Warder Soul

Here is a list of things important for me to keep in mind when I’m doing a Nanowrimo run:

1. Despite how it doesn’t get nearly as much press on my blog and on my social media, I do in fact have a full-time day job;
2. Having a full-time day job does mean that no matter how late I stay up writing, I do in fact still need to get up in the morning;
3. While I am often mistaken for being younger than I actually am, I am in fact not as young as I used to be, and that manifests more often in my stamina than it does in my outward appearance;
4. Therefore, if I’m up past midnight for two days running because I’m trying to pull 1,700 words out of my brain, that’s going to make getting up at a quarter to 7 a lot more difficult.

Which is why, on yesterday’s Nano run, I didn’t quite make it to the 1,700 words a day mark I’m shooting for, because that’s a nicer, round number. Nor did I make it to the actual minimum mark I need to hit, which is 1,667, in order to hit that 50K by the end of the month.

But I did still clear 1,100. And given that my writing record this year has not been good, I still choose to count this as a victory. Plus, we’re heading into the first weekend of the month and I should have some time tomorrow to make up that deficit.

I finished the fight scene I was working on in Chapter 3 and started the next scene after–which, as it happens, will be the first non-Kendis-POV scene in the book. The POV in question is Elessir’s. Those of you who have read Bone Walker may recall that I did jump POVs a couple times in that book, keeping Kendis in first person and everybody else who got POV time in third. I will be doing the same thing in this book.

Also, I decided that Seattle has monkey puzzle trees, but Faerie has serpent puzzle trees. And serpent puzzle trees have branches that get very, very cranky at you if you fall through them. Elessir and Jude are now in a position to offer firsthand testimony about this.

Also #2, writing this entire chapter, as well as what I know is coming in the next one, reminds me that when it comes to adding tension to a scene, the maxim for me to live by is apparently “when throwing characters into a difficult situation, think up ways to make it as difficult for them as possible“. Muahaha. I’d apologize to Jude for what I’ve just done to her, but Jude’s tough, she can take it. ;D

Also #3, Kendis is about to be simultaneously relieved and very, very cranky that her decision to leave her phone behind before committing a major act of magic (because having to replace your smartphone every time you manage to fry the damn thing gets expensive) will turn out to have been less useful than she thought. Sorry, Kenna-lass, I’m not apologizing to you either.

Day 3 word count: 1,113
Nanowrimo total: 4,480
Full book total: 11,261

I’m in the middle of working on Day 3’s words, so while I’m thinking of how to start off this next scene in Chapter 3, here’s a quick report on how yesterday’s writing went!

Notable things I had to look up: where the boundaries of Seattle’s actual city limits are, on the southern side of the city. Where interesting parks are, just south of the Seattle city limits, and how close they are to Elliott Bay. Doublechecking that Elliott Bay is in fact salt water. Pictures of Seahurst Park in Burien. And, what actual examples of woods that match the phrase “dark polished maple” would look like, so that I could visualize and describe a minor character properly.

This burst of effort let me finish off Chapter 2 and start putting a dent in Chapter 3, and write a fight scene! Fun! 😀

Now back into Chapter 3–look for the Day 3 report tomorrow!

Day 2 word count: 1,669
Nanowrimo total: 3,367
Full book total: 10,148

My Nanowrimo 2016 effort is officially underway–and I gotta say, people, having Scrivener this year, and specifically having used it to plot out the entire outline for Warder Soul, has made it significantly easier to get the words out of my brain and into the draft. All I have to do is more or less follow the outline, with occasional pauses to look things up if I need to, and make comments there and there to note stuff I’ll want to fix when I come back through on edits.

Also, since it’s been a while since I did an official Nano, I checked in on the official site and woke up my account there. Wow, that site’s a lot more organized and detailed these days! So I filled out a lot of things in my profile, including details on past Nanowrimo efforts: the 2003 win, but also the failed attempts in 2005 and 2009 that did at least add words to Lament of the Dove (which of course eventually became Valor of the Healer) and Bone Walker.

You can see my official Nanowrimo profile here. And hey, if you’re participating in the madness, feel free to add me to your buddy list!

As to the actual words, I am now very, very close to finishing Chapter 2. Finally.

Things I looked up as part of last night’s writing effort:

• Pics of Ravenna Park in downtown Seattle, with an eye to trying to identify how many picnic shelters it has available, and how close such shelters are to nearby streets
• Model names for electric cars, because here’s a fun trivia fact: Elessir drives one

And here’s a snippet of last night’s words, which I shared to Facebook and Twitter!

There are reasons I don’t own a car, mostly amounting to how I hate driving with the blazing passion of a hundred fiery suns. Especially during rush hour. Especially during the winter. You’d think that with all the rain we get in this town, people would be better at driving on wet roads, but you’d be wrong. We’ve had a massive uptick in population in the last few years, not only computer geeks from all over the world to feed the ever-growing staff needs for our local tech companies, but refugees from Syria and other troubled parts of the world as well. And every winter, all these new drivers get to learn the joys of what our rainy season does to oil-slicked asphalt—not to mention how fast one or two accidents anywhere on our highways can slow down the whole system.

I would rather face demons than drive during a Seattle rush hour. And I’ve faced a demon.

And I realize that it’s traditional to start a Nanowrimo effort with a fresh project, but I am taking the liberty of doing Warder Soul anyway even though I had nearly 7,000 words in it already. I’m pretty sure nobody’s going to actually mind, as long as I do actually throw 50,000 brand new words at the book to count whether or not I win this year. So here are yesterday’s stats!

Starting word count for the book: 6,781
Day 1 word count: 1,698
Nanowrimo total: 1,698
Full book total: 8,479