Exciting news!...

And it was pretty exciting!

So as you know if you read the post from Saturday, I am rewriting my novel in 3rd person. I was in the middle of writing the outline, and guess what: I finished that on Monday! 43 chapters at the current moment in time. Now you may think... yeah that is exciting, but what is the big deal? 

The big deal is that, when I was writing the outline for the final chapter I started tearing up. Yes! Okay, so a little backstory... I'm pretty hardcore. I have only cried to a book once, but that was when I was young and didn't know what a good story was. Other than that I am usually ice cold. I didn't even cry reading Eleanor and Park, which surprised me. And I especially don't cry while writing my own stuff. Like I said, I'm ice cold.

So having that moment... feeling the tears... it just made me realize that maybe... just maybe... I'm writing something real here. I still have a long way to go, I've still only written the prologue and chapter 1, but things are going somewhere, which is good. Any progress is progress nonetheless.

ANOTHER EXCITING THING...

I participated in a competition to go to a writing workshop with one of the lead authors over here in Denmark - along with other people as well. What I had to do to participate was write 2 chapters of a story about a teenager with a life threatening disease.

I first wanted to write about a girl who had cancer... but I know shit about cancer... so I would sound freaking stupid if I tried writing about it. Therefore I decided to write about a young girl who had progeria. I watched the documentary "life according to Sam" and read all I could about it. And then I sat down to write it.

It got selected. I got selected. In one week exactly I'm going to Copenhagen to participate in the workshop. And the most amazing thing is that we'll be workshopping at a hospital with teenagers who have life threatening diseases, but also enjoy to write. 

I just know it is going to be an amazing experience. I just know it.

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.

JanNoWriMo and outlining a fantasy trilogy...

January is going to be a pretty busy month for me...

JanNoWriMo

So I don't remember if I've told you, but I am currently doing JanNoWriMo, which is pretty much the same as NaNoWriMo with the only difference being that this one takes place in January. I am not going to be starting something new, but instead doing the 2nd draft of my current novel. I am about 15k in, and I'm starting to worry that I might have cut too much out. But I need to remember, that it will be longer in book form than in a word document. 

It's funny. Before I started the 2nd draft I was scared that my chapters would be too long. Now I'm scared they are too short. However, I do know that it isn't the case. Some of my chapters are only 800 words, but an average book page is 250 words. That means the 800 words chapter is about 4 pages, which is not a bad length for a chapter. I personally hate when chapters go on for too long. This was one of my problems with Harry Potter. If I'm not mistaken some of the chapters wereover 30 pages. I could be wrong, but I think I remember hating reading those chapters. 

So what am I worrying about? Nothing really. Short chapters should not be a making or breaking point when it comes to publication. Even if the publisher says that the chapters are too short, it can easily be fixed in the final edits before the release date... which I'm going to get. Of course. That's one of my NYRs.

Outlining a Fantasy Trilogy

So a few posts ago I talked about my worldbuilding. Well, that worldbuilding has turned into outlines for the first 2 books in a Fantasy Trilogy. It's the first trilogy I'm going to write, and I am currently loving my story line! My favorite thing about it is probably that you don't need to read the 2nd book once the 1st book is read. Every book is going to have its own ending and own storyline. Of course you will understand it better if you read all three books, but I have followed Brandon Sanderson's advice and created a fantasy trilogy with three standalone books with sequel potentiel. 

I really can't wait to write it. Though I still haven't decided if I'll be writing all 3 books and then revise them together or if I'll write one book at a time and edit them individually. However, before I even start writing, I need the outline for the 3rd book, which I already have the plot for.

The first book is going to be about the 65-ish chapters

The second book is 54 chapters

And I think the third book is going to be anywhere between 50-60 chapters.

So it is a more hefty fantasy trilogy, but that's the way I want to do it. And I'm going to make it awesome.

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.