Raveneye - NaNoWriMo - This Shattered Eden

Progress Diary
10/31

Before the month begins, already have I identified an area that needs rewriting. An area that was troubling me. A subplot of sorts that I couldn't figure out how to weave in. But inspiration struck last week, and I believe I've found a solution.

Again, the roadblock was caused by location. Shift the center of Mr Farnham's excavation activity to the Nile side of the mountain and a bit farther south to the Valley of the Queens, and lo! possibilities open up, and the subplot becomes possible. Get these characters out of the bloody house! It's a great house, certainly, but the story is feeling housebound. Move them out to the excavation site for content that currently happens around the bloody dining table or in the bloody parlor. Those settings are certainly viable, but acted as placeholders until the solution presented itself.

But that is for Draft 5.

For NaNo, the goal is complete THIS draft. Draft 4. Stay on target.

Progress Diary
10/31 - Later

Aaaaaahhhh!!! I'm so nervous and so excited to get writing tomorrow. Feels like the frenzy has already began because I'm conducting last-minute research on some details I wasn't expecting to need.

Like what the heck do Coptic priests wear? And what are those things called? And whyyyyy???

I got it now, though. I think I'm good to go.


Also, I'm going to list potential obstacles, in case things go awry.

OBSTACLES:

1. a seriously awful flareup in my spine. Pain, the inability to sit comfortably will cause distractions and the frequent need to leave my desk and stretch and seek out the massager.
2. holiday get-togethers (got a couple of weeks before this begins tho)
3. Micro fiction contest, Round 2 (this begins on Nov. 15 - word count is word count, and I intend to count each of my micro entries as part of my progress)

SIMPLE DISTRACTIONS:

1. Kitten mayhem
2. gaming (a coping mechanism for stressful situations)

As long as nothing else comes along (barring sickness or family uh-ohs) I ought to be able to make huge progress on this WIP.

First off,a most enjoyable bunch of pictures , says the history buff in me. I don't know that I'll ever be as detailed, neat, and organized a writer as you are Raveneye,my hat’s off to you. You've got this.

Progress Diary - Later


Holy moly. First day down. Didn't go as smoothly as I anticipated for all the planning I did. Took me two hours longer than I hoped to surpass 1000k. First scene flowed like water down a river, but that second scene wore me out. Went through four or five false starts before it came together and behaved.

Wasted some time trying to find one bit of info in the research I'd conducted over the past couple of years, and never did locate it. Hate it when that happens. So I winged it. Changed one small detail (again, location), and bypassed the need for the info at all. Woot.

BUT, despite that the issues, I met my quota by reaching 1214 words. I'm gonna go drool on myself now.

Some humor to lighten up your mood.

What type of blood does a proofreader have? Type O.

What do you get when you cross a writer with a deadline? A really clean house.

How many writers does it take to change a light bulb? Fuck you, I’m not changing anything!

Progress Diary

Oh good grief. The writing was going soooo much better today. Words were happening, etc. I was happy with how the scene was flowing. THEN the build-up to a major plot event tossed me into an instant of research and what I learned forced me to realize I needed to build a timeline, with hard dates.



I mean, WTF. I had to find a calendar -- an Eastern Julian calendar (WTF is that, you ask?) -- that told me when Easter was in 1873 -- because a Coptic wedding will NOT be conducted during Lent. This wedding must take place for the sake of the novel. And guess when my timeline falls???? Exactly in the middle of Lent!!!!! I mean, WTF. For real, y'all. 



So I spent the last half of the writing day diving back through all the novel's content to figure out what happened when (I didn't think I would need hard dates, so I never established them, just generalized by month) SO THAT I could figure out which downtime/transitional areas could be stretched out across weeks SO THAT the timeline moves forward SO THAT the big plot event can happen right AFTER Lent.

Ah, the joys of writing Historical fiction. I want to scoop out my brain now. It feels raw. 



Here's a FUN historical tidbit that you may not know: during Coptic weddings, the bride and groom wear gold crowns and sit on thrones.  No joke.



P.S. This means I got all of 462 words written today. This won't cut it, ya'll. Maybe doing an Historical for NaNo is a shitty idea.