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3 Day Novel Complete!

Whoa, I did it. I actually finished the 3 Day Novel contest. (Not going to lie, that’s why this is a Thursday morning post instead of a Monday morning post like normal.)

It was a really interesting (and almost therapeutic) experience for me in a lot of ways. Because I knew I was short on time, I did a lot of things that I normally don’t do–I plotted out the basics of the story from start to finish, I thought about each of my characters briefly instead of just making them up as I went, and I stayed very plot-oriented throughout the entire thing, instead of diving into character exploration as I saw fit.

There were a couple of major benefits to this method.

First of all, I actually finished the damn thing. Start to finish. It clocked in at just over 30,000 words, which is pretty much too short for anything–but it’s done, and during my Monday review/editing spree, I actually didn’t outright pitch sections during the revision, which is a first for me. Part of that is because I legitimately couldn’t afford to pitch anything due to the timeline–but also, looking back on it now, I don’t actually think I would pitch any major sections. That makes this the first manuscript I’ve completed where I didn’t have to just jettison massive chunks of it.

Second of all, it forced me to summarize. Let me start by saying that I’m not satisfied with the result of the summaries–some of the coolest things in the story (in my opinion) actually ended up happening in summaries instead of happening in narrative. But it also prevented me from wandering into ‘what if this’ and ‘what if the other’ and ‘also let’s explore this third thing’. I directly narrated the things that were most important to Sophia’s arc–and I summarized everything else. This method also meant that I maximized the time I covered. Overall, in thirty thousand words, I covered seven months of time, which is a ridiculous record for me.*

Third of all, I absolutely destroyed all of my previous wordcount records. Prior to this, my wordcount record had been set in 2003. I was in grade twelve at the time, and the day that I started my science fiction novel, I managed to get 10,123 words written (yes, I remember the exact wordcount). I have never even touched that goal since then. I had a smattering of 5k days during NaNoWriMo 2015, but most days were way less than that. I had multiple years (2005 – 2014) where I hardly wrote at all, and even when I got back to it in 2014, I was slow and unfocused. But during the 3 Day Novel contest? I banged out a reasonably consistent 1800 words per hour. Some of that is due to the style I was writing in–my 3 Day Novel submission was done in a somewhat snarky first person, with occasional asides to the reader, whereas HH is more of a layered introspective overwrought poetry. But I think I’m just getting better at focusing and more efficient at saying what I want to say.

Drawbacks to this method?

I’m completely wiped out, physically and emotionally.

Words are hard now.

Overall, I think the 3 Day Novel was a huge success, and I’m pretty excited to get back to revising what I wrote once I’ve let it sit for a while here.

 

 

 

*To put it into perspective, I’m 26k into my rewrite of HH, and I’ve covered three days.

3 Day Novel time!

Yikes, is the 3-Day Novel Contest ever coming up quick.

This is the first year for me–I’ve done (and won) NaNoWriMo for the last two years, so taking on the 3-Day Novel Contest as a new challenge seemed like the obvious progression. The timing is either terrible or fantastic this year–I return to my day job literally the day after the contest ends. So on one hand, I’m likely to be exhausted when I start back to work, but on the other–at least I won’t have any time to fret about going back.

Because I’m so bogged down in rewrites for HH, I wanted something completely different. I’d originally planned to write a serious book, but after looking at my back cover blurb, I think it’ll end up being more of a snarky book than anything. The genre is YA urban fantasy, probably loosely based in Saskatoon (though I don’t know if I’ll specifically name the city). Here’s the blurb:

Sophia is sixteen, and what’s supposed to be a carefree time in her life has devolved into futile attempts to balance school, her part-time job, and her boyfriend. James is smart, handsome, and older—but he’s also controlling and pushy, and when one of their fights turns violent, Sophia accidentally sets James on fire while trying to escape.

Terrified and unable to figure out how the fire even got started, Sophia confides in her parents and her dad, in turn, confides a secret back to her—she’s not the only one in the family that’s set someone on fire. She has a half-brother twice her age that she’s never heard of—and right now, his place is the only place her parents are willing to send her while the repercussions of the James incident are sorted out.

Before she knows it, she’s travelled halfway across the country to an unfamiliar city and her half-brother’s sterile apartment. Elliot’s boyfriend, Thad, is warm and welcoming, but Elliot himself is cold and wants nothing to do with her. She knows she’s supposed to sit and wait, she knows that her parents are working on sorting things out back home—but she can’t spend the rest of her life sitting in an apartment that could double as a showroom. What she finds when she adventures outside will change her life forever …

(I’m definitely pulling too many punches in the summary–what she finds is a Secret Scientific Research Project for Strangely Talented Children and Adults. Things get complicated.)

I actually was looking out for future me (that is, the me that will be frantically editing things on Labour Day) and wrote out a vague plot summary, so at least I have some idea of where I’m going with this.  Usually I go into projects with way less of a skeleton than this, so hopefully I’m able to just slam some meat on these bones and call it a day (she says, while quietly figuring out how many words she has to write in an hour for this to even be feasible). ((It’s a lot of words. Don’t think about it. The numbers get scary.))

Wish me luck!! And good luck to everyone else participating in the challenge!

 

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