NaNo 2023: A Sky Full of Stars

I had a minor accident while playing badminton yesterday (apparently they happen anywhere) and could not write much. I will be starting on Chapter 13 today and I am thinking of starting on some of those leftover PlanMo prompts. I am at that point in the story where the settings change and new characters appear and I feel like I need some planning for that.

Daily Word count: 3890

Total Word count: 30,564

At this point, I am very sure I won't be able to hit the 50k mark, but I really need to commit more if I want to at least make it till Chapter 20.

Daily Word count: 2107

Total Word count: 32,671

Happy writing! You've already done 30k and that's super impressive

Thank you, @Liminality!

Working on Chapter 15 right now.

Daily Word count: 2206

Total Word count: 34,877

Woah great job you wrote a lot this month!

Thanks, @LuminescentAnt!

Forgot to update yesterday, but I am working on Chapter 18 right now. If I continue at my current pace, hopefully I'll be done with Chapter 20 in the next two days. Also, I have finally decided on the plot progression, so I at least know how this is going to end. Its a long way to go though and the sequel will pick up with Skye and Frank's journey to his brother's base camp. Its one of the main reasons I have decided to limit Frank's scenes in this book so that I can properly explore him in the next one. The trick will be to minimize his scenes while also establishing his character enough to justify Skye's reasons for trusting him.

Total Word Count: 37,932

The trick will be to minimize his scenes while also establishing his character enough to justify Skye's reasons for trusting him.

Oh that sounds challenging, but it's so cool to hear that you've already got plans for a second book too (and that you're thinking ahead to how what shows up in this book impacts the next one).

Well, I didn't manage to hit the 50k mark (I fell short of about 8.5k words) but the goal had always been to write as much as I can. Also, I did manage to make it till Chapter 20, so that's definitely an accomplishment.

Last day of NaNo always ends up being the most productive one for me. I wrote a lot and I did a lot of planning. I'll probably end this book around 70k words and the characters still have a bit of way to go before their paths intersect.

Daily Word count: 3606

Total Word count: 41,538

I haven't really shared many excepts this time around, so here are two:

Spoiler

After everything she'd been through, living a so-called normal life had become an incomprehensible, unimaginable idea. By now, she had mastered the art of fitting in whatever situation she found herself in, but actually belonging somewhere, to someone? That idea was just as foreign as it was dear to her.

I think this excerpt perfectly sums up the heart of Skye's character. She was a girl who was forced to become a woman, a soldier who's had to pick up weapons she didn't know how to use. But in her heart, she still only longs to belong. At first, she associated this need with her absent family, but after all she's had to face, she has finally realized that belonging to herself can and should be enough, for she saved herself when no one else tried.

Spoiler

It had been many long years and he had lived, if only to survive. Some days he might take too long in bed, having to remind himself of all the reasons why he needed to get up at all. But in the end, he was always begrudgingly back on his feet.
Live, his brother had requested, and for his sake, he liked to believe he did a fine job of it.

This book is not really about Frank but it introduces him and establishes him as a character forced to take up responsibilities he wants nothing to do with. This is him near the end of Book 1 and he still has a long way to go before he truly finds his own purpose or reasons to live.

My goal for this NaNo was to simply write and I feel that I have done that. I ended the month on Chapter 20 and plot-wise, it marks a milestone for the characters, who each undergo some change, for better or for worse. Anyway, the main challenge now will be to keep write since I have a wonderful habit of abandoning my NaNo projects and dragging them through multiple Camp NaNo's. My main reflections from this month are ~

1) Do more planning. I love doing the PLanMo Journal prompts, but I slacked off this year and it definitely slowed me down at times. Especially, the character descriptions - I have a vague idea of what the characters look like and a few chapters after their introduction, I realize I forgot to communicate that to the readers. Will take those character questionnaires more seriously from now on!

2) To go with the flow. Something I have realized this NaNo is that its ok to improvise. While its definitely helpful if you have things planned, sometimes the characters take you somewhere else and following that writer's instinct just makes the story feel more genuine. Most of the circumstances of my character introductions were improvised and I stressed about it until I realized how much truer it was to their personalities and storylines.

3) Make small, attainable goals that actually help you enjoy the writing process. This one is very important. Although, I only made it to 41k this year, the goal was to write and I feel like I enjoyed it more without having to stress about deadlines and word goals.

4) Write smaller sentences. This is such a bad habit of mine and it is basically what happens when you stick to classics only. I think I have wasted hours this month simplifying sentences that would run on to become paragraphs. Its annoying and time-consuming and this habit needs to change asap.

5) Do better world-building. This is something I really struggled with this time around, mostly because I have never written a dystopia before. I have my characters sorted but I struggled with some of the scene descriptions. Again, I had a vague imagery in mind but most of the finer details evaded me which ultimately resulted in some sloppy descriptions. That's definitely something I'll need to work on. Maybe I'll just go and binge read some of my favourite dystopias!