Word Count 24,002
The ‘2’ is important. E.L. Doctorow said that writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
Every word is important in this exercise; it’s how I’ll get to the finish, feeling my way in the dark.
Word Count: 21,723
I’ve committed a crime today. I really didn’t want to but they made me do it. Sometimes you just have to murder your darlings.
Jack London said: you can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. So after a staring competition with a blank page I put my metaphorical club over my shoulder and set off to find some stimulation. I can now report that fiddling around with twenty-five different fonts, however satisfying in the short term, is no way to keep up the word count.
Word Count: 19,014
I can’t afford to wait for the muse to descend; she might be having a day off. Far better to glue myself to that chair and churn it out. I can’t edit a blank page, after all. Not that I’m editing, you understand.
The best book I’ve ever read about writing is Stephen King’s, On Writing. Not a how-to book as such, it’s a fascinating chronicle of his writing experiences.
“Don’t wait for the muse … This isn’t the Ouija board or the spirit-world we’re talking about here, but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ’til noon or seven ’til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he’ll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his magic.”
King suggests writing a thousand words a day – kid’s stuff!
Word Count: 17,334
It’s been one of those writing days when I’m tempted to put everything I’ve written straight into the bin. But no, I can’t do that, so I have turned my internal editor off. She was getting far too loud, chuntering away in the background and trying to impose her will on my overstretched imagination. There’ll be time enough for rewrites when the challenge is over. As James Michener said, ‘I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.’
Word Count: 15,576
Thought for the day:- Procrastination is the thief of time…. surely it must be time for another cup of tea and a biscuit?
Fell behind slightly with the daily total today – work does tend to get in the way of this enterprise – but I’m not losing heart. I’m still ahead of the game and it’s not all bad news. I’ve discovered a colleague who’s also signed on for this mad caper, so I now have a real person to compare word counts with. Will we get competitive? Watch this space.
Word count: 14,397
In 1921 Pirandello wrote a play entitled ‘Six Characters in Search of a Plot.’ My characters have run away from me slightly today so I’ll take the liberty of quoting a favourite line: ‘When the characters are really alive before their authour, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the situations which they suggest to him.’
I’ll also take heart from Somerset Maugham, who said that there are just three rules for writing – but no one knows what they are.
Word Count: 13,091
Long old haul today, but satisfied that I’m still on target.
A new situation has appeared in the plot – remember I mentioned this phenomenon – where one of my main protagonists reveals a surprising new aspect to his character. It’s not ideal, and it may only lead up another blind alley, but I have to follow him. It’s quite an exciting development, so I’ll stay with it for a while.
Word Count: 10,755
Lots of writing today in many unexpected directions. Where did that drunken confession come from? And what is the relevance of the silver bangles on page18? Maybe they’ll turn out to be completely superfluous to the plot, but one thing’s certain; I’ll have to keep plugging away to find out, because I don’t know yet.
Word Count: 8046
I’m trying to get ahead of myself because I go back to work next week and snippets of writing time will have to be grabbed whenever possible.
The story is still flowing, though new characters and situations introduce themselves frequently. Until I started writing seriously I never believed those people who insisted that characters would go their own way. How could they? They’re in my head, they’ll behave how I want them to.
How wrong, how very wrong….
Word count: 5761 – a little over 10%.
Sounds impressive, but there’s a moment of panic. I don’t want to be running out of plot before I reach the finish line, so I quickly check over the storyline to make sure I’m not getting ahead of myself.
I’ve written a lot of much shorter pieces that really gobble up plot lines – this huge daily word count requires a completely different discipline. Rather than just galloping along, I have to slow down, stopping sometimes to look around, check out the scenery and interpret what I see from my characters’ perspectives. I’ve given them lives; I want to see them in their environment.
Maggie Cammiss 