Camp NaNo: July // LOTS OF SNIPPETS

You know what is weird? Looking at the notes from an old story and seeing that "the old brother who is like SUPER OLD and away at college" is a college sophomore. I AM A COLLEGE SOPHOMORE. I AM THE SAME AGE AS THE CHARACTER I WROTE AS "THE ANCIENT BROTHER" HELP.

The Pre-Camp Work:

 To begin with, I had to transfer and consolidate my two almost identical documents. They were both just the beginning half of the draft. For the most part, I just read through the scenes and copied and pasted them into the new draft. 

Since the two drafts were the same, I worked my way through one and deleted scenes as I went and kept the other for...who knows. Apparently, I'm a doc hoarder. Once I got to the point when they started to change I had to change my methods a little but it was basically the same all the way through.   

And occasionally there were paragraphs that I didn't like anymore or that could have been worded a little better so I just brushed those up pretty quick

I ended up making it through the first four chapters before getting stuck on the transitioning from the fifth to the sixth. 

Favorite Snippets from This Stage:

"I have absolutely no idea what I said, I just remember blurting out something, gathering my stuff and running. I think I said that my cat had a play. Or maybe that my brother had a veterinarian appointment."

The First Week: [July 1-7]
Current Goal: 25,000 Words

The first day, I tried to get 10,000 out of the way. Which is almost half of my current goal, but its a good habit from NaNoWriMo and I try to do it when I can. I also try to stay up past midnight and write a little before I go to bed. That was I have some slack to work with. I ended up writing a little over 12,000 the first day. Pretty good since I ended up going kayaking that day (which sucked several hours out of my time.)

And then I topped it off the next day by reaching my camp goal. Though actually, I was working around Midnight, so technically it was on the third day?
I must have been on a roll, right?

Aha.
Not quite. I ended up getting to the point where I needed to start figuring out the detailed chapter by chapter plot of the story and then stopping...



Favorite Snippets from This Stage:

At that point, one of the large hair throw pillows lifted its head. Another cat! It jumped down and moved its considerable girth over to the coach. It tried to jump up onto the couch but failed either from weight, age, or sleepiness. Brent leaned down and lifted the white ball of fluff onto the seat beside him. It gave me a very dignified look.

The Second Week: [July 8-14]

Current Goal: 30,000 Words

So at the end of last week, I had over 25,000 words and almost twelve chapters. There were a couple scenes that needed to be added at the end of one chapter, but I was doing pretty good. And then I procrastinated working on tradecraft and I watched this youtube video (mainly because she is really funny) and realized I needed to revise the romantic subplot between Lily and the random boy from the coffee shop (Liam.) I ended up taking out a chapter and revising one of their scenes together and adding a new one. 

NOTE: Since NaNoWriMo is all about tracking how much you've written, I stuck all the scenes I pulled at the very end of my document. That way I can use them later or at least not lose a ton of words. 

Once I patched up the other spots that needed work and added in those missing scenes, I sent my Alphas my first 11 chapters. 

One of them asked me about the fancy formatting. (It had a title page with author name and everything.) I told her it was manuscript formatting. Which she thought was cool. 

Do I need to write in in manuscript formatting? 

Nope.

Did I procrastinate writing several months ago and look up formatting and now HAVE to use it because I now know how? 

Maybe.

Favorite Snippets from This Stage:

"The Principle already left. I think he was crying. He’s probably day drinking thanks to you to. He keeps muttering, ‘Now there’s two of them’ over and over again.”

“Tragic.” Brent muttered, just barely loud enough for me to hear.

 

Third Week: [July 15-21]
Current Goal: 30,000 Words 
***WON***

Reached my camp goal! (Again!) I probably won't raise it again, since there is only a week left and I'm going to be super busy the last week...

Favorite Snippets from This Stage:

“Want to go ice skating?” Kace asked around a mouthful of some baked good or other. I hadn’t been watching when she’d crammed the entire thing in her face. Honestly, you’d think she was the one with three brothers and I was the only child raised by people who go to state dinners and stuff.

 

Fourth and Final Week: [July 22-31]
Current Goal: 30,000 Words 
 ***WON***

As predicted, I did absolutely nothing on my camp project.
Did I work on some plotting for another book while I was traveling?

Perhaps.

Will I share anything interesting?

I  think not.


Favorite Snippets from This Stage:

I know I didn't get any more writting done on this project, I figured I should throw in another snippet anyways.

“Coffee-splat-boy?” Kace asked.

“Yep! Although, now I know his name starts with an L. Right now I’m guessing Lenny.”

“Maybe its short for Leonardo.”

How did your writing month go? Did you compete in Camp NaNoWriMo?
 Did you write anything fun? TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!
-MK