BT word count at: 30,586
(Also, don't forget to enter my contest! You can win a brand new book! Yummy!)
Woo! 10K words in a week. I'm on a roll. But, alas, I am now conflicted. Torn.
Blood Ties is getting good. Like, really plot-tastic must-turn-the-page-and-keep-going good.
Like in The Hunger Games, when Peeta is giving his interview, and he drops that bomb right at the end of the chapter and you just HAVE to turn the page. There's no possible way you can just bookmark it there for the night. No matter how many times I read that book, when Peeta says that line I find myself squealing and flipping that page as fast as I can without tearing it out. Yes, even though I know exactly what happens next. Yes, even though I've read it enough times to quote exactly what happens next. It's just that good.
Sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Team Peeta.
Anyway, moving on...
Right. Blood Ties is getting to the must-keep-reading part. Which, if you can tell by my progress, is also the must-keep-writing part.
So what's the problem?
NaNoWriMo.
There's this other novel, the one I planned to write for NaNo, called the Plural of Love. And it's there, hanging over my shoulder, watching me type BT, and wondering when it gets its turn.
"November," I tell it. "In November I'll set Blood Ties aside and write you. Just calm the crap down until then." (Yes, I often talk to my stories. Yes, they also talk back. Sometimes rudely.)
But here's the thing: I want to keep writing Blood Ties. I want to finish it. I'm shoulder deep in the story now, and if I put it aside I fear I'll lose a lot of the fire for this story. I feel like the voice will suffer. I fear that I'll come back to it in Dec and be like "This sucks" and ditch it.
But PoL is a good story, too. I have a bunch of scenes and dialogue floating around in my mind. I don't want to set that one aside either. And I really do want to participate in NaNo-- 50K in a month. I'd like to say I won.
I don't know if I can juggle both. Very different characters. Very different voices. And I need to be in very different mind states to write "in the right mood" for each story.
So what do I do? This isn't rhetorical, by the way. Seriously, what the heck should I do?
Have you ever been in a similar situation? How did you decide between two stories when you really wanted to work on both?
I don't know, I'd be hesitant to break the flow. I left "Seven" 45k in to start "Charms" and I've never looked at it since...but that's me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dilemma! I'm really horrible about working on more than one project at a time, so Nano will be different for me to work on only one.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could split the word count between the two - or maybe write only the necessary word count daily in your new project and work on Blood Ties after you get those words on PoL-like as a reward :)
Hey, I'm in the same situation! Actually, I planned to be in this situation. But yeah, this is what I'm doing:
ReplyDeleteI'm working the sequel to STREAM PIRATE. I have been since...September? Maybe? Anyway, I'm just over 30,000 words in. I want to do NaNo very much too. Thus I plan on using NaNo to polish off the last 40,000. No, it isn't the 50,000 to win, but it's still pretty darn impressive. I also plan on using NaNo to edit too; so I figure that counts for something? Maybe not a specific word count, but it counts in spirit.
That's just what I plan on doing. Hope it helps a bit :)
Hmmm I really want to do Nano too! But Im also torn because Im currently revising my WIP and it takes up like all of my time. I made myself a revision schedule (well more of a guideline really) that would allow me to start querying agents in December. So as much as I want to do it, I don't want to lose time on my revision either. I don't know...personally I think go full steam ahead. You don't need Nano to write, just stay on the roll you're on and then write the next book when your done.
ReplyDeleteUgh that's a really tough situation. I think if I were you, I would keep going on this story. It's not every day you reach the can't-stop-writing part and you'd probably want to keep the momentum going. Depending on how far you are into it, you could work on it for NaNo too - another 50,000 words or maybe just finish the novel by the end of November? Good luck! I'm NaNoing too :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should keep working on BT because you know PoL can wait, it isn't going anywhere, yes its watching you with a dejected look on its face but it isn't going to go and as long as you keep notes and such you should be able to write it. And Sara had a good suggestion, I like her idea. I'm in a similar situation with what I want to do with NaNo but not exactly my word count is significantly less than what you've got so it's less of a bind...I don't know do what you feel in your heart is best.
ReplyDeleteThere's no good reason you can't do both. It might even help BT if you write PoL at the same time. The change of scenery and the extra rush you get from cranking out the extra words may ignite your literary booster rockets! The trick, as you say, will be keeping your worlds straight. (I use differnt font/color settings - a simple switch of preferences files in my writing software - for different novels so that my subconscious mind knows where my conscious mind needs to be when I look at the screen.) You might look back and regret missing out on NaNoWriMo 2009 - you can't undo that - so why not at least try to do both. GO FOR IT!
ReplyDeleteLove thiss
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