So it's done and dusted for another year. My nanowrimo story is complete and this year the final length is 59901. I know thats just 99 short of 60k, but I'm not going to add anything less to it. Killing my female lead character in the last few pages was just to much for me. I can only hope that her death scene has the same impact on any future readers that it did on me.
So how did it go this year compared with last?
Well it was a completely different feel this year. Last year I just got home from work had dinner and then sat down and wrote. It was easy. This year, well I've taken part in the social aspects a lot more, now that Bristol is a proper region in nanowrimo and we have had write ins. Which although they are great fun aren't so good for the word count. Then I've been far more active in the forums this year as well and yes, real life has interfered a lot more too. So this year has felt totally different to last year.
Also my plans for publishing the work as I go on this site, when out of the window very quickly.
And what effect has this had on the story?
Well, I restarted two days in, which shows just how well the month when and while I somehow managed to finish my story early and it's 8000 words longer than last years, I think that this years story is a mess! Last year, while I did deviate from the plan quite a bit, I think it was okay. I would say in software developer terms (which is what I am after all) last years story was an early beta version. This years story it's many abandoned sub-plots, incomplete main plot and more plot holes that a sponge is not even an alpha release, it's more like a bad prototype. When I get around to re-writing it, I think it's going to be a case of making a note of the good bits (few and far between) and tearing every thing down and starting from scratch.
On the subject of rewrites, my next job I think is to start on the rewrite of last years story. While I've not yet read it in full yet, I don't think it needs as much work as this years will need.
But I've got to say, while this year has been much harder and I'm not happy at all with the final story, I do feel very sad that the month is over (well almost, 3 hours to go).
Like my lead character in the story I do think I'm a different person today than I was 30 days ago. Not very different, but different enough and in, I think, a good way.
Maybe, just maybe I'll look back at this month and the private journal entries I make (which will never get published I my life time) and say, yes that was an important turning point in my life.