Camp NaNoWriMo (July 2018)

[Valka D'Ur]

That makes two of us. This story is a tough slog at this point. I've nearly hit the "three weeks in and writer's block is happening" mark.

I really don't like one of my characters. She's just awful, and that's not how I intended to write her, but it just kind of happened... and since every story needs some kind of conflict, that's it. At least for now.

And I got sidetracked by Cruise Director 5, which is another game put out by the same company, and a couple of the Park Ranger characters are in it, so I'm getting story ideas for well down the road. Like years down the road, unless I figure out how to dovetail the three game series these characters are in.

People on the other gaming forum where I've mentioned NaNoWriMo have already asked if they can read it, and I have to tell them that it'll be a long time before this mess is fit to post. At least I'm getting lots of suggestions as to how the pepperoni pizza got up on top of the abandoned mine shaft.

Day 14 total: 6019 words
Day 15 total: 6627 words
Day 16 total: 7067 words


I might need to rethink this idea for November, and go back to either the Hulzein or Fighting Fantasy projects.

 

[Takhisis]

Day 14 total: 6019 words
Day 15 total: 6627 words
Day 16 total: 7067 words

Are those the amounts of words you've written on each day, or the accumulated total at the end of each?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Are those the amounts of words you've written on each day, or the accumulated total at the end of each?

Accumulated total. The best day I've had this time around was a bit over 600 words. That's not bad for a Camp event with a low target if it were consistent, but it would be abysmal for the November event. I'm averaging about 440 words/day. If this were the November event, I wouldn't be happy with less than 1800 words/day (the daily minimum for that is 1667 words/day).

 

[Takhisis]

When you do your sessions, how much do you rewrite of what you've previously written?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

When you do your sessions, how much do you rewrite of what you've previously written?

Not much, because it would really throw the word count off.

If I see a spelling or grammar mistake, I'll fix it. If there's a long paragraph that I decide should be split up, I'll fix that, too.

Sometimes I think up something to add, so I'll add it. Adding material isn't a problem as long as I know how many words I had before adding any.

The last significant rewrite (a few days ago) happened because I realized I'd accidentally skipped ahead a chapter (blame the game... having chapters with such similar titles is confusing). Thank goodness I hadn't gone more than a couple of sentences into it, so it involved scrapping about 20 words and rewriting them.

So until I'm comfortably past the target number of words to the point where rewrites wouldn't put me below that, I don't do a lot of rewriting other than fixing minor mistakes. There are places where I've left placeholder names, until I think of what I'm really going to name the character.

And... having just finished another game in this interconnected group (Park Ranger, Cruise Director, Christmas Wonderland)... I just realized that in-story continuity has taken a step toward the truly bizarre.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Day 17 total: 7471 words
Day 18 total: 8003 words

A lost engagement ring has been found, yay!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Day 19 total: 8416
Day 20 total: 8788
Day 21 total: 9204

At this rate, I should reach my target on Monday, maybe Tuesday. But I always keep going to the very last day, in the last half-hour. I want as many words as possible.

To see if I could pick up any inspiration, I had a look on YouTube to see if anyone's posted walkthroughs... someone did, but they didn't get any farther than I have so far.

This time around it's a definite case of forcing myself to keep going. I should have done a lot more prep work to get a better handle on where I want to go with this story.

Oh, story-wise, a rock pile was cleared away and some fossils were found. More about the fossils tomorrow.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Day 22 total: 9574 words
Day 23 total: 10,086 words

Which brings me to just a tiny smidgen past my target goal!

I just got a congratulatory email from the Camp NaNoWriMo website, with a reminder to validate my story and buy a winner's button (none of the prizes are free except for the downloadable certificate, banner, and badge that's a suitable size for an avatar).

However, 86 words isn't a good enough margin (because the NaNo website never credits me with all the words, dunno why) so I will keep going for another week.

Today was more productive than usual; I managed over 500 words.

 

[Zkribbler]

Way to go!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Thanks!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Time for an update:

I've continued to write, since I really, really want to get to 15,000 words.

