Since I did NaNo last year, you’d think this year would be easier. In fact, because of the nature of the project, it’s been even harder. On Sunday night I was 6,000 words behind in the word count and starting to feel a little stressed out. So on Monday I dedicated the day to catching up and, using the Egg Timer Method, managed to write over 5,000 words and get nearly caught up. I’m still a bit behind where I should be, but the final goal seems much more attainable than it did this weekend.
I think the difficulty with this project, being a fairy tale retelling, is that I’m struggling to find a balance between fairy tale and reality. In fairy tales, things just happen: magical helpers appear, people are miraculously saved, etc. But put too much of that in a novel and it starts to feel contrived. Since I’ve never attempted a fairy tale retelling before, I’ve been trying to figure out to what extent I can use fairy tale tropes while still making the story feel real.
I was hesitant to read too many retellings right before the project because I didn’t want to overthink it from the start. But now that I’m feeling uncertain about the overall direction of the story, I thought it would be a good time to let other books inspire me. I just picked up a copy of Sarah Beth Durst’s Ice. It’s based on one of my favorite fairy tales, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” and I’ve heard wonderful things about it. I can’t wait to dig in and see how she went about transforming the tale into a fleshed out story.
How are the rest of you doing with your NaNovels or WIPs? Any successes or struggles along the way?
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I didn’t do NaNo–but I secretly wanted to write a significant chunk and say “haHA! Even if I’m not in NaNo, I can still write that much in a month!”
…but, I haven’t. Not at all. Perhaps if I had signed up with NaNo, I would have been a bit more strict with myself….
It’s not too late, Beth! You still have some time left in November to pump out some pages.
And hey, there’s always next year.
Wow, 5000 words?! What a great catch-up day!
I’m not in NaNo this year, since I was working out some revisions. and now that the revisions are done, I’m waiting for Journeyman (aka the next new project) to resume talking to me. Alas, either it’s playing hard to get or it knows I’m sick and is leaving me alone.
Thanks Lena! Oh I hate waiting for projects to talk to me. Sometimes I poke them with a stick and they start talking again, but other times they try to bite my hand off. Good luck!
WTG, Anna!
i used your Egg timer a few times this week. it’s fun and challenging and a great tool to have!
Oh good, I’m glad it’s been helpful! I’m still on 30 minute sprints but hoping to work up to 40 soon.