the end comes too soon...

[litlebanana.livejournal.com]

I'm doing pretty well in terms of my word count, but what's troubling me is the fact that the story is further along than I think it ought to be for this number of words and/or pages. I'm not "slow playing" it, as they say in poker.

So my current fear is, I'll get to 40K or so and the story will just be OVER.

Or even if I make it to 50K, that will be the end. 50K is NOT a novel. It's a novella. This isn't National Novella Writing Month dammit.

Another reason for my concern is that I've been writing novellas in the last six month for sort of practice (and enjoyment). They've all seemed to come to an end on their own accord at around 60 pages. Four of them like that.

What do I do?? I need to stretch this out!!!

/freak out

Comments

[vampedvixen.livejournal.com]

Add another related subplot and thread it through the rest of the story. I once read of a writing technique where the author would write one entire subplot/character POV and then all the others.. then he would just sort of braid them all together to form a finished product, if any of that makes sense.

[alpha-orionis-v.livejournal.com]

The trick is to not freak out. Last year, I finished my story a week early at just over 47k. I was satisfied with where the story had gone, and didn't feel that padding out the word count would have done anything but take away from the story as a whole, so I called it done.

It's not like the NaNo police will come arrest you if you finish early. Don't sweat it.


It's all about personal goals, really. If your goal is to write 60k this month, then great! If you don't quite make it, try again in December. allyear_sprints runs rooms, well, all year if you want the same sort of support atmosphere outside of November.

[faience.livejournal.com]

In the words of my favorite novelist: DON'T PANIC!

The characters, places, and stories we come up with have an odd way of surprising us. Sometimes they'll want to do things we never expected or planned. Maybe your main character will decide to up and join the circus half-way through. Maybe your villain will decide he likes to read lengthy passages from Shakespeare before he executes people. Absolutely anything could happen.

In short: don't panic. Yet. :)

[alpha-orionis-v.livejournal.com]

It's not until the last few days that you need to grab your towel and panic. ;)

[faience.livejournal.com]

Well, I strongly advise having your towel on hand at all times. But panicking should be saved for only the most extreme circumstances. (I.e. last week of November.)

[alpha-orionis-v.livejournal.com]

My towel is currently in the hamper, as it was used to clean a bunch of accidentally spattered paint off the wall the other day. D:

[faience.livejournal.com]

Uh oh. Time for the emergency back-up towel? Maybe a handkerchief?

[crawfordwraith.livejournal.com]

Well, I strongly advise having your towel on hand at all times.

You should at least know where your towel is at all times. ^_^

[mandyloo.livejournal.com]

That totally happened to me last year- I finished the whole story and only had 52,000 words :(. My plan this year was not to plan too much- last year I had each chapter mapped out, and I'm thinking maybe that kept me from writing too much.

[hayleysaurusrex.livejournal.com]

Go back through what you've already written and see if there's detail you can add. Go off on tangents with some things. Stretch it out. Maybe you'll say something interesting, maybe not. Pick up a 400 page novel and read a few pages to see what makes a novel longer than what you are writing.

[dragonbloodink.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm planning on doing, if need be.

[jarethrake.livejournal.com]

At the end, you'll probably find that you can toss in some more scenes. Half the time, you've got a ton of character development in your head that you forgot to write down.

I've written a novel (not nanowrimo) which is still being edited. First draft was 20,000 words, now it's 72,000.

Holy fuck, how did I do that when I'm still stuck on 3.5k for nano?O_O

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

Adding thngs left out -- you can call it editing if you want, but it's really writing.

Maybe you should start "editing" your 3.5K int 35k.

[jester-uk.livejournal.com]

A touch more detail in the descriptions (which is probably my weakest point), conversations, fight scenes, and smut all seem to be good for the word count if discussions at the local nano meetings are anything to go by.

[blueveinwrists.livejournal.com]

Since 50,000 is the official word count to aim for, it must be National Novella Writing Month! :D

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of people aiming for 60,000 or even 100,000 instead, despite what the officials say. ;)

[violentdragking.livejournal.com]

You'd be amazed at what editing will add to your word count - and the goal is 50,00 so maybe it is National Novella Writing Month! Don't freak out over it, is what I say - worry about getting it written, first, and then when you edit you can flesh some things out, or add something if you feel it's lacking. You have a month to get it written and finished - well, by the official guidelines, I think - and editing can do wonders. That's what December is for. :)