April 2025 Camp NovMo: Baking RomCom

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goodolnoah wrote:Hey!!! I'm so glad to see that you are so far along, and you've passed the kiss scene. Looks like you are doing good work!

I also find it really interesting that you use the four act structure, is there a set of events you assign to these four acts?

@goodolnoah -- thank you!! and great question!

I loosely follow the save the cat story structure. There are more specific story beats for romance that I kind of blend into the save the cat beats. Save the cat is a three act structure, but I personally find it easier to balance everything if I break it into four acts.
My act one is beginning through "debate"/"break into two"
My act two is "break into two" through "midpoint"
My act three is "midpoint" through "dark night of the soul"
My act four is "dark night of the soul" through the ending.
(so basically just diving the traditional act two into two different acts)

I write in Scrivener and I literally have a folder for each act and all the scenes for that act in each folder. Then I can clearly see that everything is balanced (and not 20 scenes in the first half and 12 in the second half or something). I like to clearly see that everything is hitting where it's supposed to -- like the midpoint is truly at the midpoint of the novel.
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Ahhh I see! I also roughly follow the save the cat story line, especially for my current WIP!

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but I really like this video outlining the story structure.
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I really like the way he outlines the various beats of the structure!




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4/22

Today's words: 550/500
April words: 11,757
Total manuscript words: 40,007
Today's bracket count: 16
A line?



As predicted, I didn't write the day after the all day writing sprint day! But! I think I have all but two scenes loosely figured out for the rest of the book?? Might be fake, time will tell. I at least know what the next fourish scenes are!

Also didn't write yesterday because I wasn't feeling it. My goal today was to HIT 40K AND HERE WE AREEEEE!!

And I'm still on track with my overall goal for the month against all odds!!
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4/23

Today's words: 269/500
April words: 12,026
Total manuscript words: 40,276
Today's bracket count: 6
A line?



Tired today but I'm still on track with my overall word count goal!!
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4/24

Today's words: 1570/500
April words: 13,596
Total manuscript words: 41,846
Today's bracket count: 51
A line?

“I’ve never been happier to hear I’ve been stalked.”


Today's word count was brought to you by word sprints with some fellow writers over on Bluesky! That was super fun and the time truly flew by. (I also didn't even "win" either of the sprints!) Probably could've gotten to 42k today but hit a wall with like 5 minutes left in the last one and was like meh. I've written plenty!
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Wow! You tripled your goal in a day! Fantastic! :)
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach

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I HAVE ACHIEVED MY GOAL

4/27
Today's words: 1157


4/28
Today's words: 2000 (did I add a few words just to get to this perfect final number. why yes I did!!)
April words: 16,753
Total manuscript words: 45,003
Today's bracket count: too many to count yesterday and today lol
A line?

Two lines because I achieved my goal!

It’s in that exact moment that I decide to do the most petty thing I can possibly do.
*
Theo looks equally proud of his triple berry pie, and I can’t lie, it looks in.cred.i.ble. I can’t wait to sneak a piece backstage after we finish judging and pretend I hate it.


More reflections to come but YAY FOR ACHIEVABLE WRITING GOALS AND FINALLY HITTING SOME WRITING RHYTHM THIS YEAR!
I plan to write tomorrow and Wednesday to finish the month strong :)
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Heyyy!! I'm so glad to hear you hit your goal! I've been following along and you seem to have made some great forward progress! Stay healthy and keep writing!




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Yay congrats on achieving your goal :)
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