Monday 2 May 2011

I've Started My Second Novel!

Badge courtesy of Dawn Amos
I've joined Sally Quilford's challenge May - You Write Your Novel. And it's not too late to join in. Basically, the challenge is to write 80,000 words in 80 days. 1000 words a day - easy!

I set off well last night, writing a whopping 2,400 words (approximately). And with my NaNoWriMo (2006) experience, I'm just carrying on - RUE -  resist the urge to edit. (RUE also stands for Resist the Urge to Explain, too).

I tend to have a read through bits of the chapter before, to get me back into full swing with the characters, and did fiddle and add a bit more today. But otherwise the editing (and some additing) is for after the first draft is finished.

I have got to do some research for this novel, silly things really. But I want to make him as real to an A-lister celebrity as possible. But for the challenge, I'm just punching away at the keys, and writing up notes when I think I will need to research something, unless I can do a quick check on the internet... (like looking at flight times from LA to London, and how long it is).

The working title is 'Perfect Isn't An Option.' So if you see me mentioning this title, you know it's my #MYWYN challenge. (That's the official Twitter hash tag!)

Would you like to meet the inspiration for this book?

Steve
Yes, it's Bradley Cooper. (This man will be a lot of 'hero' inspiration for me, I think!) Meet Steve. You can see writing this book is going to be really hard work. Not.

Steve's an A-lister celebrity, just hit the big time in Hollywood and he wants to find love. His sister convinces him to go 'normal' for a while. Ruby really is the heroine of this story - as it will be a little about the relationship of sister and brother. I realise I will have to work on his love interest (Lydia) playing a bigger part - I've decided she will need to be in the background from an early stage. If I can pull it off, I'm hoping this book will be a comedy romance.


Although I will be taking this challenge very seriously, I have to realise I have other writing stuff I need to do. I've written a list of competitions etc. I would like to enter, one being The Wedding Favour into the Yeovil Prize. So need to work on the synopsis and the first three chapters for that. And that's due end of May. I would also like to get another Writers Bureau assignment under my wing.

So busy girl, but going to try and get as much of this novel written per day, at least a thousand words where I can, bearing in mind I do have a two week holiday rapidly approaching.

Let's hope my moleskin notebook arrives from Writers' Forum, and I can do some writing in that on the beach!

*please note, all names are a work in progress, and may change. 

One thing I have noticed - I keep wanting to type Sophie instead of Ruby! I can't have two heroines called Sophie, I just can't!

10 comments:

  1. Sounds good and I approve of the inspiration :-)

    Happy Writing!

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  2. Ooh sounds awesome :-)

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  3. Mmmmmmmm Bradley Cooper.....

    Sorry, I am paying attention, honest.
    Good luck with the 80k in 80 days challenge. I'm not sure I could pull that off. I have just started my second novel whilst the first is at the RNA NWS, but I cannot throw myself fully into the new novel because once the first one comes back, I shall be working on that to get it off to a publisher, so I feel that would interrupt on the 80k challenge. But, good luck! I hope it goes well for you. I don't know how you will concentrate when you have to think about Bradley for your inspiration.....I just get distracted even thinking about him now....Mmmmmmm

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  4. Thank you, all. Bradley is very inspirational :D

    Lucie, I did worry a little that my first novel The Wedding Favour might suffer, but I'm not yet brave enough to consider it for publication, I still need to work on it. And thought writing my second novel, might give me the distance I need, plus the writing practise. We will see. But this story has been rattling around in my brain, so I'm just going to write it. I might not quite get to 80k in 80 days... but the challenge is making me write. So that's good.

    I'm attending the RNA conference in July, hoping that will give me some good advice on which way to go etc. with The Wedding Favour.

    All I can say is that I will enjoy my 'brain storming' sessions for Perfect Isn't An Option - I will concentrate, honest.

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  5. Nice insperation and good luck with the challenge I bearly coped with NANOWRIMO so this is a little out of my league!

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  6. Cherie, this is easier. 80k in 8 days is only 1000 words a day. Nano is 1666.6 to be accurate ;-)

    I'm not overly sure I will complete the challenge, but like I just said, it's got me working on something new!

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  7. You sure do have a lot on your plate. Good luck with it all.

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  8. Good Luck with #mywyn 80k80days. You sound in a similar position to me - lots of balls in the air. Like the eye candy. I'm doing the writing challenge too. Looking forward to being in a better routine this week to try and get some of these projects under control. Enjoy your writing. Mx

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  9. Tell me about it, Julia! Though, I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew, and stress over this. If I can't get to it, I just can't. But I've been a bit unmotivated and playing with fingers at times, wondering what to do. So this should give me some focus.

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  10. Morton, we'll have to keep each other motivated. I am hoping it will get me into a better writing routine. I've been a bit wayward lately. And maybe the more writing I have to do, the more I will make the time to do it :D

    Good luck with the challenge too! Tx

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