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Showing posts with label Bestseller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bestseller. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Constructing A Bestseller #NaNoWriMo #NaBloPoMo #TMOTR

Constructing A Bestseller #NaNoWriMo #NaBloPoMo #TMOTR

Courtesy of the NaNoWriMo organization. 

I will probably never do this again! Goodness, this is a lot of work. No, not the NaNoWriMo (#NaNoWriMo) alone, nor THE NaBloPoMo (#NaBloPoMo) alone but combining them is a lot. Don't get me wrong, I have written plenty of stuff in a month or less before--it's kind of my average for a full-length novel--but never have I had to do the posts every day too, coupled with the garden clean-up. MAN, November is just such a busy month for me. Is there any way we can move this to January when it's longer, there's less happening (no Thanksgiving means no Thanksgiving travel), not to mention it's actually snowing then and more people are snowed in and missing school or their other work because of the weather? Seriously, the NaNo people should look into that. Just imagine the rush of energy writers will feel from completing a book at the beginning of the year. Major bragging rights for the rest of the year, but I digress.

This Monday, as I am writing this, I am up to about 80,000 words and still have somewhere between 20 and 30 thousand to go. The book I'm writing--you know, the future bestseller that I told you about in my first NaNo post--is a mystery and it has a lot of moving parts to it. Oh, and remember that hashtag up top, #TMOTR, cause in about a year it will be everywhere, ON everything. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how big this book will be, people.

Courtesy of the BlogHer network.

Having now come to the hard part of writing for me, I am faced with the near insurmountable task of having to cobble together the sequence by which what I've written should actually go in the book. Revealing a little more of my writing process as talked about on my Twitter-friend and fellow author S.M. Dahman's blog, when starting a book, I just write. I have the details of what I want in the story, I have a basic structure of how it goes, I have THE plot from start to finish, and I have a few clear visions of scenes. Starting with the easiest scenes, I push forward and I don't stop until I hit a wall where I have to stop to force myself to think of how to get from point A to point Z (usually the ending is one of those things written first).

I have nearly reached that point. Now, I'll most likely spend a few hours trying to slot the things I've written into where it should go, shaving off what can and can't fit so that the transitions are smooth. Because it's a mystery, I actually will keep a hint of confusion for the reader to feed into the overall aura of the book; everything else must flow. Hopefully I can make that happen for TMOTR and still produce a bestseller. Remember that success starts first with convincing yourself that it's possible, then convincing the world, sometimes one person at a time. When you read this book about this ROOF, you'll know that I succeeded at convincing not only myself, but you as well.

What about you, fellow writers and readers? Writers, are you reaching any of your goals to finish a book or get to a particular word count or scene count (that's important too, as some stories needn't be long but every scene impactful)? Are you already finished or trying to rush to the finish line? And how do you feel about your finished draft? Is it good or did you just slop some words together just to say you did?
What about you bloggers out there? Are you succeeding at the post-a-day for the month of November or did you miss a day or two? How do your readers/subscribers feel about the onslaught of posts? Are you ready to go on vacation from blogging? I sure am.

Well, wish me luck on completing these two challenges as I'll probably be working a little on Thanksgiving too. Anyway, let me know what you're writing/reading in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend now a 5-star rated comedy novel. #AhStalking 
If you’re looking for a scare check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "you want me to do what?"
'Read a book!'
"Fine!"
'And picture books don't count!'
"What hell is this?"


P.S. I like that sign-off. Gosh, I might keep that one. It's just such a long conversation, though. Maybe I can fix it in the editing process. I'll see if it works for the next time.

