Good questions which I have been pondering myself. As far as style goes, I find that I’m probably moving the story along too quickly by using too much dialogue. My characters are doing a good job of “telling” the story, but not really at “showing” it. And yes, I definitely feel like I’m writing copy (or an essay) at times, just blatantly stating the facts rather than getting the characters involved and connected somehow. I’ll have to fix that during the 2nd draft. I haven’t gone back and read much, just for the fact of trying to push forward, but I still feel like too much of the story is still in my head, so when I go back and have “more time” to myself I’ve got to make those connections.

-Shannon

I’ve had a lot of success with that technique when it comes to writing short stories. Usually, I just have a “picture” in mind and like you, I sit down to describe it or write about it, and sometimes the magic does indeed happen and soon I’ve unearthed a wonderful story I didn’t even know I had in me.

Thanks,
Shannon

I’m totally envious of you but glad to hear that you think most of what you’ve written is good quality. Probably already knowing what you were going to write as you got into this helped too, which is what I should have done. But to an extent, I’m glad I went in this first time totally blind and attempting something completely new. It’s definitely been an interesting journey as a writer so far, even though I’m only at 16,000 words now.

Being “behind schedule” is really the only stress factor I’m having right now which is probably the reason so many other writers pour out a lot of “crap” in order to catch up. I guess I just don’t want to do that. I want to attempt to a better first draft than that, but you and I both know that’s not going to happen if I want to get back on track.

And I agree with you and LK both….I definitely spend more time on the editing process.

-Shannon

Surely you know the old cliche “A picture is worth a thousand words?” Well, what I do…is put that saying to the test. I choose a picture at random – taken from some internet site I happen to be browsing at the time, a magazine, newspaper, photo album, or whatever. Then, I do the “test myself” thing. Admittedly, I seldom manage the goal of a thousand words; however, this game (as I like to think of it) does compel me to think as much as it does to write.

The challenge is to interpret the image and then to bring those thoughts to life using words. Mostly, the results are junk…but every now and then a tale hits home and “poof” – in less than a nano second – magic.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by LLBR: #NaNoWriMo 2009: Day 13 http://bit.ly/23YiyN...

I’m a slow writer and reader. I’m intrigued more on how you are through the process of writing 14k. I’m wondering if your style has changed in the way you might normally write. Does it at times feel like you are writing newspaper copy, rather than fiction? Is it becoming functional, and when you get a chance to read back over the stuff – it is moving you? Or has some some of the emotion been removed from your writing style?