You have written 3000 words and realize you have to start your story in another way??
BB
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| BlueBeyond | Is it bad when... |
    29,100 / 50,000 Joined: Oct 17, 2008
Location: Låsby, Denmark Posts:
17
Posted on:
Nov 1, 2009 - 21 22 |
You have written 3000 words and realize you have to start your story in another way?? BB |
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40,220 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 21 47
Well, it's never fun. But consider the alternatives:
1. Do nothing
2. Try to bend the story arc over the next 5k words
3. Junk it and start over
Doing 1 is probably the worst you can do. You'll end up doing 2 in disguise, and at some point be so disgusted you do 3, without the starting over bit.
3 may not be as bad as all that. Think of it as an experimental foray into your story. Like experimental science, knowing what doesn't work is often as relevant as what does.
There's a hidden benefit. 3 will give you an immediate sense of relief, a toothache that suddenly disappears, an in-law who loses her voice.
3 is something I do in real life. I work in software development in a larger corporation in Denmark. When we are venturing into unknown territory, we often run what we call a 'spike'. Basically you jump in and code something, and see how the system, toolset, and language reacts. When we've learned enough, we throw all of the code away. Now we have a basis for making a decision which direction to go. Yes it's expensive to use 2 days on something like that, but the knowledge gained is worth it.
I tend to view writing in the same light. An experiment in approaches.
Having said all of the above: only do three if you are *really* sure that the approach was wrong.
All the best
/ulfp
50,902 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 02 30
Yeah, it sucks, but at lest it's only 3k! And you're only on day 2 of Nano, some people who finish won't even sign up until day 5, so you've got time to revamp it, it's okay!
Good luck, I hope your next go at this novel works out better. =)
26,667 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 02 46
Maybe you can use it another place in the novel? At 1000 words I realised my beginning would not work, so I pushed it down a bit, introduced some other characters and let the planned start work as the first meeting with that particular person instead of the first paragraph in the novel.
If that's not doable, I'll have to second ulfp's suggestion. Scrap it. Or at least remove it from your novel and save for future reference. It really, really sucks, but now you know what absolutely does not work.
8,127 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 01 34
Not at all! I've been doing this for 5 years and every single time I start over from scratch halfway into the month. And I've won 3 times (the two times I lost were only because of overwhelming schoolwork). So starting over after 3000 words is no big deal.
1,142 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 06 39
Starting over is never fun, but like said before, it will probably save a whole month of worrying and demotivation.
29,100 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 07 44
Thank you for your imput :) You are right of course 3000 words is not a lot and I did start over and am over the 3000 again so it didn't really cost me anything.
Happy writing :)
BB
11,353 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 07 44
I'm going to break away from the pack here and say
LEAVE IT ALONE ;)
Just write a new beginning but leave the old one, you might have some use for it later... perhaps as a flashback or something?
29,100 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 12 06
Seasonticket
well I didn't literally chuck it, it sits nicely in a folder and waits for my character to get to that point in the story.. and then its a question of harvesting what I can :)
42,223 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 12 17
That´s the spirit! A false start is loads better than no start and either pushing it down or keeping it stashed awy somewhere accessible for future use gives you the boost in WC along with the character nagging you to get back into the story. In my experience it´s when your characters get a life of their own the real fun begins.
----------got November blues - keep tappin´ away
26,667 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 01 20
I just had a look through today's 'Breaking News' and I thought this might interest you:
7) And please remember: If you write a paragraph or chapter you don't like, just put it in italics (or change the font color to white). Do not delete! After you write your way across the 50,000-word finish line, you can double back and clip out all the parts of your book that make you cringe (I think you'll surprise yourself with what you decide to keep). For now, just keep moving forward! There's an old folk saying that goes: Whenever you delete a sentence in your NaNoWriMo novel, a NaNoWriMo angel loses its wings and plummets, screaming, to the ground.
Where it will likely require medical attention.
So it's not violating the rules or anything if you decide to count it in your final word count.
*Goes to exploit rule*
25,500 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 00 50
Remember you don't need to write in a coherent piece either . In the past i was writing in maybe 4-5 chunks. Each had a different mood or set of characters, different settings time period of the time span I was writing in, and I wrote where I was inspired at the moment. getting it all put together is for later in the editing phase.
In reff. to the mistaken beginning 3k, I like the idea of 'whitening it out ' for later use or not , but it still counts. Then just keep right on going.
Akpolarmom
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