We have pomegranates in our yard. I’m not sure if they’re ornamental or good to eat.
The month will soon be over. November is National Novel Writing Month known as NaNoWriMo. The challenge is to write 50,000 words this month. I am at a little over 42,000 words and I’m counting down to the wire.
I like my story premise, I’m pleased that I’m alternating points of view each chapter between several characters. A lot of back story and details about the characters’ lives emerged. My prior draft from last year was from one character’s point of view and it was limiting.
Six days and 8,000 words to go. My goal is 1,500 words a day until it’s done. It is a challenge. I usually edit and revise as I write. But this is an exercise in getting the story out and fixing it later. It’s difficult for me to write without wanting to rewrite and edit.
Once the rough draft is done, I’ll set it aside before I take a good hard look at what I’ve done. Then the real work will begin.
Do you edit as you write? Or do you write a free flowing first draft and edit it later?
My certificate for writing 50,000 words of a novel in November for the writing challenge called NaNoWriMo 2021.
It’s almost time for National Novel Writing Month. I’m on their email list and they’ve begun a six-week NaNoWriMo prep.
Last year was my first attempt at writing a rough draft of a novel during November. I did it!
But what I didn’t do was back up my manuscript. How or why? In any case, my laptop had a hardware issue and most of my files disappeared including my 50,000 word novel!
I called Apple and they tried for days to recover my files on icloud and my hard drive. No luck.
I’ve begun rewriting my novel and changed the point of view from one character to four characters alternating their stories. I’m at about 25,000 words. It’s added depth to the characters rather than viewing them from one perspective.
The emails from NaNoWriMo have motivated me to finish the manuscript. I’ll use their prep weeks to improve what I’ve written so far.
NaNoWriMo is giving me a second chance with this idea! I’m starting today. I don’t have to begin with a new idea. It’s just the push I need to complete this rough draft — again.
My certificate for writing 50,000 words of a novel in November for the writing challenge called NaNoWriMo.
I’ve been thinking about the project I began for my first NaNoWriMo writing challenge. After the New Year, I plan to dive in and rewrite it. Currently, the story is told in first person of the protagonist who is loosely based on me. I’ve been musing about how I need to make the plot more exciting — but then I began thinking about point of view. I think that’s where I need to start.
The premise is three women and their young children who are peacefully enjoying their quiet lives when the antagonist, an eccentric, larger-than-life character, whirls into their lives creating drama and upheaval. I think telling the entire tale from one character’s perspective is monotonous. It limits the story, because you only know what one person sees and how they interpret people and events.
I dusted off Liane Moriarity’s “Big Little Lies” which I read years ago and discovered that the chapters are told from the POV of Madeline, Jane and Celeste — in third person. It isn’t told from one woman’s point of view at all. If you haven’t read it or watched the TV show, it’s also a story of friendships of mothers of young children.
When I first began writing years ago, my writing mentor Gerry Petievich who wrote “To Live and Die in L.A.” held writer’s conferences. He said to pick out a book as a pattern book when you begin to write a novel. He said you don’t copy it. What I took away from him is that you analyze different things that work in that book such as plot structure, voice and characters. I realized that “Big Little Lies” can fill that role for my project.
I think by alternating the POV to each of the main characters, it will add depth. I’ll need to give each character their own voice and I’ll have to flesh out their lives much deeper than they are now — which currently are only snippets of their lives seen by the protagonist. I’m not sure if I should alternate first person voice or use third person omniscient point of view like “Big Little Lies.” I tend to favor writing in first person.
When you are reading or writing, what point of view do you prefer? First or third person? What is your opinion of books that alternate points of views of characters each chapter? Do you find switching POV is confusing or do you think it adds to the story?
Have you read “Big Little Lies” or “To Live and Die in L.A.?” Have you seen the TV show or movie?.
