My Writing Routine [WiP]

I have found a writing routine can be a helpful way to avoid writer's block. At least for me. For the last two months, I established a late morning writing session since I work second shift in the middle of the week. The only days that this differs on is Monday and Friday because those are the days I donate plasma in the morning. Those days I write in the evening between lunch and dinner.

When it comes to a writing routine, I believe in consistency. Writing at the same time everyday creates a circadian rhythm of sorts. It's like my brain gets ready to write by the time I sat down at my desk. Don't' get me wrong, I think about my book all the time. Particularly in the shower, which works out great because I work out and shower before I sit down to write.

Some writers' routines aren't structured by a time table. That's probably because they can afford to write whenever they wish. Instead, they might establish rules or habits that get their writing clogs going. Let's take a look at a few.

Niel Gaimen

Stephen King

Ursela K. Le Guin

As for me, I have to take my job into account. In the middle of the week, I need to have my writing done by 1 o'clock so I have time to finish getting ready for work. Here is what most of my days look like.

6am: Wake up

6:30: have breakfast, something small

7:15: Work Out

8:30am: Shower

9am: Sit down to write

1pm: lunch

Work from 2:30-8 [Tues, Wed, Thurs]

Free time to read, blog, clean [Mon, Fri, Sat, Sun]

7pm: Dinner [Mon, Fri, Sat, Sun]

9:30pm: Journal

10:30: bed

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Half Way Done with Draft One

3 days before Christmas, 4 days before my birthday and I have exciting news. Just over a month and a half of writing every day and I have completed 23 chapters of my epic fantasy novel! Dragons, magic, deadly creatures, and [something else], I can't wait to see how the next 23 chapters turn out.

I have hit a snag when it comes to the major relationship. I am changing the pacing from long-term to slow(ish) burn. This requires me to change the mindsets/actions of my main characters. And that means draft #2 will have a lot of rewriting. The restructuring of the romance subplot for the novel alone will be massive. It is tricky to continue writing after making the decision, but I know the abrupt change will help the process in the long run.

Everything else is running smoothly and I continue to hit my daily word count goal of 2,000 words. I hope everyone wraps up the end of the year on a good note with plenty of fun memories.

Happy Holidays!

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How I Track My Progress

I remember a neat tool Mrs. Johnson gave me in Pre-calculus my junior year of high school. At the start of the year, she handed us a sheet of paper with several columns labeled things like assignment name, points earned, and total points. It was a way for us to track our grade throughout the year. The OCD in me loved it and I used my own grade tracker throughout college.

Before I started writing and after I set my goals, I wasn't sure how to track my progress. And then I remembered Mrs. Johnson's Pre-Calc class.

And thankfully, I know how to use Microsoft Excel.

You might be able to find word count trackers online for NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month) that you can edit to suit your needs, but I'll walk you through the bare minimum that I use.

In my Excel sheet, I have SIX columns: Date, Daily Goal, Daily Total, Running Total, % Complete, and Notes. I filled in the DATE and DAILY GOAL columns right away since I planned to write every day as well as my [projected word count]. The NOTES column is where I leave little updates such as when a chapter is completed. The remaining three columns are the most important and a little technical.

Once you fill in your Daily Goal and dates, all you have to do is add your daily total and running total cells as you write.

To calculate the % Completed, I used a simple formula: the running total / my projected word count. If you are savvy with Excel, all you have to do is select the running total cell and divide it by the cell of your choice. The formula will appear in the formula bar under the tool ribbon.

I decided to track my progress by chapter as well [see Progress Bar on the right side of blog]. Since I'm a plotter, I mapped out my novel by chapter thus I know how many chapters I have left to write and am able to track my chapter completion. It helps me see how far I've progress in the story overall, like a virtual bookmark.

Keeping track of your progress is great accountability when setting a goal. It also helps create a habit of writing daily. If you choose to track your progress, remember not to get caught up in it. Don't let it discourage you if you don't reach a certain goal. Life gets in the way sometimes. There are plenty of writers out there who would binge write and go days without writing a word. Tracking should just be another tool in your tool box.

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One Month Check In

One month ago, I embarked on a new journey, one I thought of attempting for years. Now, after thirty days I can say with confidence: man, this is tough!

Writing is one of those things you don't realize is so hard until you try it yourself. The hardest part for me thus far is finding a rhythm to write. I'm trying to establish better habits such as waking up earlier and working out (more on my writing routine later). The biggest problem I've found is the three days I work second shift. Those days I have to be extra motivated to complete everything I need to do before leaving for work. My job allows me time to write, but it's never predictable so I try to get as much writing done before I leave.

As of today, I've completed 13 of the planned 46 chapters and my total word count is over 60,000 words. Each your heart out NaNoWrMo!

