my progressThis week, I crossed a minor milestone for my final draft. My incomplete final draft now has more words than my fully complete first draft! I ended my first draft with 25,750 words, and I now have 26,250 words for my final draft. That amounts to about 78 pages. At the rate I am going, I think that it is seriously possible to reach 40,000 words for my final draft, especially since we get an extra week. As of now, I am about 75% through the story, so I am nearing the final pages of the story. It is interesting to look back and see how much I have worked day in and day out towards this story, and I couldn't be more proud of what I have accomplished so far. Here is an excerpt! There’s an odd sort of peace in accepting the fact that you don’t have to fight anymore, like the moment of peace a drowning victim feels as they finally just let themselves sink into the murky waters. But drowning victims were fighting alone, their sole heartbeat the only thing separating them from the depths of the ocean. Their sheer determination was keeping their head above the water. Unlike them, I wasn’t fighting alone anymore. I was fighting alongside the people I cared for, and we were fighting for our very way of life. If we failed, our people would be forgotten. A single speck of dirt on the otherwise pristine civilization that the humans sought to create. I was done being insignificant. what i am focusing on in the storyThe biggest thing that I want to nail in my story is the characters. There are 6 main characters in my novel, and I want to make sure that their development makes sense and that it flows smoothly. One of the best ways to do that is through the dialogue. If a character talks the way they act, it makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand them. There are two major character developments in the story, and it is crucial that I get them right because their changes drive the story forward. Another thing that I am focusing on is making sure that the characters are not forgotten throughout the course of the story. Some characters like the protagonist will not have that issue, but other smaller ones that are still important to the story might experience that. When I go through and revise my final draft towards the end of the project, that is definitely something I will watch out for. after the projectAfter the project, I plan on letting a few of my friends read it to get some general feedback. Then I plan on taking a few weeks away from my novel so that I can come back at it with a fresh pair of eyes. After those few weeks I will start to get some major feedback from people that know what they are talking about, and I can maybe think about publishing from there. It is exciting to think about the potential future for my novel, and I can't wait to see where it takes me!
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My progress Each week, I manage to find a way to write more than the previous week. That is not something I consciously do, but I have definitely started finding the motivation to write more as the project has progressed. The main driving factor behind that is simply time. With only 3 weeks left to write, I am really putting in the extra effort every night to make sure I finish. My typical word goal is 750 words, but I managed to write at least 1,000 for most of this week. I will have 20,000+ words as of tomorrow (11/15/20), which will be about 60 pages. I am roughly halfway through, so I am definitely going to come close to doubling the word count of my first draft. I am still worried that I will not finish, but I think that I am in a better position than I was last week. My plans for the futureWith 3 weeks left in the project, I will definitely have to change my plans for the final week of the project, and just the entire project as a whole. Originally, I was planning on getting a completely finished product by the end of the 12 weeks, but that just is not going to happen. That is not my fault, it is just something that is going to take a lot longer than 12 weeks to get completely finished and edited. My new goal is just to finish my final draft, and to clean up any major mistakes that I have. I think that is much more realistic under the constraints of the time I have left. unexpected benefits of the projectGoing into this project, there were definitely things that I expected to get better at having completed it. I obviously expected to get better at writing and storytelling, which I definitely have. One thing I did not expect to get better at was my time management. Having to sit down every single day to write has really forced me to use my time wisely. It has also gotten me more comfortable with working into the night, because before the project I would freak out if I had to do work past 9:00 pm. Coincidentally, I'm writing this right now past 9:00 pm. With some people, they ONLY work past 9:00 pm. For me, now I can work little by little throughout the day, and it make the experience that much easier for me. This whole experience has just taught me a lot about how I work and how I manage my time, and that is a valuable lesson to learn.
My progressOverall, I have managed to get a lot done this week for my novel. I have over 14,000 words, which amounts to almost 42 pages. I am very pleased with the fact that I have managed to get finished with the "beginning" of the story. What I mean by that is that I am finally finished with the events leading up to the first encounter with the antagonists (the humans). If you have read my previous blogs, you know that that part of the story was sorely lacking. I managed to turn something that was 12 pages long into something that is 34 pages long. Overall, there is just more character development and actual substance in the beginning, which I am hoping makes it more interesting to read. Issues with perspectiveMy biggest struggle as I am writing the story is thinking about it from an alien's perspective. It is hard to describe a massive spaceship when the protagonist has no concept of what a spaceship even is. Another issue is with measurements. An alien would not measure things in feet or miles. Without having that to describe places and people, it is hard to paint an accurate picture for the reader. I plan to work around that by putting a disclaimer at the start of the book. Something along the lines of, "Disclaimer. This account has been transcribed into English for your comprehension." It will not be exactly like that, but my point is clear. Looking forwardAs we near the final weeks of the Genius Hour project, I have started to think about what I want to get accomplished in the final week. That week will arguably be the most important of the entire project because that is when I plan on fine tuning the story. My number one concern is just making sure that my grammar is proper. I have no doubts that my final draft is littered with small grammatical errors, and I plan on getting some outside help for that. If it comes down to it, I may leave that part until after the official deadline of the project because it will likely take a lot of time that I won't have.
What I do plan on doing, however, is fixing certain parts of the story. My biggest hope for the story is to make something that I do not feel bored reading, and right now there are parts that I definitely would get bored reading. The main reason for that is just because I was bored writing them, and that reflects in my writing. On the other hand, there are scenes that I had a lot of fun writing that are much more interesting. My hope is to spread that interest throughout the book, instead of just in select parts. If myself and the reader feel interested reading my novel, then I think I have won. My progressAs of writing the title to this blog, I only just dawned on me that I am going into Week 8 of the Genius Hour Project. Honestly, that is a little worrying. I am not surprised that this is when I made my big revelation about my progress, but until now I thought I was doing good. I have 8,250 words towards my second draft, which is 25 pages total. That is by no means bad, but I am not where I want to be in the story right now. For frame of reference, the event I just covered in my second draft was on page 8 of my first draft. I've managed to triple the size of my story, at least so far. Once I get into the later parts that will likely change, but it is something I have to keep in my mind moving forward. I've even considered increasing my word count per day (yet again) but I don't want to resort to that until later. the storyAs I predicted last week, I have made a lot of changes to the story as I have written. I am really satisfied with them, because I think that it makes the story more cohesive and entertaining to read. I am really looking forward to seeing how my second draft turns out in the end because I like where it is going now. Here is an excerpt! The processOne thing that teachers have always told me is that it is much easier to get work done when one isn't distracted by their phone. I have always known that was true, but I did not fully appreciate how much so until I tried it this week. On Wednesday, I really struggled to write and it took me 2 hours to hit my 750 word goal. I was of course distracted by my phone most of the time, so it was to be expected. The next day, I put my phone away and tried to see if that would make a difference, and boy it did. It took me 30 minutes to write what had taken me 2 hours the day before, and I was much more proud of the story I told in that 30 minutes than the entirety of the 2 hours. I look forward to using this more as I write, and I think it will benefit me a lot in the future. If I am going to complete this project, I am going to need all the help I can get!
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AuthorJust your average student who's tired of reading everyone else's stories. Archive |