Hey everyone! I thought I’d update you on how NaNoWriMo is going for me. 

If you’re unsure what I’m talking about click here to read my first update. 

I didn’t do an update last week so this will be a recap of week 2 and 3. 

I had a tough time writing in week 2. Before Nano started I had a clear idea of how the story would go. However I ended up changing the setting of the story from a world I made up to dystopian Chicago and the US as a whole. 

Unfortunately this is proving harder than I thought to maintain as I have my characters venture to cities I’ve never visited. Writing was slow because I had to keep stopping to look up or research places in these cities, decide if they still existed, and then continue on. 

Another difficulty in facing is that I didn’t have time to explore the events in history that came before this book. I keep referring to “the war” in my story and in my head the war was a result of the effects global warming had on the Earth but that information is nowhere to be found in the book and I can’t find a place to fit in a history lesson. 

Oh and the change in the setting has changed how a lot of character relationships are working. Or not working. I keep making notes to myself to change whole scenes, especially as I continue writing and decide that the scene should actually be changed or moved to a different location in the novel to fit in better. It’s a struggle. 

Week 3 has been a lot faster and easier. Now that I’ve made a lot of the big decisions for how the story will proceed I am speeding along in my word count. Last week I was behind and this week I’m ahead! Because I write so late at night I have to stop myself so I can go to bed but I’m at a really good place. 

When I edit my story I’m going to have to make a ton of changes and even start the beginning of the novel a lot later than what I did at the start of NaNo. I’m halfway through and I’ve only just started getting to the threat that needs fixing. Of course, that is also because my threat changed this week to make the story smoother and did a complete 180 so that is definitely something that needs to be addressed. 

There’s still a week and a half to go to make it to 50,000 words! I think I won’t get to a full first draft in that but I’ll make my word count at this pace! Woohoo! 

Let me know if you are participating in NaNo this year and, if so, how it’s going for you! 

Thanks for reading!