Young Writers Society

WHOOPS. I forgot to post on this yesterday...

I wrote about a thousand words on "The Death of the Lady" yesterday! WOOOO.

Today, everyone seems fussy so lol rip word count. But I am holding a sleeping baby and maybe I can type one-handed now???? Wish me luck...

THIS SCENE. XD (From the new chapter in progress...)



XD

On a different note... (book 1 vs book 4 vague musings...)

I... wrote about 400 words but I am also about to delete it all so lololololol.

UH. I did write a little bit more for this chapter before Camp Nano ended, even though I didn't actually finish this chapter like I had hoped for...

An excerpt of new material, just because. (Archondid is so kind to Alainna...)



WE STAN ALAINNA.

...so I wrote that and a couple of other stuff during April before my whole family was engulfed by the plague and it was All Hands On Deck and OMG SO MUCH VOMIT AHHHH time. (Still kind of shivery and feverish, tbh, even after sweating it out in bed basically all of yesterday. BLEH.)

Okay! Overall Camp Nano reflections post!

I had... ambitious plans. Very ambitious plans. But life smacked me on the face repeatedly. (Like, at one point, I very nearly died. O_O Eeeeeep...) Anyway, I did not do everything that I wanted to do and I don't really feel like this was a particularly victorious month.

Still... let's look at my original plans, shall we? Maybe I am being purposely down on myself...

Do away with the Prologue!

I deleted the prologue! WOOOOO! I incorporated most of the information elsewhere! I still have to do a couple other things... Sergius's introduction to the story needs to be rewritten because he is not introduced to the prologue. And I am still introducing bits of the prophecy elsewhere. But overall, I think it is better.

Rewrite the first chapter!

I... did not do this. I started to rewrite it, but I did not finish it. *flails*

Write a new chapter!

I actually did this! I finished the awkward wedding practice scene. And I also wrote half of another chapter.

Clarify Solea's role as the handmaiden to the Lady

I... started doing this. I think I need to read the story straight through and add it more. I also think the bulk of this explaining needs to happen in the first chapter, which I have not finished.

Uclepidies's tragedy needs to be better incorporated

I started doing this, but I didn't finish. I trimmed Francine's dialogue a lot so she knows less... just enough to pique Solea's curiosity. But I didn't finish the scene in the carriage where Uclepidies shares his heart... and story.

I also hinted that the necklace Alainna has used to belong to the queen, though that particular plot point is more relevant in book 2.

Frenzy!

Guhhh... I need to do this more. I introduced it a little bit, but not a lot.

Break up chapters!

Hey, I actually did this!

Trim the story!

Um... did I do this? I added a bunch of new scenes, but also I trimmed A LOT. I am curious... let me check...

The old version word count: 112,204

The new version word count: 109,986!!!

So YES! I might have added new chapters, but overall things have been trimmed! And I haven't finished yet...

Of course, I haven't finished writing some of my new scenes too. But like. I've probably deleted about 15-20k in this pass through. We'll call this a victory, even though I haven't finished trimming yet, lol.

Additional scenes???

Uh... I started all but one the scenes and finished about half of them.

OKAY. So like. Did I finish a solid draft like I was hoping for so I could send this off to more beta readers??? NO.

Is the story kind of torn apart right now and full of missing scenes? YES.

But overall, I think that there have been improvements all around.

Going forward for book 1...

- I need to finish writing the new chapters/scenes.

- I need to trim about 10k of fluff (which sounds crazy but I can trim more, hahah.)

- I want to rearrange a couple of chapters due to pacing concerns.

STILL. Like... I almost died a couple of weeks ago, so maybe I should focus on finishing the last book, seeing as there is only one chapter left. XD

Anyway! I did not complete my overly ambitious plans, but considering that this month has been a trainwreck, let's just consider this a victory. XD

Woahhh you got a lot done, Snoink!! Looks like you started pretty much all your goals, and completed some too (Also very glad you did not die.) Great job this Camp NaNo, and I wish you and your family the best of health!