YESSSSS, I DID IT.
I REACHED MY WORD COUNT GOAL.
Five Things that Happened During Camp
- I changed one little aspect of my NaNo project, and I fell instantly in love with the story.
When I had started it, I honestly wasn’t in love with the story. I just felt stuck like I was in mud. No amount of budging would free myself from it. The plot wasn’t going anywhere; it was very much “a day-in-a-life” which is boring to me. The psychological spin to it didn’t work because it was a bit cliche in the way I wanted to execute it. The characters didn’t seem like they were dealing with important issues, and they were incredibly stiff. I needed to reinvent them, and reinvent them I did! The change I made was putting my characters in a different social class. And what a difference that change made! My characters had things they were doing. They were dealing with their issues in a way I wanted them to. I just fell madly in love with my story and the characters. I’m amazed at the many times I’ve made dinosaur noises.
- I casted actors/actresses for my characters.
I’ve recently been doing this a lot in my writing projects. I have to do this before I write because if I’m unable to find the perfect person for the character, I am just stuck. It’s weird. I feel like having the perfect actress/actor in my head motivates me to write. It gets me super pumped. It helps me visualize the characters better—both appearance and personality-wise. It’s a good character building block.
- Writing with friends motivated me.
I really couldn’t have reached my word count goal if I didn’t have friends cheerleading me. During last November’s NaNoWriMo, I wrote with my BFF and managed to reach 50k (because I get competitive and want to beat her). In this past April’s Camp, I didn’t really write anything for my heist project, which was a damn shame. Having friends to egg me on is an extremely vital part in getting me pumped and to my word count goal.
- Speaking of friends, I unintentionally roped Charlotte into doing Camp NaNo even though she hadn’t intended to.
Yup. I somehow roped her into writing, and the results were beautiful. She hadn’t intended to write because she has a big school project, but how can she say no to writing? The world and the characters are so rich. We were both just flailing our arms around because of the characters and the tragicness of their lives. So fucking good. #noregrets
- I got over 15k (my word count goal).
Big accomplishment! (Even if it was just 15k.)
And I shall continue writing because I am not ready to leave these characters and this world. They are too precious.
Congratulations! *throws confetti* I also finished camp nano and it was alright. I definitely fell out of love wit the idea halfway through, but kept going just for the sake of writing. Now I shall shelve it with other manuscripts that’ll never see the light of day and work on a new plot bunny.
First things first, YAY!!!!!! *POPS CONFETTI BOMB LIKE ANAH ABOVE* BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT :D
I haven’t written full-length novels before, just short stories now and then, but omg the feeling of ACCOMPLISHMENT and PRIDE for all my characters in the end… They are like my baes *hugs* I’m imagining that feeling x1000000 for you right now and omg that must be overwhelming happiness :)) Especially since you’ve managed to conquer that meh feeling with a tweak to your story. The writing process is always about writing and editing and writing again! Keep going and I hope to read your stories (and Charlotte’s) some day!
Yay, congrats! I didn’t do Camp NaNoWriMo, but I hit a huge milestone in revising(I FINISHED THE FIRST ACT. HOORAY. I’d been revising the first 25K for MONTHS, and it’s all going SOOOO much faster now). Hooray for winning, though!
I think it’s funny how writers have things we sometimes have to do before we can “write”. I don’t really cast actors/actresses for characters, but I CANNOT start writing until I have a decent title. It doesn’t have to be amazing, and it can change, but it has to be a real title and not something silly or “untitled” and has to at least make sense. When I need a placeholder title, I normally use lines of poetry.
Yay! Way to go! Casting characters can be so fun. I have to be careful not to accidentally get someone stuck in my head that isn’t right, though. Like seeing a movie before you read the book. Did you move your characters up in class or down?
CEEEEEE! YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!
That’s so funny what you said about “casting actors/actresses” for your characters, because I totally do that too. It helps to paint more of a picture in my head.
And, you know what, you’ve totally inspired me to do NaNoWriMo in November, I’M GOING TO DO THIS. :D
(Don’t look at me like that, I’m doing work :P I’m just taking a break to write this.)
You know tbh now that I think about, you should have written this a long time ago. I mean you love this trope so IT WAS ABOUT TIME. But super proud of you <3 and very very excited for more. I TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD DO IT AND YOU DID!
Ugh I hate you so much for roping me into writing. Someday I'm going to go back and count how much I wrote. But the characters just bring so much pain (I am actually getting emotional right now, what even) and I want to hug them forever and never let go and just keep on writing them. I am grateful for you pushing me to delve in deeper to the characters and developing them more. I think I would still be a little lost without that haha. Soooooon, writing will happen again.
Congrats!! That is awesome news. I didn’t participate in Camp Nano but I did Nanowrimo last year and loved it. I plan to do it again this year. :)
Kay @ It’s a Book Life
Congratulations, Cee! *dance party time!*
I’ve tried NaNo and Camp NaNo a few times and every single time has been an utter failure, so I’m absolutely astounded and awed and proud of you for completing! I’m glad all the changes you made worked for you. I’ll have to try casting my characters sometime, though I don’t know very many actors/actresses beyond the Brad Pitts and the Angelina Jolies. :P
Congrats on completing Camp NaNo! I tried Camp NaNo last year, but I gave up because it wasn’t for me. However, I do end up doing NaNoWriMo every year though because I like having a set word and trying to aim for that instead of setting my own word count goals. It’s hard to plow through a story when you feel like nothing’s going to work, but I’m happy that you found some motivation to keep going.