How to write a book in 15 days – Day 2

It’s about quarter to six in the evening and I’ve crossed the 4,000 word mark. I’m targeting 5000 words by the end of the day.

The final target is between 75,000 to 100,000 words. Just getting warmed up now.

It’s on … again

The earlier book I was trying to write meandered about, started going nowhere, and then just lied down and went off to sleep. Maybe I’ll revive it some day, don’t know yet but I’m off once again.

The idea for this book came when I was tearing my hair out (figuratively) on the last story I was working on. I was trying to focus on as few characters as possible as well as keep the number of locations to a minimal. Then I hit a mother lode, so to speak, and came up with a most unique twist in a haunted house story that even surprised me.

I know I’ve done this again and again and never completed a first draft in under 15 days but I’m going to keep on trying. I’m doing this for myself, not for anyone else.

I write about 500 odd words a couple of days back but I’ll start the 15 day challenge (part 3) as of today, July 8, 2008. Give myself a bit of a head start. Yeah, it’s my challenge and I set the rules

Will endeavor to write on this blog everyday.

Days 10-15 – 15 Day Book Writing Challenge Part Deux

To whoever has been following this – Sorry I couldn’t post earlier.  Probably the sting of failure kept me from posting.

While I wrote quite a bit, then re-wrote quite a bit, I didn’t complete the novel in 15 days flat as I wanted to do. The good thing – and quite surprising to me – is that while I’m sad at not achieving my stated goal in the given time-frame, I’m happy at how things worked out.

I have probably learned more in those 15 days about writing a good novel than I have learned in the past 2-3 years of reading books about writing. By forcing myself to put pen to paper, and trying to figure out what blocks writers from writing fast and writing regularly, I have uncovered a great many secrets.

I call them secrets because I have not read this stuff in books. I’m sure some books carry this knowledge but it’s mostly hidden in jargon and complexities and most aspiring writers fail to make that knowledge their own.

I’ll be posting stuff I learned on this blog but first I have a novel to complete! Yes, just because those 15 days are up doesn’t mean I have stopped writing. I’m continuing with the book and intend to complete it very soon.

I’ll keep posting regularly on this blog – though it won’t be on a daily basis.

Days 5-9 – 15 Day Book Writing Challenge Part Deux

Work going slowly but steadily. I’m enjoying myself working backwards – then forward again. Also employing techniques that thrillers like LOST and HEROES employ to make sure people keep coming back again and again.

Creating cliffhanger scenes is such a blast.

Over and out…for now!

Day 3 & 4 – 15 Day Book Writing Challenge Part Deux

It seems every time I do this challenge, I learn some very important stuff about writing, and writing fast.

Won’t get into great detail right now as I’m working on the novel right now (and I mean right now – just took a small break to write this post) but I’ll tell you this: after the characters and the conflict have been figured out, start by writing the end first. And then zig zag your way to the beginning.

Am I writing backwards? Not really. Don’t have the time to explain right now so that’ll come later. But one thing is definite : it’s made the writing process much more enjoyable for me.

Also, I recd. an interesting comment from Tom Evans who articulated a thought that might be on many readers minds. Again, I don’t have the time to properly answer his comment (Thanks, Tom, for taking the time to write your thoughts down and thank you for your honesty) but I will do so…soon.

Till then, if you haven’t already read that comment (few people do), here it is again:

This doens’t seem sensible. I’ve written a book and had it published. It took me five years. I’m currently writing another book and am writing at about 1,000 words a day. I’m now 72,000 words in and going strong, but the content has quality because it isn’t rushed. This business of trying to write a novel in 15 days is surely not the way to ‘become a real author’…

This deserves a good answer and I might not be able to post a reply during the challenge, but I definitely will once the 15 days are over.

Now, getting back to writing…..

Day 2 – 15 Day Book Writing Challenge Part Deux

Completed the first 1006 words of the book. Not a great start. I hope I’ll get warmed up soon and start cranking out 6000+ words a day.

So now I need to go from 1006 to 6001.

Stay tuned.

Day 1 – I have started writing

I’m right now completing the synopsis, following which I will lay out the chapters and the scenes.

The 15 Day Book Challenge begins again

It’s been some months since I failed to complete the 15 day book writing challenge. A few months later – a trifle older but a lot more wiser – I’ve decided to launch my book writing challenge again.

After trying to complete that challenge – and failing – I stopped writing. Stopped trying. But if I’m ever to become a real author, I have to keep on trying, no matter how many times I fail.

So on the 27th of January, 2008 (Sunday), I will begin the challenge again. I’ll be writing a novel on the same concept I had created during the last challenge but writing from scratch. After the last challenge, I had changed the basic story slightly and that would require me to start again from scratch.

That means I’ll have to rewrite all the chapter heads again and rewrite the scene by scene synopsis.

Oh, and to all of you who have been checking the blog to see if I’ve written anything more,  thanks for being there.

And a very happy new year to you all.

Whatever happened to the 15-Day Challenge?

I didn’t do it. I failed. Miserably. Completely tangled up in an ever-changing plot and characters that somehow didn’t feel real. Plus bogged down with projects that I needed to complete (for the business I’m running).

No excuses. I failed and there’s no beating about the bush.

But I also learned a whole lot about writing by understanding how not to write. The challenge will begin again soon but till then I’ll talk about the stuff I learned from my failure.

Catch up with you soon.

How (not) to write a book in 15 days – Day 10

Am stuck. Pressures of life intrude and shut down my writing. Am not confident that I would even reach the half-way stage of my novel.

Also, no one seems to be reading this blog. An odd friend now and then but haven’t got any messages from anyone so far. A writer’s life is lonely…but this lonely??? The only guy who’d left a note a encouragement was a stranger (visiting my blog courtesy BlogRush)…

Hello? Is anybody out there?

Well, tomorrow I’m hoping to give some insights on how NOT to write a book in 15 days.

Till then….back to some writing.