Book in Progress — Part Seven: The last Update before NaNoWriMo

Hello readers! This is our last book in progress before NaNoWriMo begins. For those of you who don’t know, I have been working on a sci-fi thriller for the past year (more about that in a second), this nano I plan on writing a middle-grade fantasy that I am really excited for. I plan on doing NaNoWriMo updates throughout the month of November. If that’s something you might be interested in be sure to stick around!

I… Have some bad news… I feel like this is all I’ve been saying since I started this stupid book. I… Need to re-outline… I know, I know, I just wrote the third draft so it should be coming along now right? Wrong. I love this book so much, but I feel like I’m wasting its potential. This book is good, but I know it can be great.

If there’s anything this book taught me about writing, it’s that you can’t settle for what’s easy. What comes naturally. I want to push myself and this book to its full potential.

I’m going to work on my nano project like planned, and in December or January, I am going to come back to project “3859” and work on strengthing the existing outline. It’s not going to be a total rewrite, but the first act is definitely going to need to be completely rethought.

The cool thing I learned about writing this book, is how I am totally a pantser. I think I’ve talked about this before, but I don’t think being a “pantser” means you write a book with no plan at all. Being a pantser means that things come naturally. I tried so hard to outline my plot and my character arcs. But while writing the book, I strayed from my outline, and without realizing it I wrote the entire third act, and my protagonist’s arc even better than my original design. It’s so cool because without even realizing it, I had foreshadowed the plot twist in act three and made a direct nod to Joshua’s internal struggle even though I didn’t know what that was at the time.

I’m so excited to write something different for once. I am a little nervous though… I haven’t fast drafted a book since the spring. I hope I can remember how, lol.

I am feeling much better about my book than I did in the last episode of book in progress. I feel like for once, I know what I’m doing and I know that my book will be okay. If that makes any sense.

I hate saying goodbye to projects, even if it’s not forever.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? What are you writing this November?

Thanks a bunch!
— Nerd