New Goal

50209 / 85000 words. 59% done!

(I think it's safe to stop titling every blog post with a NaNo prefix now.)

I feel so great to have finished, and I've set a new goal for myself. 85,000 by new year's eve. It may seem lofty, but I really want to continue with this. I feel like I'm approaching a mid way point, and by 85,000 words, I should be nearing a climax, and preparing to wind it down toward an ending. An ending!

A few of my fellow NaNos aren't prepared to set a new goal. I think they're more interested in going back to edit and revisit. I didn't really follow the NaNo credo quite perfectly, and I edited a great deal along the way rather than just spewing words out. I'd say what I have right now is a pretty solid first draft. Not a complete first draft by any means. Just a draft that's a basic framework for the story I'm telling.

My last 1,000 words or so have been a challenge. I'm at a part of the story where I'm coming to realize that I'm contradicting myself about one issue. I'm either going to have to bend the current happenings to fit with what I've previously written on the topic, or let the story lead where it seems to be going, and go back to address all prior instances of the issue in question. I guess that's what happens with a long body of work. It changes, and I'm more inclined to let the story unfold and then go back to smooth out the wrinkles.

Part of the challenge is the document is quite large now. I have an 11pt Helvetica in 1.5 spacing, and it's about 115 pages. Going back to find every single place I mentioned something could be a challenge.

I do have it broken up into sections, of course, so finding portions I want to find isn't a problem. But one character's vignette may be 25 pages, which is hard to weed through if I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for. This problem I'm encountering is with a significant plot element. It's not just some unimportant side detail. I just want to be careful not to have contradictions in the end. I guess what I should do is do a character sketch of the issue I'm dealing with. I should write that out, so I'm clear on it, and then go back to deal with it. That's what I'll do.