So today I passed my all-time record (for as long as I\u2019ve kept records) at Nano, completing 60,900 words at Nanowrimo. The key I think is not just taking this week off, not just keeping going, but daydreaming about my characters\u2014then, whenever I get inspired, writing that scene. Almost all of the huge spurts you see below came out of that:<\/p>\n
Today, it was pretty easy to write. I got about 500 words finishing up a few loose ends. Then I wrote a longer scene with Cinnamon and her fae mentor the Huntswoman, and almost a day\u2019s worth of writing popped out of my keyboard. Then I decided to write another scene, one from ROOT USER (the third book in the trilogy, of the large manuscript I\u2019m working on) and got 2000 words in about 30 minutes (!), all from choosing to write this:<\/p>\n
\nBut no matter how I tries to ignore it \u2026 I can\u2019t ignore what they says next.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if they lose a hunt,\u201d the jerkboy says, \u201cguess what? They eat the loser\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take that back!\u201d I shouts, poppin\u2019 to my feet. I hops over the nearest table and barrels down on the boy, who\u2019s hoppin\u2019 to his feet as well, his buddies standin\u2019 to come to his aid, actin\u2019 like I\u2019m neither a girl he should play nice with nor a monster who could rip his throat out. \u201cYou take that back this instant!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d the boy says, eyes gleaming at me. \u201cThe part where they eat the loser\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not cannibals!\u201d I screeches, snarlin,\u2019 my whiskers comin\u2019 in, my fur comin\u2019 out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI bet she\u2019s eaten her share,\u201d one of the other boys says. \u201cLike, weregazelles and shit\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe herbivores are our friends! We runs together! Nobody eats nobody on my hunt!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYour hunt,\u201d he says. Everyone\u2019s circled around us now, the boy standin\u2019 out front. He\u2019s big, so, I guesses, he guesses he can take me in a fight. Good fuckin\u2019 luck. He grins with a nasty smile. \u201cLike anyone would follow you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI had twelve followin\u2019 me on my last hunt,\u201d I says. \u201cThirteen, actually\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you could count,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat, you lose one? Eat one?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I snarls and steps forward, and he leans back, fists up. I raises mine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then I turns away. \u201cNot worth it,\u201d I mutters, lookin\u2019 at the huge crowd around us. He swings and clocks me behind the ear, and I kinda shrugs and shakes him off. \u201cNot worth it at all,\u201d I mutters, boltin\u2019 through the crowd, walkin\u2019 fast towards the exit. \u201cAt all\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you going, Miss Frost,\u201d says the proctor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deans\u2019s office,\u201d I says. \u201cI just picked a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWait just a minute,\u201d he says, hand reachin\u2019 for me, but I shrugs him off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cGet off me, or I go to the safety cage,\u201d I says, snarlin. \u201cAnd call for my Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, call your mother,\u201d says the jerkboy, who followed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristopher, I see your mouth is open,\u201d the proctor says coolly. \u201cClose it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
And the scene which follows, in which Cinnamon goes to see the Dean of the Claremont Academy, who\u2019s more cool than even I anticipated \u2014 I mean, drill sergeant in a former life? Really? Makes sense. And helped me crack 60,000 words:<\/p>\n
![\"Nanowrimo](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Nanowrimo-2015-11-28c.png\")
<\/p>\n
But the point is, never give up on Nano. It will continue to reward you, all the way to the end.<\/p>\n
-the Centaur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So today I passed my all-time record (for as long as I\u2019ve kept records) at Nano, completing 60,900 words at Nanowrimo. The key I think is not just taking this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,1,202],"tags":[6,4,134,91],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-challenges","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-dakota-frost","tag-dragon-writers","tag-fearful-symmetry","tag-nanowrimo","ratio-2-1","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3662,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions\/3662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Nanowrimo](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Nanowrimo-2015-11-28a.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Nanowrimo](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Nanowrimo-2015-11-28b.png\")
<\/p>\n