Young Writers Society

Plot
still working on it. It’s my first time playing pantser woot so I’ll see how it goes but it focuses mainly on the afterlife where you either become a phantom or a fairy. I’ll have two unreliable narrators (one from each side) navigating through their new life and eventually discovering the “criteria” in order to be subsumed under their respective sides.

With a vague idea of how the story’s going to flow, I started with a restaurant scene. Candela dined with her friend Precy, except she’s eating her dinner whilst Precy’s just starting her breakfast. I want to start off extremely vague but with notably strange things you won’t be seeing in real life. This restaurant scene hints mainly on how time doesn’t exist in this new world. But generally speaking I’m trying to establish the fairy world and what makes it different from ours.

Kicking off with this first chapter I got to understand what kind of personality my female protagonist is going to have.

Candela’s wee reserve which is why her perspective has a relatively terse writing style. She’s content with the life she’s got now, juxtaposing Precy’s yearn for some “drama.” I’d like to show how lack of Time concurs with lack of urgency so there’s barely anything going on. Everyone’s leaving a highly mundane life that Candela considers cozy.

Also tried to hint that they have some form of connection with the real world, provided that they remember things that they don’t know exist. That no matter how much they think about it, they can’t wring out how they got the thought and what these were. Seems so complicated but, I mean, we’re talking about Squirrels so that somehow lightens it up a bit.

Overall i’d like Candela to epitomise the phrase “less is more,” it’s less of her thoughts but more of the actual world, in contrast to the male protagonist.

- More outlining and further conceptualising. Ye, I failed to go in a total pantser mode, but writing a part of the first chapter helped me identify the trajectory I’d like the story to glide on.
- made three alternate endings, added the hierarchy, bullet-pointed the main events of the story (roughly), and worked on their physiques (they’re fairies after all), and personality.


Chapter-wise

I highlighted her friendship with Precy, whilst I repeatedly show the lack of time and how they leave without it. I’ve introduced the government quite subtly and the idea of “dispensing,” although I do need to euphemise the word since I highly doubt any rational character would accept that without qualms.

I’m 10% of my word count goal yayayay. I just realised that I don’t know if I could establish a proper routine because I write relatively short parts at different times of the day.

-Fairy worldbuilding and how heat waves are considered rain/hurricane (still tentative, will see if it would work logically).
-New characters in the phantom realm.


Chapter-wise

I’ve finished Candela’s perspective for the first chapter. Just a short moment in her flat, then went off to a new resto (which they’d do a lot). Their life’s quite passive but I’d make sure something else happens alongside that. I mean, the best way to understand the world is through its highly mundane routines. I’m not technically sure if I’d describe it as mundane though. I suppose I’m trying to show that their “normal” is nowhere near our form of normal, so should I subsume that under magical realism? Ugh the confusion.

Started with Charlemagne’s perspective! I had to stop because I can’t really think of what I could add that’d serve as a transition from a “riot” discussion. oop hopefully by tomorrow I could come up with something


total word count: 3198 words

Love the vibes. Love a fellow pantser. And love an unreliable narrater!
You're off to a great start!! 💜💜

-1-2 hours overall spent on writing’s been going well!!
-listed physical characteristics of phantoms but not as thorough as the fairies as of yet.

Chapter-wise
-Been adding subtle links to Charlemagne’s world and Candela’s. I’ve also introduced Charlemagne's group of friends but there isn’t much interaction besides with Jim.
-It’s actually quite difficult to write about a character who’s extremely new to the world -- barely getting his proper footing. I’ll definitely have to wring Charlemagne’s predisposition out and depend on that.

-going to log in early because I’m doing it again. I’m over pressuring myself to do more than I should, which eventually leads to energy drain and giving up on the last two weeks of Camp (i forced myself to write about 3000 words a day last year lol that was overwhelming). I’m reminding myself that the purpose of this camp is to get some consistency and momentum, not the actual word count. So yea, maybe it’s a mindset thing, but if I’ve updated my log here, it feels like I’ve ticked my NaNo writing from my to-do list. And if I’m going to add more later, I'll probably just include it in the day 6 update.
-reached 5000 words yayayay

Chapter-wise

Finished chapter one with approximately 4500+ words. Tried to hint as much parallelism between the two different worlds. I’m still somehow uneasy about Charlemagne’s personality, but I might get a grip on it after a few more chapters (and just worry about the consistency during the editing stage >.> if i ever get there).

-Joan welcomes Charlemagne. Their conversation triggered something from Joan’s memory so their dinner ended abruptly. The book’s going to orbit around lapse of memory or its issues in general (i’m a big fan of those!)

-Started a small part of chapter 2 and yayay it’s getting oddly interesting. I’m not necessarily certain if it’s too early for this but I’ll worry about that on the editing stage.

-i was busy


-I died here. Had to force myself to write even if I had lots to do just so I don't lose my streak. If I lose my streak, I’d most likely give up the whole thing, rip.


-semi-resurrected

YAYAYAY I’ve resurrected, recovered and I’m back on track!! I’ve met the needed word count for that day which was around 8500+ and I’m so relieved I was able to catch up

I’ve been busy for the last three days and I knew I had to make up for it and this. Is. that. Day. I’m so relieved now sksksk.

Chapter-wise
-Still at chapter 2 but on my 2nd protagonist’s pov.
-Candela had her first dream and got hired in a job (at a suspicious timing hehehe)
-Charlemagne is currently obsessed with collecting anything strange, all around the world. Sadly, it’s just a pretext to procrastinate. He’s practically frantic about what kind of art he’s going to make, and if it lives up to his expectations. Typical artist struggles.

**my roundup here ^^ is so simplistic that everything feels so mundane hahahaah, almost as if they aren’t basically fairies and phantoms. There’s lots of details and things going on i promise hahahhaha

-YAS I’ve survived 2 weeks !! I’m buzzing right now ssks.
- >.> although I should update this thread more often.

Chapter-wise
-Still on chapter 3, the 2nd protagonist pov.

I lost my streak on the 22nd day ( Extremely upset about this but lots of personal and family things have been going on plus the fact that I’m losing interest in the story I’m writing (typical me). Why is committing to an actual story so difficult? The characters I’m writing slowly become more and more bland. I should try writing fanfiction first because, at the bare minimum, I’m already attached to those characters.

Also, this CampNaNo confirmed that I don’t work well as a pantser. HAHA. but it was defo a learning experience and I did have fun writing some parts of the story. It was relaxing…until I got really busy and stressed out about not being able to write on that day but haha.

I think I’ll end my nano now haha