feeling a little burned out. If I’m going to finish the story, I need a little time away from it. The thing is, I had no problem writing the story out once I seriously got down to actually writing. I just had a hard time forcing myself to get started in the first place. And when I wrote, it felt more like a chore rather than a joy. And I had all these other ideas clambering in my head trying to get out. And I couldn’t get them out because they didn’t fit the story I was currently writing.

One major thing I did this year was to try to write an outline, kind of did it, and immediately threw it out once the first of the month rolled around. So mainly, I was writing by the seat of my pants. I really had no idea what was going to happen next. And I was writing sci-fi. But I doubt the genre had anything to do with my sluggishness this year.

I’m not particularly disappointed. Although I also reached 50k in 2002, I didn’t finish the story then either. In fact, I’m glad that this year was particularly difficult–an indication that Nanowrimo won’t get stale no matter how many times I attempt it. The important thing is, I challenged myself with a different genre and a different point of view. Writing solely focused on a male main character is a difficult thing if you don’t have any idea what you’re doing. But whether the execution was right or not is besides the point–at least I got to stretch those writing muscles a bit.

As for next year: of course I already have possible ideas floating about. But whatever it ultimately ends up, it’ll be another challenge.

(For those of you morbidly curious, this year’s effort is posted in its entirety here. It’s about an ex-criminal/mechanical engineer who inherits a vacation house on Triton and discovers that the house is more than what it seems. Mostly dialogue, some action, explosions, and not much introspection.)

(originally posted at Writing Sya)