I'm learning a lot about my writing style and how to stay consistant with it, but it is my first novel. I still have plenty to learn. I already know my first edit will involve plenty of rewriting. Geez, ten chapters in, I changed my main character's personality along with various other details.

I hope to share my editing process in the future as well as my worlding building techniques. Hint: it involves lots of index cards, post it notes, and journals!

Until then, have a good day and keep writing!

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Projected Word Counts

I think one of the first questions new writers ask themselves is: how long should my book be?

The easy answer is: however long you want it to be!

Believe it or not, there are not hard and fast rules to writing a novel. There is no set number of chapters, pages, or words you novel has to be. I remember my novel writing professor in community college give us an example as a short chapter by William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. It reads "My mother is a fish". That's it. That's the entire chapter. On the other hand, J. R. Tolkein wrote a chapter in The Lord of the Rings with other 16,000 words. Actually, you don't even need set chapters. Just look at Cujo by Stephen King. No set chapters, only scene breaks. [Fun fact: King wrote a one word chapter in Misery that simply reads "Rinse".]

It best to remember that writing is an art form. And your novel is your masterpiece. Like all good art, form and structure are up for interpretation and only limited by your imagination.

But if you've never written a novel before, it's best to have a goal in mind. That is where industry standards come in. Please remember, that industry standards are NOT hard and fast rules. They ARE great benchmarks to keep in mind though.

Here are a few ranges to know!

Short story: under 7,500 words

Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500 words

Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000 words

Novel: over 40,000 words

Picture Book: 500-600 words

Children’s Book: 1,000-10,000

Middle grade Book: 20,000-50,000 words

Young Adult Novel: 40,000-80,000 words

The average fiction novel is about 90,000 words!

Once you know what type of book you are writing, then you can take a peak at word count averages by genres:

Fantasy: 110,000 words

Sci-fi: 98,000 words

Action/Adventure: 96,000 words

Mystery/Thriller: 91,000 words

Horror: 100,000 words

Romance: 91,000 words

Historical: 100,000 words

As for my epic fantasy novel, I project my word count to be around 200,000 words (each chapter is expected to average between 4,000 and 4,500 words and I have plotted out 46 chapters). If my daily word count goal is 2,000 words, then I should hit my goal in roughly 3 1/2 months. That doesn't mean my book will be finished. I might still have several chapters to complete when I hit my projected word count. In that case, the ranges I listed should be used for benchmarks for final drafts since the editing process typically lowers total words counts.

Final thoughts? 

Don't worry about your word count, just write and see there the story takes you. You will find, even when you plot out your story, some things occur in the moment and you won't know it until you are writing.

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So Far, So Good...

It's been two weeks since I started the first draft of my first novel and I feel...pretty good. I've completed 4 chapters out of my plotted 46 (subject to change). Already I can tell that no matter how much world building I did before, I am still world building as I write. Sometimes it's little things like background events that play no role in the main story, but add depth to characters or new plants and creatures my characters encounter. Other times, its quick interactions with unnamed side characters.

I plotted out most of my story. All the major events and the focus of each chapter are preplanned. It isn't until I sit down and write do I realize there is still so much I don't know about my own world and it's inhabitants. While writing from the father's perspective for a scene, I had the opportunity to tell his background but I hadn't thought of it until then. I didn't think about it before because I didn't think I would need it. It's the little details I am creating on the go.

I've hit my daily word count of 2,000 words every day (Woohoo). It's not too big, but not too small and I'm completing a chapter about every other day. At this rate, I should finish my first draft within my deadline of February 1st. I'll share a post about my thoughts on writing goals and self-imposing a deadline later, so stay tuned for that.

I'll be sure to keep posting little updates like this as well as posting about other writing related topics.

Until next time,

R.E. Jaymes

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Let's Get Started

Well, the day is finally here!

After weeks and weeks of world building, character creating, plotting, and more plotting, I am finally ready to sit down and start writing my first novel. And is it going to be a doozy.

Think Tolkien meets Martin.

There's a fellowship, magical creatures, a (by Mr. Sanderson's definition) hard magic system, violent, sex, and yes, dragons. Multiple different types of dragons too. I've did a lot of homework to put my own twist on the genres and the tropes that we love to hate.

For the next four months, I am going to put everything I've got into writing the first draft. I project a 200,000 words count when completed. (Got that by multiplying the number of my planned chapters with the estimated chapter length!) That's about 1,600 words a day, but I'm going to challenge myself a try for 2,000 words a day with 1,600 being the minimum I'm allowed.

You can follow my progress with the progress bars on the right side of the blog. I hope to share excerpts and maybe a few whole chapters once I start the writing process (slightly dreading that), so be sure to stay tuned for that next year.

You read right! Next year, I can start editing my novel with the hope of publication by the fall of 2024. Let's cross our fingers and hope all goes well.

Until then, follow my writing journey along as I try not to crash and burn.

Sincerely,

R. E. Jaymes

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