So here's what's been happening:

Day 24 total: 11,013 words
Day 25 total: 11,399 words
Day 26 total: 11,767 words
Day 27 total: 12,199 words
Day 28 total: 12, 901 words
Day 29 total: 14, 315 words

So... because of a couple of very productive days lately, 15,000 is doable. I have until 11:59 pm PDT tonight to validate. Considering that I'm in the Mountain time zone, that gives me an extra hour.

I've been creating a slew of extra characters who weren't in the game, and realized the hazards of just pulling names out of the air. One of them actually seemed familiar... and I realized I'd used the name of a convicted murderer from Red Deer who is currently on death row in Montana (yes, seriously; he's been in the news from time to time and the name must have been in my subconscious, so when I realized it, the name got changed).

Anyway, the fishing license fiasco has been sorted out. Now... why would somebody put a tire in a rowboat?

And why would the game developers not schedule a lunch break for the character in this game? It's a good thing I wrote in a scene where somebody gives her a sandwich from their picnic basket. Otherwise, I'd have to have her seriously think about eating that pepperoni pizza that's yet to be found on top of the entrance to the abandoned mine shaft.

 

[Zkribbler]

why would somebody put a tire in a rowboat? .

To use as a bumper so that the boat doesn't bang up against the dock.
To use as a table for a floating picnic.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

To use as a bumper so that the boat doesn't bang up against the dock.
To use as a table for a floating picnic.

Hmm. The second suggestion makes sense. The first wouldn't work, because the tire was just tossed into the rowboat, which is floating in a lake not far from the dock. It's far enough out, though, that whoever has to retrieve it is going to get very wet.

However... that's for later. Like November-later.

I'm done with Camp events for the year, and now it's time to rest for awhile and then start prepping for November. I might as well continue with this, now that I'm getting some more story ideas.

Anyway, here is the final tally:

Day 30 total: 15,131 words.

I validated with about 2 minutes to spare, and the NaNo website credited me with 15,054 words. So that's in the neighborhood of where I'd wanted to be (I always aim for at least 5000 over the stated target goal).

The last couple of days were very productive and I really pushed myself.

As for winners' goodies... they'll release those in a few days, and I'll at least download my badge and banner.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I was unsure of how much I would be able to write this month. I set a goal of 20,000 words and I ended up writing 25,228 words.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I was unsure of how much I would be able to write this month. I set a goal of 20,000 words and I ended up writing 25,228 words.

That's excellent! Good for you!

 

[Takhisis]

I need to reinstate my goal of writing 400 words a day. Waiting for, every few days, suddenly writing a few thousand words is less productive in the long term. It does work for short stories, but not for any lengthy works.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I need to reinstate my goal of writing 400 words a day. Waiting for, every few days, suddenly writing a few thousand words is less productive in the long term. It does work for short stories, but not for any lengthy works.

It's a good habit to get into. I felt very guilty last night, not doing my story. But the 30 days were up, I validated, made the goal plus the extra I wanted, and now it's time to think about editing and research for the next time.

That's going to be more challenging. I found this Camp event difficult, partly because it's in the hot part of the year and I'm just not in a good headspace to think too much in July and August. I had to really force myself to make the minimum number of words/day, far too often. Another part is the other things going on, whether in RL or other online issues. And the computer has been pitching fits sometimes.

I need to shake this by November and have a better plan. The minimum is 1667 words/day, but I try to get at least 1800-2000.


What genre are you writing in, @Takhisis?

 

[Zkribbler]

I was unsure of how much I would be able to write this month. I set a goal of 20,000 words and I ended up writing 25,228 words.

 

[Takhisis]

What genre are you writing in, @Takhisis?

Two different storylines. One is an initially stereotypical high fantasy with a few twists; the other is sword-and-sandal.

 

[caketastydelish]

I don't participate in this writing event but would it be possible to get my (very incomplete and equally rough) manuscript reviewed at CFC by somebody?