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Sunday, November 15, 2015

NaNoWriMo Progress Update November 2015 #NaNoWriMo #writer #NaBloPoMo

NaNoWriMo Progress Update November 2015 #NaNoWriMo #Writer #NaBloPoMo

Emblem courtesy of NaNoWriMo Sponsors

This book is a future number one bestseller. That is what I have convinced myself. That is what I believe it to be. That is what it one day will be. This book, this mystery, this novel about a murder is what will be on every mature reader's mind come one year's time. The re-readability, the depth of character, the richness of whodunnit--all of it will mingle in people's minds. They may not love the characters, or even like them, but they know them. They know them as well as any person can know a fictional character, as well as anyone can truly know anyone else in this world. And it'll make them fearful. And it'll make them inquisitive. And it'll make them wonder how did he know? How did I know that it was going to be a bestseller, that it would occupy the mind and drive them to talk about it so constantly, to loathe and cherish it all at once. This book is a future number one bestseller, and boy is it pushing me to the brink.

Courtesy Harper Roofing
So, what are we talking about here? A man and a roof. Sounds simple, right? When it comes out, and you see the title, you'll know that this was the book I dared myself to write for NaNoWriMo (#NaNoWriMo) or National Novel Writing Month. For those unfamiliar with it, the name says most of it. Every November for the last few months writers challenge themselves to write either an entire novel or somewhere near 50,000 words (that's the average I've seen). Currently, we are precisely halfway through the month and I am only 50,000 words into my manuscript after 12 days of writing. I had to take two days off to do yard work and get my garden winter-ready. That is roughly just under 4000 words a day--off my usual word count. Why am I so off, you ask? I think it has something to do with NaBloPoMo.

Emblem courtesy of the BlogHer network

NaBloPoMo (#NaBloPoMo) is National Blog Posting Month which I guess is also this month. Me, in all of my genius, decided that not only would this be the first year ever I participated in NaNoWriMo but also in NaBloPoMo since I have a blog and why not. The latter is a challenge to make one blog post per day for the entirety of the month (holidays too. Yikes!) So far so good, but because of that the novel has somewhat suffered.




I don't often get writer's block. I keep my flow going by working on multiple projects at a time. But for this challenge I cut back to just this novel, the posts and editing a short story. Now, much of my time is spent pacing back and forth. I'm near halfway through the novel and the crazy part? I've only just now gotten to the hard part. If I wrote at my normal pace, skipping a few posts a week, I'd probably be finishing sometime at the end of this week, but this whole challenge is driving me crazy #WriterProblems. Have I lost hope that I can completely crush both challenges? No, not yet, but I am growing antsy about the novel.

I know what you're saying by now. You've probably thought all sorts of, "he's delusional" and "bestsellers take time" and "no one writes a bestseller for NaNoWriMo," but a guy can try. And if I succeed I'm just telling you doubters now that I reserve the right to smear it in your face and be as petty as I can. For you supporters, thanks for the support.

On the good note, I have all of my characters well-shaped, I know much of the plot but I am struggling with the ending scene. I've already written the inciting incident, one of the larger action sequences (though I don't feel comfortable with how it unravels), and stuffed it with clues of who it could be. However, I am still struggling to write for three of the characters and haven't been as "showy" and descriptive as I'd like in a few scenes. I know, I rarely ever talk about writing on this blog which is why it is such a (refreshing?) change, but I feel I needed to do at least one post on my month's progress.

So, how are you doing? Are you a writer or a reader or both? If a writer, are you taking the NaNoWriMo challenge? What about the NaBloPoMo challenge as a blogger? Did you even know about the NaBloPoMo? I think it's new to this year. Let me know about your writing experiences from this month and as an added bonus, if you've written something, tell me what was your favorite part and least favorite part of the writing experience. And if you're new to the blog, check out some of the other posts as I usually talk about TV and movies and a host of other things. Know what you should be watching and what's getting canceled and stay tuned for some funny (hopefully) posts in the coming holiday weeks.

Anyway, let me know what you're writing/reading in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend now a 5-star rated comedy novel. #AhStalking
If you’re looking for a scare check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.


Until next time, "I'm going to write a novel!
'But Jimmy, writing a novel can take years and thousands of words slung together to make meaning and a plot.'
"I'm going to read a novel."
'They're kinda long.'
"I'm going to take a nap!"


P.S. That would probably be a good sign-off if it weren't so long. Dang it, Michael, you've fuddied it up again. I'll think of something better the next time.

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