NaNo 2018 – Day 2

Daily record of my 2018 NaNoWriMo journey…

---

NaNo 2018 – Day 2

Goals:

• Complete Chapter 2 of Oath Broken
• Edit Short Story #1

“Start in the middle and work outwards…”

I mentioned in my introduction to the journal that I was hoping to experiment with a few new writing techniques this month. One of these was to start a first draft in the middle of the story and then work outwards, to see how this technique compared to my usual writing process.

Now, I don’t have a set writing process. I find one technique works well for one project and then not so well for another. That’s just the way things go sometimes, and that’s why I think it’s useful (for me) to have a number of different writing techniques on hand that have already proven useful.  But first I need to try them…

Starting in the middle of a story is not something I have intentionally done before. Sometimes I will write scenes / chapters out of order, because my brain wants to get them onto the screen / paper before it forgets them, but that isn’t quite the same. In this case, there is no structure, and no intent, and I may not know where these paragraphs fit into the story.

I used this method to write Short Story #1. I had done no planning but had a theme to work with and idea of a scene from roughly the middle of the story. At this point, I had no clue though as to how I wanted to open the story. Instead of worrying about it, I wrote the scene; the middle of the story flowed right on to the screen and very quickly I moved towards the end. By the time the ending was finished, I knew exactly how I wanted to begin.

Verdict: I found this technique really useful. It boosted my productivity (4000 words in 4 hours) and the draft I edited today wasn’t in too bad a shape. I will definitely use it again.

I also completed Chapter 2 of Oath Broken ready for posting to Wattpad on Monday.

Today was a good day, and I’m finishing it pleased with my efforts.

Achieved:

• Chapter 2 of Oath Broken completed
• Short Story #1 edited
• A new technique in my writing arsenal
• Total word count for Day 2 – 2684
• Monthly total so far – 5431