As stated in my earlier post, with the arrival of my vacation I strapped myself down and readied for novel-writing. The goal? 7,500 words per week, three weeks long; a grand total of 22,500 words by the end of my holiday. Week One came to an end yesterday and I can announce with sheer delight that I did not meet my goal. I decimated it.
9,603 words in seven days; one day even still after class and one day without any writing.
Yesterday alone, I wrote 4,096 words. That makes for one heck of a long chapter that I am ecstatic to have behind me. Out of everything I have planned for this novel, the scene in chapter ten, now dubbed Surreal, haunted me and terrified me at the sheer thought of it. Honestly, I feared I would slip into willing procrastination after chapter nine – anything to avoid thinking, much less writing what plagued me.
So, yesterday I put my foot down, opened the file and had a stare down with the new page, decorated with “Chapter Ten” at the top. I added the title after the brief staring contest, pushed aside my fears and hit my fingers to the keys. The time it took me to write out the entire 4,096 word chapter, fish out and edit minor mistakes, and then put it away took me the equivalent of a nine to five job; if not longer. I lost track. The relief of having the horrible scene behind me and being able to move on relaxed me to no end and I did not open the document again that night (except to copy and paste the chapter into its own document and send it to a very awesome friend/trusty proofreader).
Why did that chapter plague me so? I killed one of my babies.
Until now, I have never ended the life of any of my characters – I never got far enough to do so. I have deaths planned, but this is the first one I reached. It’s hard, killing off those you’ve become accustomed to. I fear the worst for later chapters, later novels, and other series.
Even so, the sacrifice was relevant to the plot and I look forward to progressing deeper into the novel.
I won’t stop until it’s done.
Current Novel Word Count: 28,690
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Have you ever killed one of your characters? Is it one of those moments you dread or do you move past it like it’s any normal section of the novel?
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April 20, 2011 at 9:36 pm
I miss – err, said character already.
April 20, 2011 at 9:39 pm
You and I both.
April 25, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Congrats on the novel word count! That’s a pretty impressive figure. 🙂
April 26, 2011 at 8:38 am
Thanks! Here’s just hoping I can keep it up; this week didn’t go so well. I’m at 2,125/7,500 words and today’s the last day of this writing week.
April 26, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Pretend it’s a 5,000 word paper due for one of your classes tomorrow. You’ve procrastinated, now you have to at least get something put together, or you’ll fail the class. You can always go back and edit. …easy, huh? Er, NOT! LOL.
April 27, 2011 at 9:37 am
I’m afraid I failed! I didn’t get any words at all written yesterday. I was distracted. By reading.
…I guess that somewhat makes up for it?
April 26, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Is it wrong that I actively enjoy killing off characters? It is always a scene that I am eager to nail, yet I never start until I have it clearly sketched in my mind. For me it is a monumental piece of the writing, its a new starting point, and an ending all at once.
Yes it is sad to say goodbye, but your next character is always peering round the corner waiting for the opportunity to say hello.
April 27, 2011 at 9:39 am
Wow, you enjoy killing off characters? I nearly cried when writing the death scene – quite literally. I’m way to sensitive when it comes to things like that, but it had to be done. It’s odd, because I have this very morbid imagination, but the moment I use it on my own characters, the good ones at least…
That, I will agree with. He may be gone, but in just a few chapters, a new character will come to take his place. Not replace him, since no one could do that, but take his place.
April 28, 2011 at 12:59 pm
This was very encouraging to read. I am writing a YA novel, and have set it aside for some time now. I think I will have to make some goals like you did. Because after all, how do you eat an elelphant? One bite at a time!
April 28, 2011 at 7:32 pm
I’m glad you think so.
You are absolutely right! Setting it aside won’t make the novel write itself; it’ll just collect dust. One step at a time and you’ll get there. Slow and steady wins the race.
May 20, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Wow, that’s really amazing. Good for you on the word count! That’s great to be able to meet your goals. I really like your blog, by the way, I found it through Goodreads. You have some beautifully written posts.
May 21, 2011 at 7:58 am
Thank you so much!
June 7, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I’m a fan of killing characters, but it is super difficult to write it! I get teary doing the deed as well, but I do take a lot of perverse satisfaction in the act. Sometimes (in both my own writing and in other’s) I love a character all the more because they died.
Eep, sorry for commenting on everything all at once! Your blog entries are exciting! XD
~Ashlee
http://www.ashleesch.com
http://theDragonsHoard.bigcartel.com
June 7, 2011 at 3:23 pm
It’s the first time I ever killed off a character and it broke my heart. Even if it was essential for the plot, I felt so bad doing it! I cry when I read death scenes and I cry when writing and rereading my own ones.
Don’t apologize! I don’t mind at all; I’m glad you like my blogs!
December 30, 2011 at 10:01 am
This is an old post, but I’d just like to say that I actually find killing off my characters easier than sex scenes. Which is kind of awful and sad now that I think about it.
December 30, 2011 at 10:42 am
Really? That’s an interesting comparison. I think for me it’s the other way around, although I don’t write that many sex scenes.