NaNoWriMo 2023 Update and Dan Brown’s Lessons
You may be wondering how I’m doing in my NaNoWriMo 2023 challenge and what’s my current word count.
Well, I can tell you: it’s dismal 😅
I’m losing with flying colours 😆
But that’s alright.
Writing 50k words in a month is not achievable for me unless I have that whole month free, like a sort of writing retreat.
I know there are people who can write that many words in a month while juggling jobs, kids, family and other responsibilities, but I am not one of them.
What I have been doing instead, though, is watching Dan Brown’s lessons on how to write a thriller on MasterClass (I got a one-year subscription from my former colleagues when I left <3 )
I haven’t read any of his books and I am not sure I am inclined to. I only saw a movie, Inferno, which I thought was one of the worst movies I had ever seen – story included :))
Despite that, I can vouch that Mr Brown is a great teacher. His lessons are captivating and full of useful advice and practical examples, including from his writing.
So that by the end of the 14th lesson (out of 19), I had decided to write ‘Here and Now – In The Valley of Yearning‘ more along the lines of a thriller. I know, LOL – right?
But wait.
It means quickening the pace, getting rid of some characters, reducing the ‘on paper’ time for others, starting at the end, using cliffhangers and other tricks of the trade. While still keeping it firmly in the fantastic realm.
Yep. That also means I have to do a complete rewrite of what I have written so far 😅
But I have a good feeling about it.
Perhaps that’s why the story has been lagging – there was too much detail in it which, as interesting as it may have been, was hurting the story.
‘Kill your darlings’, they said.
Well, I am about to. Wish me luck.
As for my NaNoWriMo 2023 project, it will be finished later. As little as I may have written on it so far, I think it has potential and it will see the light of day at some point. Although there too I need to do a complete rewrite of the first finished story – to make it funny. That’s how I want these stories to be and that’s what makes me enjoy writing them 😉
