Countdown to Nanowrimo

Other people are counting down the days and hours. I'm counting down the words.

Which reminds me, have I told you how much I like this yWriter software? I'm already looking forward to doing my first edit.

Now that I've cut and pasted the bits of Redemption that I've actually written, I can print a little outline which shows me clearly what still needs to be written. I've moved some things that were in the wrong place into the right place, or at least a better place. And I have - gasp! - actually added around 500 words to the book!

He has just released an upgrade which has a target word count in, I guess to be nanowrimo friendly. Unfortunately, he hasn't put in the green bar, which is the real motivator. But that may still come.

The other point of interest is that he writes humorous science fiction, which gives me something new to read. I like humorous science fiction/ fantasy, which makes me wonder why I'm writing such a dark, gothic fantasy? But it's one of those things, the characters take over.

I already have my query letter planned. "It would be nice if I could tell you I have written a truly bizarre book. The fact is, the book has largely written itself."

Perhaps with this software, I can persuade the book to finish itself now.

The end ain't nigh

Since receiving Chris Baty's kind invitation, I haven't written a word of Redemption. Though I have been trawling around the nanowrimo forums a little. What did I find? Free novel writing software.

Regretfully, this does not generate a complete novel automatically.

However, it does help you keep track of where your novel is, what parts need to be written, and apparently even has a timeline so you can track when things happened in the novel. As much of Redemption happened 900 or so years before the main story, I don't know how useful this will be for me. But if you're writing a murder mystery and solving it depends on who saw what when, that could be an entirely different kettle of fish.

Right now I'm transferring my existing manuscript into the program.

It looks like it will be a good tool for outlining the next book.

I'll keep you posted.

"Dear Esteemed Wrimo," writes Chris Baty to me yesterday, "It's that time again. NaNoWriMo has officially opened for its seventh noveling season, and we'd love to have you back for another raucous and productive November."

Dear Chris, I haven't yet finished the novel I nanoed last year.

Hmm.

Then again, maybe November would be a good way to make some progress on Valentine. That's a great idea I had for an interactive novel. It would have to be an e-book to work, with links that take you down a different storyline depending on the decisions you make while reading.

Hmm.

Of course, today is only the 7th of October. And Redemption needs another 18,000 words or so.
If I could actually FINISH Redemption before the end of October, I'd be all geared up to do the madness again.

Can it be that hard? It's less than 1,000 words a day now.

Good pre-nano training too.

Hmm.

Let me give it a try.