Wednesday, April 29, 2015

May Writing Challenge - Write a Book in 2-ish Weeks

I am scrambling to wrap up the outline on Covet Thy Neighbor, but it's actually ready enough that it probably won't slow me down. Still, because I am challenging myself to write a book so fast, I want to get every bit of work out of the way possible first.

I'll update on the overall progress of the April Outlining Challenge tomorrow. (Summary: didn't quite do what I wanted, but managed what I needed.)  I'm posting this ahead of that, because I want to give people warning about doing their own challenges.

The Challenge To You (as always): Find the thing you most want to actually accomplish this month, and announce it.

 It doesn't have to be ambitious or new or anything. Just look at all the writing tasks you have and pick something to put the priority on for the month.  Easy Peasy.


The Challenge to Me: Write the novel I just outlined in a couple of weeks

I am under the foolish impression that I don't have too much on my plate for the first 2-3 weeks of May.  This in spite of the fact that May starts with the opening of the next Avengers movie.  Also I have a couple of appointments that may take up time (one of which is an eye appointment, so I may not be able to work for a while after it either).

Ha!  I say to these obstacles.  Ha ha ha!

The challenge to write this isn't actually in quite two weeks. The challenge is to see if using this outline allows me to write at least 5000 words a day, on ordinary days.  I expect to take a few days off in there.  But a 60,000 word novel at 5k a day, should take, what, 12 days?  Is my math faulty or is that so?  That's less than three work weeks.  Less than two if I work weekends.

I don't, however, know if this is a 60k novel.  I think it is, but I'm not sure.

And I don't know if the level of planning I've done on the outline will allow me to write 5k a day -- or maybe even more -- from start to end.  I think it will, but I'm not sure.

I also don't know if the detailed outline will actually be finished, to my satisfaction, on Thursday night.  Therefore, Friday is a flex day.  If the outline isn't quite ready by the time I get home from the movies and dinner, I'll work on it that night and start the writing on Saturday.


To The Future and Beyond!

My overall fiendish plan is to write three short novels this way (the three "game generated" stories I was outlining this month).  Do not publish any until I'm done with all three.  Then do editing, cover, audiobook, and maybe a print version (the print version is optional) and publish them this fall, maybe as a group, or maybe a few weeks apart.

Under a pseudonym.

Which will be a pen name I chose for the typographic possibilities.  (Something involving the initials V and A, most likely.)  The pen name won't be a secret, just an identifier for a series which should be very consistent.

The other part of my fiendish plan is to see if I like the method, and if it works for me, to use it for my regular books under my own name.

See you in the funny papers.

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