If you are here for my Writer's Voice contest entry, click here.
Welcome to day three of the Dust It Off Bloghop, in which I post what I learned from writing what is now a shelved manuscript. I've chosen to use my 2011 NaNo that I haven't looked at it since typing the words The End. Feel free to leave a comment and visit the link above to see what others are dusting off to share with the world this week.
Title: KOA'S PASSAGE
Genre: MG Fantasy Adventure
Word Count: 54,000
What I learned from writing this book:
10. NaNoWriMo is really hard that second week.
9. Having a main character talk only in iambic pentameter may not have been my greatest idea.
8. It's harder to throw a computer across the room as well as a paper and pen.
7. I will cry at some point while drafting every book, no matter what it's about.
6. I really missed writing something with romance in it.
5. Having to do research in the midst of drafting can get really annoying.
4. Poetry sucks...especially when I'm having to write entire chapters in verse.
3. Middle Grade voice is WAY harder than Young Adult voice.
2. I need support from my critique partners a lot more than I realized.
1. I can do hard things.
As you can tell, writing this book was a HUGE challenge for me. But guess what? I did it anyway--and that's the best part.
Thanks to Cortney and Theresa for hosting this bloghop. (And btw, after flipping through my MS specifically for this bloghop, a fire was rekindled and Koa's Passage may be making a reappearance in my to-do folder sooner more than later. So thanks again, ladies.)
I'll leave you with a bonus-thing-I-learned from writing this book: my husband designs awesome book covers.
15 comments:
Wow! Dust it off and Writers Voice at the same time - I'm impressed.
I loved the point about throwing a computer :) Unfortunately, my laptop is easy to throw... but that gets expensive.
I agree with many of these things! It's great that you felt like you challenged yourself with this, and I like to think that even if something is a massive effort, it's all worth it if you've learned something from it (even if it is that poetry sucks to try and write, which I cannot agree more with!). Thanks for sharing your work this past week, Ilima, it's been a pleasure to read.
"9. Having a main character talk only in iambic pentameter may not have been my greatest idea." - LOL, I bet!
It's amazing the things we can learn from writing that eventually gets shelved!
Laptops can travel quite far...and do some serious damage to a wall.
8. It's harder to throw a computer across the room as well as a paper and pen.
This is probably a good thing.
$600 computer vs. $0.25 pen.
I'll throw the pen.
10. Tell me about it.
8. Yeah, but we've all had that urge, haven't we?
Even though it hasn't yet worked out, it's awesome how much you challenged yourself with this book. You just listed three things I'd be too scared to attempt. ;)
Beautiful cover, too.
I've never even thought about having a character speak only in iambic pentameter. That sounds like it must've been a difficult feat to pull off.
Love that cover, and these made me laugh! Especially the throwing the computer one, lol!! Such a blast, Ilima, thanks for joining our bloghop! :D
Holy crap. Iambic Pentameter! That sounds super tough!
And yes, CPs are vital :)
So fun meeting you last weekend!
That's why using a laptop is dangerous... It's just about as easy to throw one as a pen and paper. And yes, I've been close. Numerous times.
NaNo is horrible that second week. I honestly didn't write a single word that second week but still managed to finish. How? I have no idea.
I found myself nodding with each one of these except #9 and #4 because those are two things I know I could never attempt. lol
Thanks for hopping with us. I really enjoyed reading your posts. And WooHoo!!! for rekindling that fire. I am so happy to hear it. Please keep us updated!
Excellent life lessons! You CAN do hard things. :)
It was a pleasure to meet you, Ilima. I can't wait to see where your writing takes you!
Love the humor on your points LOL
10. Ditto.
8. Please, let's throw the paper and pen. It's cheaper lol
7. Same here.
6. Me needs romance!
3. For me, it's hard to write YA voice even. My stuff is a little more mature ;)
1. Yay!
I agree that MG voice is a lot harder for me to hit than YA....although that might be because I'm a teenager myself. I have a certain amount of reverence for the old manuscripts, because even though I know they'll never be publishable I learned so much from writing them.
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