November was a Whirlwind

Since last year's National Novel  Writing Month ended I knew I would write another novel for this year. A little over a month ago I had a totally different idea of what I was going to write. Overall I just had a different expectation of where I would be this month. There were so many setbacks, and so many emotions running through me so the fact I'm sitting here as a winner  of NaNoWriMo is the biggest accomplishment I have felt this year. 
    Obviously my laptop choosing the  final days of of this month to shut down was an awful feeling. I was sitting at my laptop feeling comfortable with my 44K on Sunday when all of a sudden it was just gone. 20K was gone, but it was  not over.  I needed this novel to help me get through what I was going through. I didn't  realize how much I was depending on this novel to keep me going as I struggled through this month.  
    As you can on the sidebar, I had a red box for one day. I'll be honest Friday was probably the worst day of this month I had. I almost gave up on my novel because I could think of no  reason to  write it. The news I had received that day basically conveyed to me that what I was attempting to let go of in my novel was a lapse of time that only I considered significant. I forced myself on though only to realize this wasn't just about me.
    There were other people suffering through the same thing, and feeling the same obstacle  I  was.  It wasn't just me  alone trying to move along in life. That's basically what carried me on in writing this novel, because someone else would  be able to read it, and realize the exact same thing I did also. Another reason I continued to write is because I needed to give what happened to me some meaning. I wantedit  to be more than it turned out, and I wanted it to have purpose. It was something too notable to just let slip by, and only become a memory.
    There were many moments after I wrote a scene that I felt depleted. It was as if I had taken every bit of me to recall all my feelings, and energy I had put into times I was having to recall. There were other moments where I would reread a scene, and  be amazed that I could read and feel what I felt exactly as I was then. Some days would come along, and I would force myself to write.  Along with that I would retrieve my playlist I had made, listen to it no matter how painful it was just so I could relive what I needed to make this novel feel real despite the fact it was fiction. I'll admit there were tears, and smiles as I wrote this novel.
    It was a rough month, but in it I found I found hope. I know though if those things hadn't ever happened then this novel would have never came to be.  This novel is about so many things. It's about growing up, breakups, doubt,hope, and love. It is about life.
    I truly can't wait to begin editing this novel. It isn't finished but I feel it's a diamond in the rough, at least if to no one else it is to me. Hopefully you'll be able to read about Tyler and Rebekah's journey in the future. I can't wait to share it.

For now here is an excerpt of the first chapter from Fade to Farewell if you are interested in a glimpse of what is in store. http://www.box.net/shared/3uu1e9x68a

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I'm thankful for the support I recieved this month too! It really helped me cross the finish line to win NaNoWriMo. 

50,000 Words and 18 Bands: Bon Iver

As you can see on the right, I've made it to the halfway point of 25,000 words. Now only 25,00o more words to go. I was hoping to post more often about the bands I was listening to while writing, but school work has me behind. For this post though I'm going to introduce Bon Iver.

Bon Iver's songs pefectly fit the mood of the novel. The somber atmosphere sets it up well when preparing to write. I think when you listen to music that you listened to when certian emotions were running through you takes you right back to that instantance you were living that. I suppose that can feel like a good, or bad thing. If you're reliving what you know doesn't exist but still exists with that song, then it's really difficult putting yourself in that mindset again to write. You can check out more at Bon Iver's site

The 8 Drafts of a Novel

Recently I fnished a book where an author discussed how he went through 8 drafts of the novel. Now I'm sure for him there no more than basic editing each time, but it got me to wondering if I made 8 drafts of my novel, what would they involve?

1. First Draft -  The draft I'm writing now I consider to be everything I want to convey on paper. It probably isn't organized, and many inconsistencies need to be revaluated. This is what I want to say though, and these are the stories telling what I've been wanting to.

2. Second Draft - First off since my story is seriously unorganized I would want to put the events in the right order, or if your novel is in the right order but still feels like you need more transitions to help the flow you might want to look at that. 

3. Third Draft - Now Ithat 've gotten everything I want to say wrote, I probably want to see what themes can be found in what I have wrote, and see if I can strengthen my story to convey those themes better. 

4. Fourth Draft - It's probably now time to look at the dialogue, and see what I can do to make it more realistic. 

5. Fifth Draft - Now time to analyze my original intentions for my characters and how they ended up being portrayed.

6. Sixth Draft - Eliminate words I feel are being repeated too many times, and lively up the pages more with a bigger variety of sentences, and words

7. Seventh Draft -  Now I have a copy of something I find I can read all the way through as if this was going to be read by someone else. I can lastly check for the grammar and spelling errors that may still be present despite all the editing I've done so far. 

8. Eigth Draft - The draft I would like to publish.

50,000 Words and 18 Bands: Beirut

All through November I'm constantly seeking songs that will drive the scenes I want to bring to life on paper. So far I've accumulated 18 different bands, and multiple songs from each. Whenever I listen to them I can't help but want to write the memories, feelings, characters, and scenes associated with those songs. I may not get around to covering every single band. For now the first one I feel I really want to introduce is Beirut.


When I first heard the band I thought they had a good sound, but I listened once, and then just forgot about the song, "Nantes" for a while. About a month later I remembered the song, and could not stop listening to it. I would wake up first thing in the morning and listen to it, and put it on in my car wherever I went. Recently I found some time to research their music further, and I'm just completely enjoying what I'm hearing. Besides that it has also been a huge help in creating a few scenes for my novel. There are two songs in particular I just keep returning to in particular to keep my novel flowing. Their music also has caused me to begin wishing I kept my trumpet.

You can check out more at Beirut's site.