Stats
Week 36 Average Daily Wordcount: 2,462
Week 36 Total Wordcount: 17,234
May Total Wordcount: 21,730
Year Total Wordcount: 717,614
Words to go:
May: 61,604
Year: 282,386
May isn’t going too terribly—a glowing review if I ever heard one.
I AM behind. I know, I know. Broken record. But I don’t feel too badly about it. I got my second COVID vaccine last Friday and it kind of put me out of commission over the weekend. I was barely awake on Saturday, so writing was not happening.
In spite of feeling behind though, I’m feeling good about writing again. I’m not super-charged. Getting my words in is still difficult. But I’m happy with what I’m working on at the moment, which is always the most important thing.
For the moment, shorter works of fiction are working for me. While I love writing novels, I don’t think it works well for me in this Milwordy format. Not back-to-back. Trying to go straight from my changeling novel into Mila was a mistake. It was a mistake I don’t think I could have possibly avoided—because how on earth could I have known that I shouldn’t start one novel just after finishing another—but a mistake none the less.
I’m taking some time off of novel writing, though I do hope to get back to it either in June or July. Hey, maybe I’ll try Camp NaNo again in July! Third time’s a charm, right?
There are some lessons I may never learn.
I’m also thinking of rereading Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. It’s been a couple years and I could use the refresher. Plus, I’m thinking of trying to map the structure of some of my favorite pieces of fiction to help me cement plot structure in my head. Sometimes I struggle with the big picture part of writing. Trying to make sure that all the story beats work together is tough and I’m still learning, but I figure looking at what other people have done can help. Of course, I have done this before…sort of.
In the past, I’ve always looked at the way other people have mapped out different story structures. I look at it, and it makes sense. But I think it would really help for me to say, watch a movie and try to figure out for myself where the story beats are instead of listening to someone else TELL me where they are.
Then again, I could end up mapping it all wrong and confusing myself even more. But…um…hopefully not?
Anyway, I’m going to give it a shot and hope for the best—kind of like how I do everything during this challenge; It’s all on a wing and a prayer.
Do you have any good resources for learning plot structure? Do share ‘em if you’ve got ‘em! I’m always on the lookout for learning material.
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Rambling Robin 