I did some writing last night. Woo! I was going to start this saying ‘I did some writing last night, not a lot but some,’ but then I realised what I was thinking.
I wrote 504 words. For some reason my brain calculates 504 words as not a lot. My daily goal is 250 words (5 days a week), so I’ve more than doubled my daily goal. In one day. That is nothing to be sniffed at. When I think about it that way, I’m a lot happier about it!
I also achieved something. I finished the scene I’ve been working on for the last… um… quite a while actually. I started it thinking it was just going to be a little filler scene that it wasn’t going to serve much purpose other than showing the MC is starting to get over her ex. It’s turned into another serious plot line. Not a massive one, but another sub plot. That’s a good thing. Will be interesting to see what happens next.
I’m now back to the problem of – what do I write next? Obviously I need to stick to ‘Holiday,’ but which scene do I move on to? I’ve got the problem that there’s a five or six week gap between the scene I’m on now, and the bit before they go on holiday. Nothing much happens there, so I don’t think I need to do any more than one scene, but it’s going to be a decision of when that scene is.
Will it be the next morning? That would be quite good, but maybe I could tie it in with something else a few weeks later. Maybe I could change the end of the scene I’ve just written and then have the next one two weeks later, then pick up where I’ve written before. Wow, this is tough!
There was me thinking it was taking me so long because I’m lazy – not because it’s tough (does that show how out of the writing loop I’ve been, if I’ve forgotten how hard this writing thing is??).
Anyway, there’s something I’ve been meaning to blog about for ages, but keep forgetting.
In this novel, there is a lot of drinking. My MC is a late twenties single girl living (I’d like to say the dream, but seeing as it’s chick lit, she really isn’t) in London. She works hard and plays hard – including a lot of drinking. She then goes on holiday, which obviously includes a LOT of drinking.
A while ago I started worrying about this. Is heavy drinking really acceptable in chick lit? Can I remember any other books where they did a lot of drinking? No, I can’t. Does that mean it’s not acceptable? If it isn’t, do I care? This is my novel… but then I don’t want to alienate readers thinking Kate is a piss head. Which is isn’t really, she just enjoys life. This went on and on.
And then… while stressing about this quite a lot… I read Still Thinking of You by Adele Parks. Ahh, good old Adele – they drank all the way through the book. Yay! I think I just needed someone else to say – look doing this is ok, and I found it by accident.
For all I know, there could be tons and tons of chick lit with drinking. I could have read it, but you know sometimes you just can’t think of any? That was me, for weeks! I’m so glad I read STOY.
What I have changed about the novel is the number of people I had the MC sleeping with. There’s her ex (the obligatory going back because she thinks it means she’s getting back with him), there’s the ex ex – her best friend, because, well you know, they have to for the story to work. Then I also had a scene where she had a one night stand.
It was supposed to show that she was getting over her ex. Actually, that’s a lie. I wrote this scene once about being hungover and the character not really remembering who it was she was waking up next to, and it worked really well in this story so I added it, and found a reason to.
But, sleeping with 3 men in one novel? A bit too much isn’t it? I think so. Kate – I think she still wants to have this other guy (especially because he’s someone semi famous – and pretty hot), and I still want him, but only because I think it’s a great scene.
What is ‘Holiday’s’ loss, will at some point be some other novel/stories gain I’m sure – I’m sure it will get used somewhere at some point. Maybe I could base my NaNo novel on that scene? The MC’s housemate had such a good reaction to someone she had no idea about. It was brilliant. Even if I do say so myself!
Right, should go do some work.
Have a great weekend all – get loads of lovely lovely words written!
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