Kiliane’s Rage

I agreed to write Kiliane Rage during November. This would require me to write some 1,667 words a day average. I didn’t understand just what this would mean. When I took Thanksgiving off, it changed the workload to get back on schedule.

I successfully completed the challenge with over 50,000 words a day early.

The work was put aside for a week before going into edit mode. I probably should have waited longer because what I read almost destroyed December for me. I found I had several good scenes, but most were awful. There was duplicate material in several places and terrible description throughout.

I read through it twice before beginning the editing process with excising what was similar material from scenes. The result was the removal of several thousand words. Since I have gained back the lost words with better written scenes.

Last year, I agreed to the NANOWRIMO challenge. Again, I wrote a work that needs extensive editing. Now I have two interesting projects which allow me to alternate between them, and avoid becoming overly frustrated with either. When they are done, I will have a novel and a sequel.

No NANOWRIMO this year

This year, I am not taking the NANOWRIMO challenge. I considered it for a time since I have ideas for a sequel to the sequel. Why not get the sequel’s sequel written?

The reason is that I am a pantser. I don’t do detailed outlines. This results in works-in-progress needing a lot of tender loving care. I have two and adding another at this time is not something I want to do.

This may disappoint the diehard NANOWRIMO adherents, but this is right for me.

Are you doing NANO this year? I would love to hear why you are or are not taking the challenge this year.

You can use the comment form for this or tell me anything of interest to you.

A year ago, I wrote a 53k novel during NaNoWriMO using Microsoft Word 2013. In January this year, I started to edit and revise it using Word. Recently, I transferred the work-in-progress (WIP) to Scrivener. Word aficionados may disagree with my evaluation and comparison. Word is a great product but less useful for this effort than Scrivener. Some justifications for this opinion follows.

I, a pantser, wrote the novel using a minimalist outline. To meet the daily writing goals, there was a duplication of content and a poorly developed narrative. The characters were not developed nor settings defined.

Reluctant to change to Scrivener

Writing the draft, Word enabled meeting daily writing goals. When revising the draft, Word was awkward to use. It didn’t offer me an ability to easily move scenes, track thoughts for changes to existing scenes, or create and insert new scenes. For a time I struggled with using Word while ignoring the capabilities that Scrivener offered.

Made the move

Out of frustration, six weeks ago I transferred the WIP into Scrivener. Each scene became a document within its own folder. That completed, I reread each scene and made notes in the Document Notes section of the Inspector for things to consider when revising the scene. Word requires maintaining a separate document for notes or incorporating the notes into the scene text. Word’s notes placed in the story text need to be removed before creating the file for submission. Scrivener’s notes are not part of the scene text and are ignored when compiling.

More reasons to use Scrivener

Other features that Scrivener offers are templates for characters and settings. I used the character template to note my characters’ information. The template missed information I wanted to track, but it provided a good starting place. The setting template was a good starting place for descriptive information about where events occurred. Word requires creating documents or appending character and scene information to the WIP’s file. Neither of these is as easy to use as Scrivener where accessing information is as simple as clicking on the character or setting’s folder.

A feature I found useful was the ability to move scenes within the story. I found several scenes out of place during the read-through. It only took a moment to drag the scene’s folder to its proper place to reorder the scenes. With Word, I must cut the scene, locate the place I want it, and paste it.

Two more useful features

There are two more capabilities I learned Scrivener had which I use. I name each scene with a descriptive title instead of chapter numbers. I can move scenes without worrying about numbering. The second is custom labels. I edited the label section to include revision labels. When I finish the scene, I label it according to which revision number just completed. Most scenes are at revision one and are so color-coded. Other scenes are revision two and one scene at revision three. I can see at a glance what scenes need work.

As noted earlier I said I am a pantser writer meaning I do not work from a detailed outline. Word sufficed for writing the draft, but Scrivener’s tools and capabilities simplify revising the draft into a finished novel.

Do you use Scrivener or another tool when writing? Tell me your preferences using the comment form.